A plausible paradox? The potential for media accountability in Vietnam through traditional and innovative instruments

Abstract

At face value, it seems implausible for Vietnam’s state-controlled media to operate within the Western paradigm of media accountability. The media’s political constraints, coupled with low-quality offerings in journalism higher education, appear to severely limit its ability to be transparent, self-regulating and fostering high reader participation. Some researchers purport that media accountability and self-regulation simply cannot exist in such tightly-controlled media environments. This research proposal draws on studies across transitioning media environments to ask whether there’s potential for media accountability in Vietnam through traditional and innovative instruments. A survey, focus groups, interviews and document analysis is proposed across Vietnamese media professionals, media researchers and mediarelated documentation to answer this question. This proposal extends on studies that have taken media accountability and self-regulation instruments outside of a Western context for the first time, but still, such studies are yet to take place in an Asian context and specifically in Vietnam.