Vietnam Television (VTV) has quietly censored official documents in its reporting on former National Assembly official Nguyễn Sỹ Cương.
The Latest: Facing widespread online questions about information in Nguyễn Sỹ Cương’s case file, VTV quietly removed its reports, blurred portions of the documents, and reposted the content on Aug. 19.
- As of 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 19, VTV had reposted the video on Facebook through VTV24 and Thời sự VTV, as well as on YouTube through VTV24.
The Details: In the re-uploaded videos, portions of the crash records had been blurred.
The obscured information includes:
- The “Toxicology Examination Conclusion,” specifically the lines:
- “Address: P403 D16, Phương Mai, Phương Mai Ward, Đống Đa, Hà Nội”
- “Specimen: Blood sample”
- “Date specimen received: May 31, 2025”
- A document referring to “preparing a report on an alcohol concentration test,” specifically:
- “The driver of the vehicle bearing license plate 30H-36909.”
- The “Request for Exemption from Criminal Liability” which has this phrase blurred:
- “Permanent address: No. 5, Xóm Chùa, Hai Bà Trưng Ward, Hà Nội.”
However, the images of the case records remain unaltered in the archived version of the program on VTVgo’s website.
The Background: On the evening of Aug. 17, VTV confirmed that Nguyễn Sỹ Cương, a former deputy chair of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, was driving the car involved in a May 30, 2025, crash on Nguyễn Huy Tự Street in Hà Nội that killed student Đỗ Ngọc Phương Thùy.
- The report quickly sparked widespread controversy on social media.
- Members of the public raised questions about when a test sample was collected, Cương’s address, the cause of the crash, and his absence from VTV’s report.
Why It Matters: VTV has not explained the changes or why it made them. Relatedly, “Questions About VTV’s Report on the Crash,” a topic connected to Nguyễn Sỹ Cương, trended on Threads on Aug. 19.
- The topic disappeared from the rankings about 30 minutes later.
Hoàng Nam wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on August 19, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
