~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam to Broadcast Satellite Signal to U.S.

LOS ANGELES - In a throwback to Cold War-era strategies, Vietnam's Communist government was to begin a daily satellite TV broadcast Thursday to North America aimed at expatriate Vietnamese. While skeptics question the broadcast's impact, the timing of the kickoff - three days before the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon - has inflamed passions among Vietnamese émigrés who view Vietnam's Liberation Day, April 30, as the blackest day in so-called Black April.

''I would never watch it even if they gave me a free satellite dish,'' said Hoi Thi Le, 73, of Santa Ana, California, a critic of the Vietnamese government. He added: ''Why would I watch? They will show beautiful girls, nice beaches and happy people jogging. But they won't show the poverty, the 13-year-old dropout who sells her body to make a living, the child beggars, the rash of AIDS epidemic, the unsanitary living conditions.''

Programming will focus on current events, human interest stories and profiles. It will include live coverage this weekend of Vietnamese celebrations of the anniversary of the end of the war, said a spokeswoman for VTV 4 in Hanoi, the government-owned station that will supply programs for satellite broadcast. The shows will be available daily to viewers in North America via satellite dish from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific time. While videos from Vietnam are easy to find in the so-called Little Saigon in Southern California's Orange County region, the idea of the Vietnamese government beaming broadcasts into American homes has sparked outrage. Many see it as an act of provocation.

''They know that to the Vietnamese community abroad April 30 represents the date when we lost everything,'' said Kinh Luan Tran, a Los Angeles attorney and community activist. ''We have every reason to be upset that the same regime would now choose to have a permanent propaganda tool'' beamed ''right in the middle of our living rooms.'' A particular worry among activists is that a new generation will be seduced by government images of life under communism. ''We don't want the younger generation to be tricked by them,'' said Du Mien, president of the Vietnamese Journalists Association. ''This propaganda is just the beginning.'' The broadcasts, however, may appeal to some viewers outside the reach of American-produced Vietnamese-language shows in Houston, San Jose, California, and Little Saigon - the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam itself.

Hai Ta of Biloxi, Mississippi, for example, said she has trouble finding Vietnamese-language media along the Gulf Coast and would welcome the broadcast. ''I don't have money to buy a satellite dish, but if I had one, I'd tune in,'' Miss Ta, 46, said. ''I would watch it because I want to see my homeland and how it has changed.'' Officials at the Vietnamese consulate in San Francisco deflected criticism. ''We are confident that the program,'' a spokesman said, ''can partly meet the information and emotional needs of Vietnamese people residing in the U.S.A.''

Despite the émigrés' fears, one expert said he'd be surprised if the broadcasts find many viewers. ''I wouldn't want to invest in it,'' said Alvin Snyder, a former director of worldwide television operations for the U.S. Information Agency. ''The signal might leave the country, but very few people are going to look at it.'' Mr. Snyder said other governments, including the former Soviet Union, have broadcast propaganda and general programming internationally with limited success.

The Chinese government broadcasts a wide range of programming over several satellites, including some in English. It is unclear how much of an audience those programs have in the United States.

By Scott Martelle and Mai Tran - Los Angeles Times - April 28, 2000.