Tuoi Tre (meaning “youth” in Vietnamese) is a leading daily newspaper serving the Ho Chi Minh City market. The publisher oversees the operations of Tuoi Tre, as well as the weekly publication Tuoi Tre Cuoi Tuan and the semi-monthly Tuoi Tre Cuoi. Tuoi Tre is Vietnam’s largest circulated newspaper.
Media assets
Publishing: Tuoi Tre
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
The newspaper is operated by the Communist Youth Union in Ho Chi Minh City, which has complete authority over the publisher’s management, according to experts and journalists with expertise in Vietnam interviewed for this report in June 2024.
Source of funding and budget
Tuoi Tre’s popularity in both print and online editions has resulted in significant advertising revenue generation. However, a significant portion of these revenues are derived from state-owned enterprises. The financial operations of the newspaper are entirely controlled by the Communist Party, according to experts and journalists specializing in Vietnam interviewed for this report in June 2024. It is therefore reasonable to describe the outlet as a government-funded media outlet.
Editorial independence
Tuoi Tre is a distinctive organization. While it would typically be classified as state-controlled media due to its editorial strategy being influenced by the Communist Party, the newspaper has a history of confrontations with authorities dating back to the early 1990s.
In recent years, the newspaper has continued to publish critical articles about authorities, prompting the government to issue fines and even suspend the publication for several months in 2018.
Nevertheless, in recent years, the publication was brought under tight party editorial control, according to journalists specializing in Vietnam interviewed for this report in June 2024. A content analysis conducted in April 2024 also revealed that the newspaper’s political content is overtly biased in favor of the authorities, with no critical stance identified. The majority of the content pertains to the activities of the government and its senior officials. In light of these considerations, in 2024 we have reclassified Tuoi Tre from the Independent State Funded and State Managed/Owned Media (ISFM) category to the State-Controlled (SC) category in our typology.
To date, no domestic statute and no independent oversight mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of Tuoi Tre has been identified.
September 2024