Vietnam tightens state controls over local media HANOI - Communist-ruled Vietnam has amended its strict press law to tighten state control over official media and set rules that all reporting must be of benefit to the country, local newspapers said on Thursday. The changes were approved on Wednesday and require compensation to be paid if reports lead to losses to the legitimate business interests of organisations or individuals, the Communist Party mouthpiece Nhan Dan (People) said. It was unclear whether individual journalists would be liable for such compensation, which would apply even if the media reports were accurate. The amendments, approved by the country's National Assembly, do not apply to foreign media operating in Vietnam. All local media is controlled by the state. ``For example, the press reported that this year the Mekong Delta harvested a bumper rice crop and that paddy had been stockpiled,'' Nhan Dan quoted Culture and Information Minister Nguyen Khoa Diem as saying. ``This gave advantages for foreign buyers to put downward pressure on rice prices and this caused losses so compensation must be paid.'' It was not entirely clear whether this was an actual example, or whether the law would be retroactive. Vietnam's media business has boomed in the last decade as the country embarked on a series of economic reforms, but the state retains tight control. The role of journalists is to propagate the official line of the Communist Party and government. Other measures in the amendments included expanding an article that demanded accurate reporting to include a proviso that all information must be for the ``benefit of the country and the people.'' Reuters - May 20, 1999.