Vietnam News Agency (VNA) is Vietnam’s official news agency, controlled, like all media in the country, by the Vietnamese government. The agency has a total of 32 units, including news divisions, publications and electronic media outlets.
The activity of VNA is divided into three categories as follows: a). Press information section that specializes in production of news content, including photos and video feed, for supply to media outlets in Vietnam and abroad; b). Publication section that runs: Vietnam News Agency Publishing House (in charge of releasing publication about party and state policies); the newspapers Tin Tuc, The Tao Van Hoa, Viet Nam News, Le Courrier du Vietnam (in French), Vietnam Pictorial (in several languages), Vietnam Law & Legal Forum, Vietnam-Korea Times and other science and technology and ethnic minority-focused magazines; c). Television and Online Information section that runs VNA TV Channel (VNews), VietnamPlus portal in several languages and several other portals focused on business and news from Vietnam.
Media assets
News agency: VNA
Publishing: Tin Tuc, The Tao Van Hoa, Viet Nam News, Le Courrier du Vietnam, Vietnam Pictorial, Vietnam Law & Legal Forum
News portals: Vietnam Plus, BNews, BizHub, OhVietNam
Ownership and governance
VNA is the government’s official agency that is entitled by law to publish information about the official position of the Vietnamese state. The agency’s activity is governed by the Decree 88/2013/ND-CP issued by the government. The agency’s governing structures are appointed by the government, with the prime minister in charge of approving the outlet’s strategy.
Source of funding and budget
VNA is funded through a combination of commercial revenues generated by sales of ads and content (including copies of the print media that it publishes) and state subsidies. There is no publicly available information about the budget of VNA; hence it is uncertain whether state funding accounts for more than 50% of the agency’s budget. The financial operation of VNA is run in its entirety by the government, according to experts and journalists covering Vietnam.
Editorial independence
The editorial line of VNA is shaped and imposed on the agency by the government. The Decree 88/2013 establishes that all domestic media in Vietnam must use the agency’s output and that state bodies, including ministries, state agencies and other administrative offices must submit information to the agency to ensure that the party-generated information is provided to the general public.
No domestic statute and no oversight mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of VNA have been identified.
October 2023