Press freedom

Duc was fired by his newspaper, Saigon Tiep Thi, after the ruling Communist Party complained to editors about comments he'd made in a personal blog, which he authors under the pen name "Osin."

One of the newspaper's editors, Tran Cong Khanh, said Duc was dismissed because his posts were not in line with the paper's editorial positions.

Although Duc's Osin blog has repeatedly pushed the limits of Vietnam's repressive, state-controlled media, it was a post in which he praised the fall of the Berlin Wall that cost him his job as a reporter.

In the post, Duc called the Berlin Wall a "wall of shame," and accused the Soviet Union of imposing "a regime which deprived men of fundamental rights" on Eastern Europe.

After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Soviet Union was Vietnam's main ally until the bloc collapsed in 1991.

"The attitude of his entry did not reflect that of our newspaper, and we can't use him anymore," Khanh said.

The editor said that the newspaper made the decision to dismiss Duc on its own, without direct pressure from the government, but added that the state's media watchdog, the Propaganda and Education Commission, had issued complaints about scores of Duc's blog entries and newspaper stories.

Tougher regulations on bloggers

In a post on Wednesday, Duc confirmed that he was "no longer a reporter of Saigon Tiep Thi," where he'd worked for almost four years.

Like all of Vietnam's roughly 700 news outlets, the newspaper is subject to state control. But Duc wrote that even under such conditions, the press "must be the place to convey honest stories, analysis and criticism…articles that journalists believe serve society."

On his Osin blog, he has frequently posted items critical of government leaders and their policies on major issues such as corruption, relations with China, and treatment of the media.

Although Duc declined to comment directly about his dismissal, he wrote on his blog that he's lost many newspaper jobs during his 21 years as a journalist, and that he now plans to work on a book.

In a statement, the German chapter of Reporters Without Borders (ROG) criticized Saigon Tiep Thi's decision to fire Duc.

"ROG condemns this arbitary dismissal," the organization said. "With its decision, the Saigon Tiep Thi newspaper is contributing to state-sponsored censorship."

ROG added that state control of online media and blogs that are critical of the government is increasing in Vietnam, which is currently in 168th place on a list of 173 countries evaluated for freedom of the press.

At the end of last year, the Vietnamese government tightened its rules for bloggers, who have proliferated in Vietnam and become an important source of news for many in the country.

Under the new rules, bloggers should write only about personal, not political, matters, and use "clean and wholesome" language. Internet service providers are responsible for the content of the blogs they hose, and are obligated to report to the government every six months and provide information about bloggers on request.

Bloggers told to stay away from politics

There have been several recent examples of the Vietnamese government's willingness to crack down on those who break the rules. Among them is the case of Nguyen Van Hai, a blogger known as "Dieu Cay" who was arrested in April 2008 on charges of tax evasion and sentenced to 30 months in jail. His sentence was largely seen as punishment for using his blog to call for a boycott of China's Olympic torch relay when it passed through Ho Chi Minh City.

And in June 2008, a court sentenced journalist Nguyen Viet Chien to two years in prison for investigating a notorious 2006 corruption scandal in Vietnam, in which millions of dollars of public funds were used to bet on European soccer matches. Four other journalists had their press credentials revoked for criticizing his arrest, according to the Associated Press. He was granted an early release on Jan.17, 2009.

Deanne Corbett/afp/ap
Editor: Rob Mudge