Campaign Against The Racist Reporter & The Racist Executive Producer (Channel 7 Australia)

Dear Ms Fair.

2007-06-25T21:13:00.001-07:00

Since receiving the letter of apology from Channel Seven written by Ms Bridget Fair the Manager Regulatory & Business Affairs, the campaign group has received emails from many people complaining about Ms Fair’s letter. We also have some comments of our own, so we would like to summarise these below.

1) Re paragraph 1, Ms Fair wrote: "Thank you for your letter we received on 14 May 2007 in relation to the Today Tonight story entitled 'Welfare Empire" broadcast on 8 May 2007".

The Today Tonight story broadcast on 8 May 2007 was entitled "The Vietnamese Sting" not "Welfare Empire". If the program was entitled "Welfare Empire" we don't think that Dr Tien Nguyen would waste time to send Channel Seven a letter of complaint, the program would not anger many people in the community, and we would not waste time running the anti-racism campaign. With only the first two lines in her letter, Ms Fair rejected and invalidated the reasons and efforts for all of the actions we have taken to fight the unjust, provocative, unacceptable acts from Channel Seven.

This also leads us to to assume that Ms Fair may have not read the letter of complaint from Dr. Tien Nguyen (Vietnamese Community in Australia Federal President), nor watched the Today Tonight program.

With only the first two lines in Ms Fair's letter, a big question could be raised about the sincerity of her letter.

2) Re paragraphs 4, 8 & 9, Ms Fair wrote:

- In paragraph 4: "...The story presented information which implicated Mr Van Vu in alleged welfare and tax fraud schemes and was based on extensive research and investigation conducted by the Today Tonight program in conjunction with members of the Brisbane Vietnamese community."

- In paragraph 7: "...Your concerns have been discussed with the producers of the Today Tonight program who acknowledge the important issues raised in your letter."

- In paragraph 8: "...The story in question was prepared in good faith and involved an amiable collaboration with the Brisbane Vietnamese Association Against Vietnamese Crime (BVAAVC)."

- In paragraph 9: "...The Today Tonight program and the BVAAVC invested a great amount of time and extensive resources into the investigation of the Van Vu family."

However, according to ABC Media Watch, on Friday 25/05/2007 Mr Craig McPherson the Executive Producer of Today Tonight at Seven claimed that:"The title (The Vietnamese Sting) is a fair reflection on the report. This particular family was allowed to flourish at taxpayers' expense because it was cocooned within a section of the Vietnamese community..."

How can people understand when they read what Ms Fair wrote above and what Mr McPherson claimed on 25 May 2007? We have a number of questions below which we wonder if Ms Fair or someone at CHANNEL SEVEN could explain to us because we ourselves can't find any answers.

According to Ms Fair Today Tonight did work in CONJUNCTION with members of the Brisbane Vietnamese Community; and the story was prepared in good faith and involved an AMIABLE COLLABORATION with the BVAAVC; and the BVAAVC invested a great amount of time and extensive resources into the investigation etc.
a) So why did Mr McPherson claim that Mr Van Vu's family was cocooned within a section of the Vietnamese community?
b) What section of the Vietnamese Community has tried to protect Mr Van Vu's family?
c) Did Channel Seven or Mr McPherson have any facts or did they just make some racist assumption when he raised his claim?
d) If the producers of the Today Tonight program acknowledge the important issues raised as mentioned in Ms. Fair’s letter:
· Why did Mr McPherson the Executive Producer of Today Tonight, eighteen days later (8 August – 25 August) still claimed that "the title (The Vietnamese Sting) is a fair reflection"?
· Do the producers mentioned in Ms Fair's letter include Mr McPherson?
· Do these producers work for Mr McPherson? If yes, what is the point for these producers to acknowledge the important issues but not Mr McPherson? If no, then what is Mr McPherson's actual role and what is the structure at Channel Seven Today Tonight?

3) Re paragraph 6, Ms. Fair wrote: "...the word sting, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as 'a carefully planned undercover operation'."

Mr Van Vu may well have been engaged in a "sting". What we object to particularly is the association of the word "sting" with the word "Vietnamese" and the flag.

4) Re paragraph 10, Ms Fair wrote: "While we do not believe that the story was likely to provoke intense dislike or portrayed Australians of Vietnamese origin in a negative light, we sincerely apologise for the offence the segment's promotion has caused you and members of the wider Vietnamese community in Australia."

If you Channel Seven don't believe the story with that title was LIKELY to provoke anything, then may we suggest that next time when you run a similar story relating to any Australian, just entitle it "The Australian Sting" to see how people react. We ask again that Channel Seven show makes a simple on air apology. I am sure that many of your Vietnamese Australian viewers will appreciate the gesture, as far as we are concerned that would be the end of the matter.

Regards,

The Campaigner.
Email: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com

Updated News - C7's Letter of Apology (please click on the images to enlarge)

2007-06-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

Please click on the images to enlarge.

==================================

** Friday 25 May 2007:

ABC gave Seven a good blast at their use of the race card. However, Craig McPherson Executive Producer Today Tonight at Seven went on the defense and claimed that:
"The title (The Vietnamese Sting) is a fair reflection on the report. This particular family was allowed to flourish at taxpayers' expense because it was cocooned within a section of the Vietnamese community..."

"Tựa đề của mục này phản ánh khá trung thực nội dung của phóng sự. Gia đình này được làm ăn khấm khá nhưng thiệt hại cho người đóng thuế vì gia đình này được một phần của cộng đồng người Việt bảo bọc như trong một ổ kén ..."

Craig McPherson Executive Producer Today Tonight
(extract of email from McPherson.Craig)

"So the Vietnamese Community is protecting criminals according to Today Tonight..."
"Vậy là theo Today Tonight thì Cộng Ðồng Việt Nam bảo vệ cho những kẻ tội phạm..."

Monica Attard (Media Watch presenter - Channel ABC)

**Related Links:

Transcript of Media Watch (ABC) 28/5/2007 - Vietnamese Sting
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1935709.htm

Channel Seven cartoons
http://users.bigpond.net.au/drkien/toons/racist7.html

The Vietnamese Sting Clip
http://www.youswap.com/index.php?download_id=263fb574-50d7-102a-a1b3-00188b3d0e02

Comment on ABC Web Site
http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Message.aspx?b=33&m=1330&ps=20&dm=1&pd=3

Article on Cali Today Web Site
http://www.calitoday.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=3f8b1078f2c586b070143033eb0cc06d

Article & letter on the Vietnamese Community in Australia Web Site
http://www.ausviet.net/read.asp?Title=FED/notices/20070511114532.txt
http://www.ausviet.net/read.asp?Title=fed/notices/20070510202826.txt

Comment on OAN Web Site
http://oan.tyl.cc/index.php/2007/05/11/vietnamese-sting-on-today-tonight/

Wikipedia - Today Tonight Promoting racist attitudes
On 8 May 2007, Today Tonight reported about a welfare cheat, Dat Van Vu; though using the generalised title "Vietnamese Sting" and using the opposed Vietnamese flag, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flag. Both resulted in anger amongst the Australian Vietnamese community.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Today_Tonight

Comment on Anne's Web Site
http://annedinh.multiply.com/links/item/17

Article on Vietbao.com
http://www.vietbao.com/?ppid=45&pid=75&nid=108833

Article on HuongDuong.com
http://www.huongduong.com.au/article_1761.html?PHPSESSID=4d5

Vietnamese Community in Australia (VCA) complains to Channel 7 about “Vietnamese Sting”

2007-06-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.ausviet.net/pdf/chanel7_response.pdf

TRANSCRIPT OF ABC TELEVISION 28 MAY 2007 MEDIA WATCH SEGMENT ON TELEVISION CHANNEL 7 TODAY TONIGHT’S “VIETNAMESE STING’”

2007-06-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.ausviet.net/reade.asp?Title=lateste/20070529091008.txt#Viet

Monica Attard (MA, Media Watch presenter): “...If plagiarism is the tool of lazy journalism, the race card is what tabloid TVs play to rope in the viewers.”

Video Clip: Anna Coren (AC, Today Tonight presenter) "The poem on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour declares that America welcomes the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We never have that approach to immigration mainly because the huddled masses bring their own problems to play out on our doorsteps.

(MA) "Seven Today Tonight said immigration to Australia has been a failure. Perhaps, that's why it turned the story of one migrant into a chance to smear an entire ethnic community. Take a look at this."

Clip: (Interview 20 March 2007) (Reporter voice) "Hello, we're from Today Tonight, Can I talk to you about your flexible (?) business practice?"

MA: "Vietnamese Sting, the butcher, the baker, grocer and fishmongerVietnamese Sting (emphasis) and in case you didn't get the message that this was about ethnicity, there was the Vietnamese flag to remind you. But what the family's business dealings, dodgy or not, have to do with their ethnicity is anybody's guess. Today Tonight wants its both ways."

Clip: AC with the Vietnamese Communist flag as background - AC "We admire migrants and the story of Australia is the story of migrants who made it with hard work, thrift, savings and the lucky break here and there. Now we met a Vietnamese family doing so well they nearly got an empire with hard work certainly, but by skating past the tax man while claiming a small fortune from welfare. Karen Cooper investigates."

MA: "While Karen Cooper accuses the family of Van Vu Pham of fraud, owning several businesses, lots of properties while taking benefit from Centrelink."

Clip (voice of Karen) "So you've paid the right amount of tax?(voice of interviewee): You check,..check down with my accountant."

MA: "The Vietnamese Community in Australia (VCA) lobby group is lodging a complaint against Today Tonight with ADMA, the broadcasting authority.

Clip (voice reading from extract of VCA letter (shown): "Only a very small number of Vietnamese Australians as individuals are involved in unlawful activities"...

"We believe that the segment title "Vietnamese Sting" is highly misleading, insulting, offensive and divisive for Australians."

MA: "Now Seven didn't respond to that letter and the complaints kept coming to a Vietnamese website set up by the Vietnamese Community, not that it bothers Today Tonight that much."

Clip: (extract of email shown) from McPherson.CraigFriday 25 May 2007

(voice reading from extract) "The title is a fair reflection on the report. This particular family was allowed to flourish at taxpayers' expense because it was cocooned within a section of the Vietnamese community.

As usual, Media Watch is banging on with the vocal community" Craig McPhersonExecutive ProducerToday Tonight”

MA: So the Vietnamese Community is protecting criminals according to Today Tonight but Seven is not alone in appealing to racism sentiments to boost ratings.....

===[Phần dịch tiếng Việt]

(tiếp theo phần phóng sự về phóng viên và hoạ sĩ báo chí ăn cắp văn bài của ngươì khác...)

Monica Attard (MA - Media Watch): ... Trong khi đạo văn (ăn cắp văn chương) người khác là dụng cụ của ký giả lười biếng, thì lá bài kỳ thị màu da là dây lôi kéo khán giả của những đài truyền hình lá cải tạp nham.

Ðoạn phim: Anna Coren (AC - Today Tonight) "Bài thơ về Nữ Thần Tự Do tại hải cảng Nữu Ước tuyên bố nước Mỹ đón chào người nghèo, những đám đông ôm chặt nhau thèm khát không khí tự do. Chúng ta không bao giờ có thái độ về di cư này bởi vì những đám di dân đến kéo theo những vấn đề nổ ra ngay trước thềm nhà chúng ta.

MA: "Chương trình Hôm Nay Tối Nay (Today Tonight) của Ðài 7 cho rằng chương trình di trú của Úc là một thất bại. Có lẽ vì vậy mà họ đưa chuyện của một người di dân để tạo cơ hội bôi nhọ cả cộng đồng một sắc tộc. Xem tiếp đây ...

Ðoạn phim: (Phỏng vấn ngày 20 03 2007) (Phóng viên) "Chào ông, chúng tôi từ chương trình Today Tonight, xin cho phép chúng tôi hỏi ông về thương nghiệp lắt léo của ông?"

MA: "Bịp Việt Nam" - người bán thịt, lò bánh mì, bán tạp hóa, bán cá ... "Bịp Việt Nam" (nhấn mạnh từ Việt Nam) - và nếu bạn không nhận thấy được thông điệp của phóng sự là về tính cách sắc tộc - thì đã có lá cờ (đỏ sao vàng cộng sản) Việt Nam để nhắc nhở bạn. Những hoạt động thương mại của gia đình ông này, gian dối hay không, có dính líu gì đến sắc tộc của ông ta chỉ là chuyện phỏng đoán. Chương trình Today Tonight lại muốn bắt cá hai tay"

Ðoạn phim: AC (với là cờ CSVN phiá sau) " Chúng ta ngưỡng mộ di dân, và lịch sử nước Úc là lịch sử người di dân thành công nhờ chăm chỉ làm việc, cần kiệm, để dành tiền, và đôi lúc nhờ may mắn. Nhưng nay ta lại gặp một gia đình Việt Nam thành công đến nỗi gần có cả một đế quốc kinh tế, nhờ chăm chỉ làm ăn, đúng vậy nhưng lại trốn thuế và đồng thời khai gian lấy cả một tài sản tiền trợ cấp xã hội. Phóng viên Karen Cooper điều tra..."

MA: "Trong khi Karen Cooper kết tội gia đình ông Van Vu Pham làm ăn gian trá, có nhiều doanh nghiệp, một lô bất động sản trong khi lấy tiền trợ cấp của CentreLink "

Ðoạn phim: (giọng nói của Karen) "Ông đóng đủ đúng tiền thuế?"(giọng ông Vũ) "Cô đi mà kiểm chứng lại ... kiểm lại với kế toán viên của tôi ..."

MA: "thì Cộng Đồng Người Việt Tự Do Úc Châu, một nhóm vận động chính trị đang khiếu nại Today Tonight với ADMA, cơ quan có trách nhiệm về phát thanh và phát hình"

Ðoạn phim: (giọng đọc thư của CÐNVTDUC VCA) : "Chỉ một số rất ít cá nhân trong cộng đồng người Úc gốc Việt Nam dính liú vào những họat động bất hợp pháp" "Chúng tôi tin rằng tựa đề "Vietnamese Sting" của phóng sự này rất sai lạc, làm nhục, gây hấn và gây chia rẽ đối với người Úc"

MA: :Ðài 7 không trả lời thư khiếu nại này và cuộc phản đối tiếp tục trên website mà Cộng đồng người Việt dựng lên (hình trang web againstracist.blogspot.com) - nhưng những phản đối này vẫn không lay động dược Today Tonight"

Ðoạn phim: (trích email của McPherson.Craig)Friday 25 May 2007

(giọng đọc đoạn email trích)

"Tựa đề của mục này phản ánh khá trung thực nội dung của phóng sự. Gia đình này được làm ăn khấm khá nhưng thiệt hại cho người đóng thuế vì gia đình này được một phần của cộng đồng người Việt bảo bọc như trong một ổ kén ...

Như thường lệ, Media Watch khua trống hò theo một thiểu số ồn ào." Craig McPhersonExecutive ProducerToday Tonight

MA: "Vậy là theo Today Tonight thì Cộng Ðồng Việt Nam bảo vệ cho những kẻ tội phạm. Nhưng Ðài 7 không phải là đài TV duy nhất dùng lá bài chủng tộc để kiếm khán giả ...

(sau đó đến phần đài 9 Current Affairs chiếu phóng sự về dân Ai Cập sống ở Úc)

Posted Comments

2007-06-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, your story, The Vietnamese Sting, was racist and a gross generalisation of the Vietnamese people living in Australia. This was clearly a tax cheat story of an ordinary Aussie family who could have been migrated from Lebanon, Russia, England or Vietnam. The title of the story is misleading and insulting to the 200K plus law-abiding, tax-paying Vietnamese living in Australia. I call this country my home and feel that insensitive and racist heading like this divides rather than unites our society. The journalist owes the general public an apology.

Q. Pham.
Wed 09 May 2007.
May 9, 2007 6:02 AM

Hanh Thi My Tran said...
I am so disappointed the show on Channel 7 which was about tax cheating with the title: "Vietnamese sting". It is unbelievable that I am living in Australia where we are proud of the nation with multicultural in the world and there are some issues about racism that happened and still happing in our country. That show hurts me a lot and it is offended to Vietnamese Community. I want to know when they started working on this project what came up in their mind and what aims they want to take from doing it. Does Channel 7 want to start a war in our country? Put yourselves in other’s shoes so you will understand how hurt it is right now.

I used to watch Channel 7 because it has hips of good shows but after this I don’t know I still love to watch Channel 7 any more.

Channel 7 owns an apology for Vietnamese Community.

May 10, 2007 4:52 AM

Tan H said...
It's totally racist and discrimination title that Channel 7 had selected to label Vietnamese community.

We had seen a lot of program about the bad people around Australia on our television networks, but we never seen any individual target likes Englishmen, Iris, Italian, Chinese, Indian etc Sting.

Why Vietnamese community deserve this?

We are all Australian, aren't we?

May 10, 2007 7:10 PM

Anonymous said...
I'm so disappointed with your discriminated title. Your program has always been about helping the community at large on things that affecting our lives. However your Tues 8 May 07 labelling Vietnamese Sting sends the wrong message to the Australian public with dammaging affect. No community should be singled out and cheating occurs in all walks of life, not limited to any class, ethnic etc.
You should exercise your media rights more thoughtfully and avoid generalisation. Vietnamese Australians have high rate of academic success and in small businesses. We're quiet, hard-working, law-abiding citizens. We integrate well into Australian way of life. Recently, an ex boat people from VietNam has been appointed as deputy governor of South Australia. Such story should attract media interest and if using your labelling method, it should read Vietnamese Glory.
We deserve a correction announcement in your next program.
Tina LE

May 10, 2007 8:17 PM

a Vietnamese Australian said...
I was very disappointed when viewing the "Vietnamese sting" program few days ago on channel 7.
I would have agreed with your channel and your chosen title if that could only happen within the Vietnamese community in Australia. Please just look at how many other "Australians" (non of them have Vietnamese names) have done exactly the same, creating false identities and false names to get the government benefits and also avoiding tax prior to this incidence.
These problems have been very popular in Australia because it has been too easy to cheat like that if you really wanted to.
I believe you, Channel 7, should apologise before too late... I also suggest channel 7 to investigate how to rectify the problem and to improve the system, look at the "Why" and "How" it happened, there is no point blaming a particular ethnic group whilst it is a comon issue to our society, you have just made it worse.
As Australians, we should try to do our best to do something good to our society...

May 10, 2007 9:54 PM

Phuong said...
I am actually not all that surprised with what Channel 7's Today Tonight has done. I do not generally watch the show just due to the fact that they have nothing better to do than to create controversary like this has. I overheard about the topic of the show on the radio driving home from work and I decided to see what it was all about.

Obviously it was a story that again justified my pre-disposition about the show. It is aim at the uneducated population who believes everything the watch on TV and read on the papers. Channel 7 knows exactly what they are doing, they know it will stir up this racism issue. It was not really about what that guy did or is doing wrong, it was intentionally aim at outcasting the Vietnamese community. It is disgraceful, pathetic and low (even for Channel 7) but it is how they make their money.

It just hurts me to think that I consider myself to be an Australian but the media and other people still tries to make me feel like an outsider.

May 11, 2007 4:31 AM

Bui Van Hau said...
If he called " Vietnamese sting" for just someone srewing tax, what does he call the case of Carl Williams? Aussie murdering or Aussie killing or Aussie masacring?Let's get rid of Channel 7.
Life is based on solidarity and acceptance, not on human frailty or racism. The reporter has to apologize all the vietnamese community publicly on TV.

May 11, 2007 4:46 AM

Anonymous said...
Channel 7 is just purely Disgraceful!

May 11, 2007 7:25 AM

Anonymous said...
We are proud to be Australian and Vietnamese. The whole Vietnamese Community do not deserve as Channel 7 was labelled. We are working hard and contributing our taxes to the country as we call our second home. Why is Vietnamese always the one be targeted? Channel 7 should have the answer for this.

May 11, 2007 9:08 PM

Albert Lu said...
the heading is racist and insulting to thousands of the Vietnamese Australians working and paying taxes in this country. Channel 7, by approving such a misleading heading, aggravated racism against the Vietnamese community. You owe us apologies.

May 13, 2007 4:20 AM

Anonymous said...
To: Board of Directors of Channel 7

On the 8th May 2007, ‘Vietnamese Sting’ was allowed to be aired on ‘Today Tonight’ by Channel 7. It was about a Vietnamese man who became filthy rich by working with an income and receiving social security benefit at the same time.

I am a viewer, of a Vietnamese origin, totally disagreed with you using the title ‘Vietnamese Sting’ inappropriately with the following reasons:

In any society, there are always people taking advantage of loop holes of the law to do unlawful things, whether they are Australian, Japanese, American, English or Vietnamese.

You should have consulted with the Department of Social Security and the Tax Office before starting to use a word that applies to a whole community to represent an individual. Although that person originally comes from Viet Nam, his action has nothing to do with us. However, being Vietnamese doesn’t allow him to break the law under any circumstances.

In fact, you should have used another term which would be more appropriate and would not insult the whole Vietnamese community. You can’t stereotype, the whole community cannot be held responsible for an individual’s wrongdoing.

You should have been more careful with the way you used words before allowing them to be aired on radio or television. One unfriendly and insulting word can create division in a harmonious society. It is immature and unnecessary.

We all should unite to build a better society, and everybody has a responsibility to work to that goal and should not cause more conflicts and division.

Respectfully yours,

Loi Nguyen

Sutherland, NSW
May 13, 2007 5:24 PM

Quat Do said...
I am totally against the tittle “The Vietnamese Sting” program aired by Channel 7.
I am a Vietnamese-Australian, have been working very hard, paying tax and never got a cent from Centre Link.

The title implied the whole Vietnamese Community. That’s sooooooooooo wrong.
In any community, even Australian, there are good and bad people.

I feel sorry for Channel 7 for having such a bad racist TV reporter. He takes advantage of his position with the Channel to blow his own trumpet.

May 13, 2007 7:28 PM

tp said...
Your Today Tonight program titled "The Vietnamese Sting" aired last Tuesday 8th of May 2007 was downright racist and offensive to the Vietnamese community living in Australia. This was an act of deliberate smearing of Vietnamese people, an act of abhorrent sensationalism. If a politician had said something similar to what Channel 7 did in the program, he or she would have got instant dismissal and/or forced to apologise and that should be applied to the head of the program. If Channel 7 does not sack that person, or at the very least, does not apologise to the Vietnamese community and the public, then it does not deserve a place in Australia's journalism, because its standards of journalism is very low indeed. Channel 7 was quick to point out racist, sexist politicians but now they themselves aired a racist program, what a double standard they have!

The vast majority of Vietnamese people living in Australia is law-abiding, just like the vast majority of the general public. There are of course thousands of Aussies and other migrants who are tax cheats. There are high profile white Aussies who are tax cheats with much larger amounts of tax cheated than the Vietnamese in the program and Channel 7 did not make a story " The Aussies Sting" to air to the public, or "The Italian, Greek... Sting" for that matter.

This is the new low life form of Channel 7, who, with their advantage of mass media, should be seen doing much more for the harmony of the community, than just a nasty and cheap sensationalism which no doubt will promote racism in this country.

May 13, 2007 7:54 PM

Anonymous said...
I feel so ashamed for Channel7 which has rose this matter in Australia!
Channel7 and Australian must look at other individual races likes Englishmen, Iris, Italian, Chinese, Indian, etc. Do they all do right things or not do tax cheating in Australia?
Therefore Channel7 must apologise to Vietnamese.

May 13, 2007 7:56 PM

Be Pos said...
For me this is an insult not only for the Australia Vietnamese Community but it also being an insult to the whole Vietnamese Community around the world.

Shame shame shame on Channel 7 as they are one of the main public TV channel and they should know better how to documenting their program and doing better research before going on air.

Channel 7 definitely owns the Vietnamese an apology and they should also paying for the damage of Vietnamese Community reputation.

May 14, 2007 4:43 AM

Tanya said...
To the TT board of directors,

I am a 13yr old
Australian/Vietnamese girl. I used to loved to watch Today Tonight. I heard about the article called "The Vietnamese Sting" and i am absolutely outraged! Channel 7 should be very ashamed on having a racist reporter. This reporter shouldn't even deserve a job. I thought that TT was meant to be helping people out, not being racist towards the Vietnamese Community. I think the story"The Vietnamese Sting" is a disgraceful and racist article!
And to all the racist people out there: Put yourselves in our shoes and then you know what it would really feel like to be discriminated because of being Vietnamese. We haven't done anything wrong.
The Vietnamese Community deserve an apology FROM the TT team.This article has hurt so many people and you cannot say that Vietnamese people are bad because of one person.
Including the Racist Journalist.
Here's a question: Are you sure that Australians have never cheated on tax?
There's a question for you to think about.
Tanya Le

May 14, 2007 5:18 AM

Anonymous said...
Channel 7, it's a DIRTY, SHAMEFUL TACTICS using BIG CONTROVERSIAL HEADLINE to attract viewers in order to compete with channel 9's Current Affairs. A DIRTY, SHAMEFUL, UNCIVILISED, IMMORAL, DISGRACEFUL conducts to serve their selfish-rating purpose at the expense of one's community's reputation, whose have been contributing to a fruitful multiculturalism society.

Once again, Channel 7, particularly Today Tonight team shows their incapability, incompetent, irresponsible, lack of confidence and unethical in the media world.

As a Vietnamese-Australian, who has been contributing fund to support this aging nation, had been offensively labeled as “Vietnamese sting” by Today Tonight, I demand a public apology from Today Tonight management.

A resentful viewer
D.Nguyen

May 14, 2007 8:21 AM

Anonymous said...
so disappointed for channel 7. i dont think i will love to watch channel 7 anymore, no more.

May 14, 2007 10:46 PM

Anonymous said...
Dear Channel Seven,

Shame on you for tarnishing an entire community as cheats based on the actions of just one family. We could not believe in the hypocrisy of a program that has a history running segments on so-called “Integration” and “Fair Go” chose to air a story that divided, wronged and humiliated all Australian of Vietnamese origin. This particular segment was offensive, irresponsible, and a total misrepresentation of a community that has been and will be a great contributor to this country.

Given large amount of illegal activities exposed by your program over past few years and in which were mostly committed by Australians of European origin, I did not ever recalled that you have labelled a segment called “An English Sting” or “An Irish Sting”.

This was plain bottom of the barrel stuff and does not appeal to anyone but the extreme fringe of this society.

John Listeri

May 16, 2007 11:28 PM

Anonymous said...
Dear Channel Seven,

I don’t understand how can a reputable and well respected business like yours could dropped its ball and ran a totally sloppy and reckless story called “The Vietnamese Sting” last week? I am just totally surprised by a lack of quality system or lack of quality review process in your organisation. Otherwise, how could you explain a defamatory, embarrassing and potentially, costly exercise could be aired by your station recently? Other stations must be laughing at the moment.

D.P

May 16, 2007 11:56 PM

Jayant said...
I really diappointed with this channel. They shouldn't do that you know, it is not fair that the whole community is being jugded by one person they should not put articles like that on channels.

I think there is a apology that the channel7 own to the Vietnamese community.

May 18, 2007 2:16 AM

Minh H said...
I was shocked at the title "The Vietnamese Sting". Channel Seven has hurt and injured many Vietnamese-Australians with that racist title. I mean, aren't we all Aussies? All of us know that the tax cheat was obviously wrong, but how does that give "Today Tonight" the right to brand and label the entire Vietnamese community? It's these sorts of things you can't generalize. I hope that the tax cheat is accordingly punished, but Channel Seven owes the Vietnamese community a formal apology, and that racist reporter should definitely be sacked. "Today Tonight" should swallow its pride and express some concern or regret for how it has insulted and hurt the Vietnamese community.

Minh H Tran

May 20, 2007 12:14 AM

Anonymous said...
Frankly, Today Tonite is a nobody's show.

I mean, breaking it down, it's hosted by an unprofessional anchor-head whos sole purpose is to expose, ridicule and humiliate small businesses and individuals who otherwise do not have the financial means to take them to court. (evidently, they're too pansy and insecure to have the power or means to expose big businesses or corporations which may actually be relavent to the general public). Aimed for those in lower socio-economic situations, TT twists stories, sensationalises visuals and basically tries to defame anything and everyone. Hey, they may even drop in the odd "blonde w/ bad surgery" story or "sport + sex scandal." Overall, it's full of shit.

I'm an Australian born Vietnamese as well, and seriously... this is not a big deal. It's one show. Basically the ONLY one show the network turns a blind eye on and let's them talk about junk for a (bad) hour or a half (like i said, i dont watch this crap).

I honestly do not think for one second that it would seriously affect the general Vietnamese population in Australia. If everyone were to "shun" every "nationality" that Today Tonite have made a bad story on, well, let's just say... society just wouldn't work. We'd be going backwards.

Forget about it. Watch something decent. like the news. Just because they showed one stupid story, it doesn't mean the entire network is in the ground.

May 20, 2007 5:00 AM

Le said...
Dear all,

I believe we are all very passionate about this issue and would like to keep up-to-date with information and share ideas. However, this blog is beginning to get a bit difficult to navigate so I would like to start a mailing list for those who have little time to follow new entries in this blog and those who are interested in further discussions.

If you would like to be included in this list, please email me at goldenrun@gmail.com and I will add you to future discussions.

May 21, 2007 5:44 AM

Ba-Lan said...
This is outrages of how Channel 7 carrying out the show. Surely you can carry out the show the way you want. But whatever you're doing it should be privately and individually, not as a group. How dare you write such thing as "Vietnamese Sting". I'm a Vietnamese born Australian and also a tax payer, I feel so offended, disgrace and outrages at such comment like that. Do Channel 7 think that all the dinkum Aussie are doing the right thing on tax, apart from those, who having Vietnamese background? Such as comment like "Vietnamese Sting" is totally racist, childish and immature. How dare you?

Australia proud to be a multicultures country. But what Channel 7 did has stirring up racism within the nation and disgrace Australia.

May 24, 2007 9:23 PM

Once again you have deliberately provoked and promoted racism. Your story does nothing except increase divisions within Australian society. The story should have been titled "Welfare sting" instead. Why didn't you call other similar "sting" stories "Italian Sting", "Greek Sting" or even "Aussie Sting"... As a community, we would like to see welfare cheats exposed for the bad, rotten, ugly individuals that they clearly are, but generalizing the entire Vietnamese community as a bunch of dole bludgers/welfare cheats under the banner "Vietnamese Sting" is down right disgraceful and a blight on your network and program. Dole bludgers and welfare cheats are not unique to the Vietnamese; there are plenty of other nationalities rotting the system, including Australians, Europeans and the like. Your title was unfair, misleading, ill-thought out, irresponsible and unprofessional.
I demand that an apology is put to air and an undertaking that such an incident will never happen again.
An angry viewer
Vien Trinh

Posted at 6:02 PM on May 9, 2007

Anonymous said...
Channel 7 Stinks!
Their story on the welfare cheat on Tuesday 8/May/07 is at best shoddy journalism and at worst downright racist.

The Vietnamese community does not deserve to be portrayed (abeitedly implied) as tax cheats. The story was wholly based on people in one family and should be addressed as such.
It's a shame that a big commercial media company like channel 7 stoops so low to attract the views.

May 11, 2007 5:54 AM

Angela Tran said...
"Vietnamese Sting", how dare a legal media in Australia could stupidly and biasly use this kind of cheap, sensational word to describe a wrong doing Vietnamese. Your channel 7 is just a lousy media, in order to attract audiences to watch your cheap rate show you used lousy words. A quality show does not have to do this kind of dirty tricks.
I complain because I am a proud Australian and my origin is Vietnamese and I am not a “sting”. Your channel 7 used the wrong word and the lousy title “Vietnamese Sting” was misleading people and labeled terribly a whole law abiding Australian Vietnamese Community.
If I now tell you (whole bunch of channel 7) that not only the one who invented the "Vietnamese Sting" word is a shallow, stupid and immoral journalist, all of the channel 7 staff including the chief executive of channel 7 is shallow, stupid and immoral news workers, what do you think?
Why your channel 7 has to employ this kind of dirty trick to earn extra lousy dollars?
How could decent audiences have fair in channel 7 who want to attract extra audiences were not hesitate to humiliate the whole innocent Vietnamese Community.
Who will be your next victims, Australian Sting/Aboriginal Sting/ Greek Sting etc.
If we do not receive an apology from you (channel 7), we will definitely believe that all of channel 7’s white collars are just a mob of immoral, stupid, cheap rate news makers and presenters and we will use every kind of legal communication to complain further and to spread your channel 7’s bias and cheap attitude.
Angela Tran
Melbourne

May 11, 2007 6:03 AM

Anonymous said...
I don't understand why you guys are so defensive? The fact is a Vietnamese business man who cheats tax. I don't see any racist here.
This is good for Vietnamese comunity to learn a lesson here:
Not to conduct any illegal activities such as cheating tax, grow, selling drug, ect...

May 11, 2007 7:34 AM

Anonymous said...
Dear Angila Tran:

You sound like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton in the US, no black ever did any thing wrong!
What you said about channel 7 is your opinion, not facts (no ref or examples given).

The fact is that there is high % of Vietnamese grow and sell illegal substances than any other races in hte Au. So take it and make neces. changes, long term it will be good for your community.
Too defensive will not solve the problem.

There always has bad apples in any community, so please behave constructively instead of defensively.

May 11, 2007 9:47 AM

VDoan said...
Dear Anonymous who wrote 'I don't understand why you guys are so defensive?'... You missed the point completely... The reason we protest is because of the way they named and delivered the story not because of the the content of it. I bet that we all like to see those tax cheat bastards be brought out in the light as a warning to others. I praise Today Tonight for doing so but what's wrong is that they fixed one problem and created another big one: Generalizing VN Community as a bunch of tax cheaters. If TT did not choose to title the story 'Vietnamese Sting' I believe this campaign would have never been initiated. VDoan

May 11, 2007 4:55 PM

Kien said...
The segment should be called "welfare cheater". What the person did (cheating) had nothing to do with where he came from (Vietnam). Had a British citizen did the same thing, would Seven call the segment "Pommy sting"? I think not.

May 11, 2007 5:08 PM

phuong nguyen said...
There is always a bad individual in any community. Channel 7 can made the report of any bad person but has to be clarified who is the one ,not for the whole Vietnamese Community. We are proud to be Australian and always. Channel 7 should appologise for this

May 11, 2007 6:02 PM

DK said...
I think that there is no doubt that C7 owes the absolute majority of the VN Community an explanation and susequently an apology. But I also think that we should take this oppotunity to spark another campaign among ourselves against tax cheaters, dole bludgers, immigration cheats and the like and made the message heard by and reached to the entire community. It is not easy to do so without the support of Vietnamsese media. Things like talk-back radio, TV programs, editorials on print-medias ect... would be best to adapt... I could only hope that my humble comment and recommendation be reached to the Vietnamese media first. Regards.

May 11, 2007 6:30 PM

Khanh Nguyen said...
Dear Campaigner and fellow Vietnamese,

The issue at hand is defaming the Vietnamese community. Not only in Victoria or Australia but with repercussion through out the world.

I have been referred to this Blog and was asked to respond.

By way of introduction, my name is Khanh Nguyen, a Certified Practising Accountant with a CPA practice in Springvale proudly serving the Vietnamese people and community. Of relevance, I was managing the Tax Evasion Centre and Audit division in the Australian Taxation Office before I openned my own practice.

Many people of all nationality fail at certain time to discharge their Taxation or other obligations. Not just Vietnamese.

One reported case of failing to report and pay the proper amount of tax & receiving benefits, with the individual in question being an Australian with a Vietnamese heritage, does not, could not, and must not be allowed to impute upon the Vietnamese community.

The issue is clear: Our community has been defamed by a powerful and influencial giant - Channel 7.

May I suggest, Channel 7 has breached defamation law. Its not just a question of an apology; IF there is damage and the damage could be quantified, our community should seek compensation.

Our community is strong. We are talented, intelligent and dispite the insinuation on Channel 7 of our attributes, we are proper. In the spirit of being proper citizen, we wish to seek a proper outcome, on this issue and any challenges that arose in the future.

May I suggest:

1. We need to have a plan;
2. Convene the best minds that the Vietnamese community has. Barristers, Solicitors, Doctors, Bankers, Business People, Accountants, Student leaders and have a meeting ASAP;
3. Pettition the Community - formally for support of grievance and to record any tangible or observed damages; 4. Respond to Channel 7 formally - from a legal and forceful perspective;
5. Organised peaceful demonstration / protest outside Channel 7;
6. Call all Vietnamese newpapers in Australia and radio programs to support;
7. Send a report to Media Watch at ABC;
8. Call all other Television Station and let them know about the protest and demonstration.

These are some initial thoughts.

I applaud the Campainer for starting this blog and all those who have already contributed through feedback.

Let's spread the word about this issue and this blog. Encourage all Vietnamese to take action. Defamation is a poison.

What I intend to do myself:
1. On Monday 14 May, I will contact 3 Vietnamese Barristers and Solicitors to seek advise on Defamation;
2. Contact Vietnamese Community leaders, Bankers, Business people, Student leaders and other people and have an urgent meeting;
3. Request one of the Vietnamese law firm to represent our community and either see Channel 7 in person or through formal procedure.
4. If anyone has any other ideas or resources, or ideas to unite this VOICE OF PROTEST, Please do not hesitate to contact me immediately. My mobile phone number is 0432 86 82 86, office phone 03 9574 0222, email taxrus@dodo.com.au
5. By Friday 18 May, there will be a considered and forceful response delivered to Channel 7.

Regards,

Khanh Nguyen CPA, MBA, FTIA

May 12, 2007 6:56 PM

Thuan Vu said...
Hi all Vietnamese patriots,
I totally agree with Khanh Nguyen (CPA, MBA, FTIA)about the issue, specially the suggestion to have a plan for our community.

May 13, 2007 2:43 AM

Anonymous said...
I totally support that we should teach Channel 7 a lesson by suing them with dafamation. As we Vietnamese who watches the shows would felt very angry & insulted. How dare they generaling the whole community base on one individual.

May 13, 2007 4:58 PM

Narelle Ngo said...
To the campaigner & supporters I commend you.

Also I must acknowledge and applaud Channel 7 for its attempt to expose tax cheats. What angers me is the narrow focus of the story line and the obvious singling out of an entire community that offends me. I am sure tax cheats are not confined to the Vietnamese community alone.

To the people who cannot see what the fuzz is all about, I can only suggest you go back through history and you will see that the majority of conflicts usually started with one generalised comment or thought. A recent example for you would be Bin Ladin's belief that America and Capitalism is evil ... I might not be across all the finner details but I am 100% sure and certain that my godparents are not evil ...

Let not allow the ignorance of a few people to defame the rest of us or the community.

May 13, 2007 5:20 PM

Khanh Nguyen said...
Dear Anonymous,

Yes, Channel 7's action on this issue is unjust, unfair, defamatory and may be illegal. Our dissappointment and anger is a natural human response to injustice. The legal system in this country affords us the right to be heard and may be able to claim for damages.

As I see it, there a lots of perspectives and a very thin line to walk. There is the older generation, younger generation, old establishments and establishments not yet formed but should be formed. The politics of this issue and other issues as always are (were) complicated.

To have a balance outcome, the general theme as I see it, is to have an appropriate response to the issue.

As I mentioned in the other link,

"In terms of the plan, where are we now?

May I suggest the following:
1. Wait for Channel 7 to respond to Dr Tien Nguyen's (VCA Federal President)letter. Legal & forceful response depending on Channel 7's response;
2. Every one of us continues to send feedback to Channel 7 (and to our community leaders for accounting of the managnitude of this wrong done to us);
3. Continues to seek legal advise, work to increase support and action."

Regards,

Khanh

May 13, 2007 5:33 PM

tp said...
Your Program titled "The Vietnamese Sting" aired last Tuesday 8th of May 2007 was downright racist and offensive to the Vietnamese community living in Australia. This was an act of deliberate smearing of Vietnamese people, an act of abhorrent sensationalism. If a politician had said something similar to what Channel 7 did in the program, he or she would have got instant dismissal and/or forced to apologise and that should be applied to the head of the program. If Channel 7 does not sack that person, or at the very least, does not apologise to the Vietnamese community and the public, then it does not deserve a place in Australia's journalism, because its standards of journalism is very low indeed. Channel 7 was quick to point out racist, sexist politicians but now they themselves aired a racist program, what a double standard they have!

The vast majority of Vietnamese people living in Australia is law-abiding, just like the vast majority of the general public. There are of course thousands of Aussies and other migrants who are tax cheats. There are high profile white Aussies who are tax cheats with much larger amounts of tax cheated than the Vietnamese in the program and Channel 7 did not make a story " The Aussies Sting" to air to the public, or "The Italian, Greek... Sting" for that matter.

This is the new low life form of Channel 7, who, with their advantage of mass media, should be seen doing much more for the harmony of the community, than just a nasty and cheap sensationalism which no doubt will promote racism in this country.

May 13, 2007 7:47 PM

Anonymous said...
Today Tonight STING!!!

Im very angry that Today Tonight has 'bundled' us up together for this one. I've work my ass-off for 14 years since I've been in Aust. and hv done my duty, paying taxes that are like HALF of my pay because of the amount of over time that i do .. So what do you day??

GET THE FACT RIGTH BEFORE YOU START YOUR GENERALISATION TODAY TONIGHT !! Else.. SHUT UP!!

May 13, 2007 7:56 PM

Anonymous said...
Hi guys,

There are 3 links in this blog which are interrelated. Please read them all because we have been posting our messages all over the place. If we could concentrate on one link only, then our messages would flow better.

May 14, 2007 6:28 AM

Anonymous said...
Let Media watch know of our anger as well

May 14, 2007 11:57 AM

Tommy said...
The journalist should be fired, and Channel 7 should publicly apologise for being so ignorant to air that story in the first place. I personally don't even watch TV because I feel that it's all garbage, all the news stories I need can be found on the Internet.

May 14, 2007 11:44 PM

DK said...
Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for your facts but unfortunately your facts are wrong. Where did you get the facts from? Can you show? and do you know that the amount of drug those Viet-Aussies dealt is so small if compare with tones and tones by other non-Viet groups?

May 16, 2007 5:10 PM

Loc Huynh said...
"Cheat tax", cheat welfare!

You are right, this is what the Channel 7 should use for the title. Therefore, we are right, when we ask for the apology from Channel 7.

Those bad persons did get their punishment. However, surely one bad person can't represent the whole community. That's the fact.

May 16, 2007 5:26 PM

Anonymous said...
Dear Anonymous who wrote...
"I don't understand why you guys are so defensive?" You are so naive
to believe there are some learning experience here. The primary purpose of that segment is to tarnish the image of an entire group of people within a community and then divide the viewing public in order for the program to obtain a few minor rating points. Every community have its good and bad eggs and it is totally unacceptable and irresponsible for a so-called reputable media organisation to highlight such unbalance bias. Look closely at the Australian Bureau of Statistics New South Prisons 2001 Prison Statistics which shows a high rate of imprisonment are mostly white males of Anglo-Celtic origin, not Greek, not Italian, not Lebanese, and definitely not Vietnamese. With such disturbing numbers, I don’t see Today Tonight ever running a program called “The Anglo-Celtic Sting” and you, yes you Sir/Madam writing to a public forum lecturing all Anglo-Celtic Australians of lesson “Not to conduct any illegal activities such as cheating tax, grow, selling drug, ect...”

Dieu

May 17, 2007 5:42 PM

Anonymous said...
Good on you Dieu for highlighting this fact. We worked at an organisation which has a high number of dismissals due to unethical and unlawful activities. Guess what:- all of them are Australian of European origin.

TP

May 17, 2007 5:49 PM

Anonymous said...
Hi TP, it's great to know that. It would be great if you can share some more infor.
==> TT might contact you and then might try get some more cheap rating points, but surely the name wouldn't be that stupid/bias/racism as "VNese Sting"
MTam

May 17, 2007 7:51 PM

Anonymous said...
This is fantastic:- The number of high quality and rational responses to this lousy and poorly researched segment. Can I suggest the organiser of this Blog start forwarding these comments onto TT and Channel 7. I am interested in the outcome.

May 19, 2007 5:28 AM

Anonymous said...
Yep.. Looking at the passion from most of the responses. I can truly say that I am a proud Vietnamese-Australian. Well done all and hope these responses will minimise the sort of shoddy journalism that we are seeing from TT.

John Nguyen

May 19, 2007 5:38 AM

Anonymous said...
It's Today Tonight.

Fair enough if it was like Channel 7 NEWS or something half decent. but seriously. Today Tonight. that show is like another soapie. Even watching the simpsons or southpark would give you a better representation of humanity.

May 20, 2007 5:13 AM

Le said...
Dear all,

I believe we are all very passionate about this issue and would like to keep up-to-date with information and share ideas. However, this blog is beginning to get a bit difficult to navigate so I would like to start a mailing list for those who have little time to follow new entries in this blog and those who are interested in further discussions.

If you would like to be included in this list, please email me at goldenrun@gmail.com and I will add you to our discussions.

May 21, 2007 5:42 AM

Channel 7 Australia broadcast a report called "The Vietnamese Sting" on Tuesday, 8 May 2007. The report was about a tax cheat story of a Vietnamese Australian businessman living in Queensland, a state of Australia. However, Channel 7 has deliberately chosen the title "The Vietnamese..." which has angered a lot of Vietnamese people (see some comments below).

This blog is created to collect your feedback/comment to support the anti-racism campaign initiated from this incident. Through this campaign we request that Channel 7 to broacast an open apology to the Vietnamese community and to ensure that this kind of incident should never happen again to any community.

Please also send this blog to other people (inside or outside of Australia) so we can get as much support as possible.

Regards,
Campaigner.

PS: You can send your complaints to Channel 7 (using the contact information below). However, we would like to suggest that you should also post your complaints/comments on this blog to heighten public awareness of this issue. The more feedback/comments recorded in this blog makes it harder for Channel 7 to ignore our requests/complaints. However, if Channel 7 does ignore our complaints, we will base any further actions on the comments/complains in this blog.

Anonymous said...
Tôi rất bức súc và cảm thấy bị xúc phạm khi thấy Chanel 7 dùng tiêu đề "Vietnamese Sting" để tường trình chuyện trốn thuế, gian lận trợ cấp anh sinh xã hội và hành nghề bất chính của người tên là Đỗ Văn Minh.

Tôi là người Úc gốc Việt, Tôi cảm thấy đất nước này là quê hương của tôi, tôi yêu mến nó, tôi đi làm và đóng thuế hơn 20 năm nay, bạn bè tôi đều như vậy, tại sao Chanel 7 lại vơ đũa cả nắm?

Phải chăng Chanel 7 cố tình kỳ thị và chia rẽ các cộng đồng ở Úc Châu? Sting có nghĩa là châm chọc làm đau đớn, thế thì Chanel 7 chính là đương sự (Chanel 7, you are the one who sting the communities)

May 9, 2007 7:44 PM

Leo Huynh said...
To Channel 7 Today-Tonight

Vietnamese Sting

I couldn't stop laughing when thinking of one single person case could make you put such Big Name that represented the whole community. I saw that, you were so poor at finding a name for your story. A 5 years old kid could know better than you, some ones who claimed to be the "reporters".

Thinking seriously, this is such an unprofessional work, so insulting, misleading information and prejudiced against Vietnamese Community.

I will surely reconsider my thoughts about your programs and I will pass my thoughts about channel 7 to others whenever we are talking about "TV".

Like others have been said, all the Vietnamese-Aussie -who are the hard working and pay full tax- deserve the publicly apologise from you.

May 9, 2007 9:15 PM

Anonymous said...
Comment sent to Today Tonight:

Your documentation 'Welfare empire' on Today Tonight on Tuesday the 8th is really bias and misleading. In the duration of 8 minute long you only came up with one case. One case with one person in it cheating the welfare system is not sufficient for you to generalise the whole Vietnamese community as you advertised 'Vietnamese sting' on your Channel 7 the night before. The word 'sting' is an insult, a BIG insult to the Vietnamese people. The subject of the documentary was then changed to 'Welfare empire' after all. You must have had some sort feedback/comment/complaints before the program was run. Anyhow, running your story on one particular person to generalise the whole community is UNETHICAL and UNACCEPTABLE.

by Travis Tranquille

May 10, 2007 4:01 AM

Anonymous said...
Comment sent to Today Tonight:

Your documentation 'Welfare empire' on Today Tonight on Tuesday the 8th is really bias and misleading. In the duration of 8 minute long you only came up with one case. One case with one person in it cheating the welfare system is not sufficient for you to generalise the whole Vietnamese community as you advertised 'Vietnamese sting' on your Channel 7 the night before. The word 'sting' is an insult, a BIG insult to the Vietnamese people. The subject of the documentary was then changed to 'Welfare empire' after all. You must have had some sort feedback/comment/complaints before the program was run. Anyhow, running your story on one particular person to generalise the whole community is UNETHICAL and UNACCEPTABLE.

by Travis Tranquille

May 10, 2007 4:02 AM

Anonymous said...
Ai có số phone và địa chỉ của Chanel 7 xin vui lòng đưa lên Blog để đồng bào khắp nơi phản đối sự kỳ thị của đài này.

Cảm Ơn,

May 10, 2007 2:35 PM

Anonymous said...
Channel 7, and TodayTonight in particular, is famous for cheap stings. Who on earth watches it these days, after Naomi Robson ?

Let's rename it 7 sting.

If it was Lebanese Sting, I am sure there would be violence and rioting in the street now. Channel 7 does not have the gut to run Lebanese titles, so they run a Vietnamese one, knowing that the Vietnamese are peaceful, calm, non-violent people.

After all, not worth watching.

A proud V-Australian

May 10, 2007 5:29 PM

Anonymous said...
These programs are designed to shock and to hook viewers in so that they watch their (channel 7) silly programs. When I saw the aid during another program, I initially was outraged and angry. But then I thought again, and consciously made a decision not to watch the program as this is the EXACT outcome they want. Whether you watch it for the story in affirmation or whether you watch it in opposition - you are still watching the silly thing and giving Channel 7 the ratings they obviously so desperately need given the rubbish, trashy nature of their "headline grabbers."
We as a community are a proud community with many more talented, hard working, decent people. We know that, and we all know that there will always be bad apples in the cart regardless of race and sex. This is a cheap trick by the station to get ratings and it belongs with yesterday's trash. Like all tabloid trash - its' relevance is lost even before it hits the news stands. Don't give this stupidity any more credit because the more noise it causes, the more the station will promote it in an attempt to get further ratings. Don't give them more power or ammunition to spread their propagada.

May 10, 2007 5:52 PM

Anonymous said...
This the channel 7 website

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/tv/seven/

May 10, 2007 6:15 PM

Anonymous said...
I’m very angry and disappointed regarding your documentation on Today Tonight 08 May 2007. I’m sure the person that came up with the title “Vietnamese Sting” should be ashame of oneself to present this country with a message of racism. The story was a big insult to all Australian especially to the Vietnamese Community who calls this country home and paying full tax. Your program is unprofessional, misleading and unacceptable. Channel 7 owes the public an apology.

May 10, 2007 6:41 PM

Anonymous said...
A typical unethical approach by the media for sensational news to boost their rating.Use to be Channel 9's trick of the trade.. and I just can not believe how low Channel 7 has sunk with the current management.

If they’re really serious about the well being Australia, they should do a story about a typical hard working Viet like us who work hard and pay tax to the full.

Ken Nguyen
typical unethical approach by Channel 7 for sensational news to boost their rating.

Why don't they just do a story about one of the typical hard working Viet like us who works and pays tax to the full.

Ken Nguyen

May 10, 2007 8:52 PM

Campaigner said...
From: Le, Brian Hieu H
Sent: Friday, 11 May 2007 3:13:57 PM
To: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com
Hi,

My name is Hieu Le and although I did not watch that Channel 7 program, I believe that their title “The Vietnamese…” is a big insult to the entire Vietnamese community out there who have worked, paid tax and contributed to many aspects of the Australian society.

I demand Channel 7 a public apology to the Vietnamese community.

Hieu Le

PS: please put my comment on your blog since I couldn’t sign it to write myself.

Thanks

May 10, 2007 9:55 PM

Anonymous said...
Next time if you have another story on tax cheats or welfare of an individual of any ethnic background, you should try to just focus on the issue … ie welfare integrity, rather than emphasising on someone’s race or their ethnic background. Also, what purpose would your program serve by continually generalising the entire race by a misconduct of an individual? Consequently, this has damaged our spirit and reputation particularly those who have worked so hard to fit in and building strong network with the rest of the community and those who have always abide by the law and diligently paid their high taxes.

Your show has lost its credibility …again.

May 10, 2007 10:14 PM

Anonymous said...
I demand Channel 7 a public apology to the Vietnamese community.

May 10, 2007 10:16 PM

Anonymous said...
DANG! not impressed... how could channel 7 do that! i trusted them! T.T

May 11, 2007 12:53 AM

Anonymous said...
I like many others, appalled by what was presented on Channel 7 on what so called "Vietnamese Sting". This sort of media release is just not acceptable nor can be ignored or tolerated. No doubt this had inflicted some emotional and psychological damage to many of the viewers; particularly those of Vietnamese origin. The word would be "CANCEROUS" to describe Channel 7 in an attempt to capture the attention of TV viewers. I am yet to see Channel 7 commence reporting on some of more pleasant stories; to cover what outstanding and remarkable contributions many Vietnamese individuals and others have made for the Australian community as a whole. An apology from Channel 7 perhaps may heal the cancerous wound.
Let's not forget that the survival of commercial TV is depending on us as viewers. Imagine ALL of the predominant non racially prejudiced TV viewers not watching Channel 7 at any one time. Please do count me in amongst my family and friends if this campaign resort to this action. Maybe it's about time the majority of viewers express what they DO NOT want to see.
VL

May 11, 2007 1:25 AM

Anonymous said...
I hate shows that pointout race over person. It's ridiculous. When the incident at Virginia Tech occurred, they kept emphasising that the killer was Korean. This is why Today Tonight and any other shows that discriminate by race should be apologising to those that were offended and pulled off air.

May 11, 2007 2:28 AM

Anonymous said...
http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/contactform/30607

I think if we as a community sent in our story of injustice and see whether TT reply by doing a story on our injustice, will show how dedicated they really are to raising awareness to current affairs of Australia.

May 11, 2007 3:16 AM

Anonymous said...
Today Tonight on 7 was known as Today F**king Tonight with Naomi Robson, I've never watched it.

What should we call the this new generation with Anna Coren; F**ked up Today F**ked up tomorrow?

The Vietnamese Sting, The Italian Sting, Greek Sting, Aussie Sting. F**king everybody at channel 7 sting!

May 11, 2007 3:21 AM

Anonymous said...
a BIG title yet with only ONE example. SHAME on you 7! It clearly indicates how RACIST and DESPERATE you are in trying to get viewer's attention.

SHAME SHAME SHAME...

N Le

May 11, 2007 5:33 PM

Anonymous said...
Why did you do that? gaining more viewers?
Totally wrong!
You lost the respect from our Vietnamese Community's and people who share and understand our feelings.
More than whoever,as a professional, you propably learnt how to present a valued, respectful program. You did insult our heart and soul!
Insulting and betraying a community is not the way how this multicultural nation has been built.
Do you need to go back somewhere that teaches you how to become a GREAT, successful journalist!
Made a mistake? Do something right, now. If you don't know ask you boss or a five year old kid, as someone has shown you.

May 11, 2007 7:39 PM

Anonymous said...
Don't get angry, get even.

Why don't we approach Channel 9(channel 7's fierce competitor) and get them to do a story against the "Vietnamese Sting" story on "A Current Affair".

This would clarify to other non-Vietnamese that NOT all Vietnamese are welfare cheats.

May 11, 2007 8:30 PM

Le said...
Hi guys,

It's true. We should try to get even. I know being a Vietnamese, we tend to quietly accept critism and just ride out any prejudice. Howwever, this is maybe one of the main reason that Today Tonight thought that they could get away with branding us this way. I think it's about time we stand up for our rights in being an Australian. This is pure racism. I watch this program all the time but never saw them labelling any other community in this way.

Seriously, we should unite to get this message across to the media. I'm thinking of writing to Media Watch, the program that reports on media blunders. Going to A Current Affair is also a good choice. Any Volunteers? If we all work together, the general public would see that we can also raise our voices.

May 12, 2007 5:18 AM

Anonymous said...
My little suggestion is that we be fair and give channel 7 a chance to rectify the problem by asking the Vietnamese representative in Australia to send channel 7 a letter and requesting them to apologise and remove the word "Vietnamese" in front of "Sting".

Give them a deadline to do this - say 4 days.

If their action/non-action is NOT SATISFACTORY to us, we approach the other media - I have a feeling channel 9 would be VERY interested in this story.

Ta.i sao mi`nh kho^ng du`ng con ho^? kho^?ng lo^` kha'c trong gio+'i truye^`n tho^ng dde^? dda^'u vo+'i con ho^? kho^?ng lo^` na`y chu+'?

May 12, 2007 7:54 PM

Khanh Nguyen said...
Dear All,

Dr Tien Nguyen, VCA Federal President, has already sent (fax) a letter to Channel 7. We have not had a response from Channel 7 to that letter.

VCA Federal has promptly addressed the issue in requesting Channel 7 to issue an apology. However there is a growing view, a "request" or what ever gentler terminology is used, the Vietnamese community wants to see a just and equitable outcome. A no response from Channel 7 is not acceptable!

Regards,

Khanh.

May 12, 2007 8:25 PM

Anonymous said...
Hi

I have some links that are relevant to our campaign.

http://www.ausviet.net/pdf/chanel7_response.pdf

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD//pc=ACMA_ORG_OVIEW

May 13, 2007 3:02 AM

Anonymous said...
Below is the instruction I got from Today Tonight's website. I think we should all put forward our complaints.

Contact Today TonightEnquiries/feedback on Seven TV programming

Formal Complaints
Telephone comments and email comments will be passed on to appropriate network staff, but are not dealt with under the Seven Network's formal complaints handling procedures.

If you wish to lodge a formal complaint in relation to something you have seen or heard on the Seven Network you must send a letter or fax to Seven within 30 days of the relevant broadcast, or you can print and complete a complaint form to send.

If your complaint relates to a matter covered by the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, the network is required to investigate your complaint and provide you with a substantive written response within 30 working days.

A copy of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice can be obtained from Free TV Australia at www.freetvaust.com.au.

Formal complaints can be sent by mail or fax to:

The Programming Department
Channel Seven
In Your Capital City

Your complaint should include the following information:

The date, time and location of the broadcast;
The name of the program;
Reason for your concern;
Your name and address.

May 13, 2007 7:45 AM

Khanh Nguyen said...
Dear fellow Vietnamese,

In terms of the plan, where are we now?

May I suggest the following:
1. Wait for Channel 7 to respond to Dr Tien Nguyen's (VCA Federal President)letter. Legal & forceful response depending on Channel 7's response;
2. Every one of us continues to send feedback to Channel 7 (and to our community leaders for accounting of the managnitude of this wrong done to us);
3. I continues to seek legal advise, work to increase support and action.
4. Is there are way to merge the two link on this blog together so that all the feedbacks are in one link? If yes, maybe its a good idea to link them???

Regards,

Khanh

May 13, 2007 4:46 PM

Anonymous said...
Hi guys,

There are 3 links in this blog which are interrelated. Please read them all because we have been posting our messages all over the place. If we could concentrate on one link only, then our messages would flow better.

May 14, 2007 6:26 AM

Anonymous said...
I think time is running out soon for us to act as a community against this racist program. This is going to be old news if we don't form a working group soon. Can I please get clarification on what has been done by our community to increase pressure on Channel 7.

As pointed out in Channel 7's Complaint Procedure, phone calls and emails won't help. We need to fax or post a formal letter to them. Does anyone know if the letter written by Vietnamese Community in Australia was sent by post? Otherwise channel 7 will not investigate our complaints.

Also, I'm a bit suprised that SBS Radio hasn't been doing talk-back radio concerning this issue. It's very important that all Vietnamese people get involved with this, and with SBS Radio being our main source of daily Vietnamese news feed, they should be doing a daily update - even if it's only for 10 minutes a day.

We need to get the message across fast. Our greatest barrier is that everyone is so used to letting things go without a fight - we were taught as kids to listen and accept. But now, we need to get out of our shells and work as a team to get our complaints across.

Khanh, can you tell me how many people have contacted you to offer a helping hand? Can we ask more influential people such as the head of SBS Radio, Nhan Quyen and Cong Dong Nguoi Viet to organise a working group to tackle this issue. They have a wider range of human resources that we could also tap into, such as lawyers and Vietnamese high achievers.

May 14, 2007 7:02 AM

VietDragon said...
I wonder how Channel 7 plans to get away with this? They can certainly name the individuals who committed the fraud and it wouldn't matter if the names were Viet, Chinese, Hebrew, French whatever, but by specifically titling it "Vietnamese Sting" it shows they're just trying to seek attention in order to scam people into watching their show rather than raise awareness of tax-dodging issues. This strategy is completely ignorant and it only draws negative feedback instead of positive from Australia as a whole, and promotes division and racism amongst the lower levels of society where small minded bigots dwell, yes they exist and there are plenty of them believe it or not.

May 14, 2007 11:54 PM

Anonymous said...
I certainly know of more bad Australian born Australians than Vietnamese people who I find to be hard working and with integrity.
More than I can say about the Australian media at the moment.

Mr. Emergency

May 15, 2007 11:58 PM

From: Tho Tien (tamquang.darwin@yahoo.com.au)
Sent: Tuesday, 15 May 2007 8:11:51 PM
To: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com
When Australian citizens of Vietnamese origin attend international conferences or participate in international sport games, they represent Australia.

When some Australian citizens of Vietnamese origin infringe laws, the whole Vietnamese community is splashed.

To me, this campaign is not to express anger but to require the media in general, not only Channel 7, to be more responsible and to report the individuals who did the wrong thing rather than target and stereotype a particular community, not only Vietnamese in this case.

The letter from Dr Tien Nguyen, Federal President of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, has been online.

How about the Vietnamese program of SBS radio? Any response?

Please support.

A Vietnamese

May 15, 2007 4:31 PM

Sent: Wednesday, 23 May 2007 9:35:17 AM
To: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com
Hi,

I'm Colin Haydon, the Vietnam Veteran who posted my thoughts last week. In response to two of the posts I would like to thank them for their appreciation.

I would also like to apologise for my ommission as to why I wrote to you. Of course I realise that the Vietnamese refugees and their offspring know only to well what they went through in Vietnam and when they escaped so there was no need for me to tell you. I included that information for newly arrived Australians from all over the world and for other Australians (caucasians if you like) who don't know.

I'm hoping that my post might help them understand and might spur them into action as well. We do not need racism here and everything must be done to stamp it out in
the part of the world we live in. Australia is a multicultural society and it has become a richer place because of it.

So much has been contibuted by the addition of other nationalities to Australia - not the least by the Vietnamese and I believe that the sooner we embrace this the better off we will all be.

Sincerely,
Col

May 22, 2007 4:12 PM

Anonymous said...
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION AND YOUR PROMPT ACTION ON THIS
MATTER. PLEASE ALSO CONVEY MY SINCERE THANKS TO MR. HAYDON FOR HIS STRONG
SUPPORT ON OUR COMMON CAUSE.
BEST REGARDS,
VO DAI TON
SYDNEY.

8 Comments - Show Original Post
Collapse comments

Anonymous said...
Wow!!

I'm so amazed that you could understand us so well. Thank you Col for trying to walk in our shoes.

I came here by boat at a very young age but I will never forget why I am here in Australia. I need to work hard to contribute to this wonderful country to thank the people that opened their arms to us when we were in need.

Eventually, I will need to raise awareness of why I have left Vietnam, and that is to seek freedom. I am lucky to be able to voice my concerns whenever I need, however, my country-men in Vietnam don't have this luxury like we do over here. You need to be prepared to risk your life if you want to speak up. I am very proud of those who have done this and wish one day our voice for freedom will get stronger.

So once again, thank you Col for understanding how hard it is to be a Vietnamese, who have risked everything to come to Australia. We just want to live in harmony with everyone and don't need to be bullied by people who have nothing better to do than to be racist.

May 15, 2007 7:37 PM

H Nguyen said...
Though I agree this program is hurtful - but all I can say is that Channel 7 is desperate in seeking attention of the viewers. They run out of programs to air, they are falling behind in ratings with the rival chanels, this is one of their desperate attempt to stir the Vietnamese audience so we can be aware of their program. Channel 7!! wake up and evaluate yourself before you get any lower than this. I call everyone to BOYCOTT Channel 7!!!!!!

May 16, 2007 8:38 PM

Anonymous said...
BOYCOTT CHANNEL 7 - Why not, my families & friends around 100 people already have, we simply avoid C7.

May 16, 2007 9:34 PM

Anonymous said...
I am Mai, after watching channel 7 Today Tonight talking about Vietnamese Sting, I'm very upset and since that day I don't watch it anymore and even tell all people I know don't watch it.
I have a feeling the people who named the title Vietnamese Sting is racist.
Just only small amount Vietnamese people do thing wrong not all of us so that Channel 7 should not say in general.
what channel 7 think if I could say CHANNEL 7 STING NOT VIETNAMESE after I watched the title Vietnamese Sting.

May 17, 2007 3:34 PM

Campaigner said...
Channel 7 "Vietnamese‎
From: Hong Vo (honganhvo@optus.com.au)

Sent: Friday, 18 May 2007 12:08:56 AM
To: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com

Hi Col,
Many Thanks to people like you who wants to make the world a more peaceful, liveable and harmonious place. Without you and others to keep a close watch on the media to ensure that they do not fuel further hatred amongst people for the purpose of ratings. Good on you, keep up the fabulous work!!!

May 17, 2007 4:33 PM

Anonymous said...
My name is Ngoc, and I was not surprised at Channel 7's racial discrimination against the Vietnamese Australians - many, if not all, of the news corporations in Australia are racist against Vietnamese people.
This is not the first time that the news has run a story about a crime and shown that the criminal was Vietnamese, even though the criminal's nationality was irrelevant to the crime.

I have never seen a drug dealer be shown to be Lebanese, a confidence man shown to be Italian, or any criminal’s ethnicity revealed, unless the criminal was part of an ethinic gang or international crime syndicate. Yet I frequently see stories that begin with “A Vietnamese man was arrested today.”

The Vietnamese Australian population is like many minorities in Australia - we have both lawful citizens and lawbreakers. Why must the news on television and the newspapers depict us as unworthy citizens, but not other ethnic groups? Is it perhaps because we are a quiet and peaceful minority, who have not yet staged a riot to defend our right to live in this country?

May 21, 2007 11:32 PM

Campaigner said...
Vietnamese Sting‎
From: Col Haydon (ngacol@dodo.com.au)

From: a_ n (euqizzalk@hotmail.com)
Sent: Monday, 21 May 2007 2:51:39 AM
To: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com

I am a Vietnamese Australian, born and raised in Australia. My anger is in synchronisation with the rest of those who have been on the website http://againstracist.blogspot.com/. Imagine my happiness to see that I am not the only one who was utterly disgusted by the appalling story broadcast by Channel 7's Today Tonight. I spent the whole night complaining to my mother, who shared my opinion. As soon as the segment ended, I had already decided to launch a formal complaint. The segment's name "The Vietnamese Sting" and the airing of the Communist Vietnamese flag that is the red with the yellow star was very inappropriate, while Dat Van Du's wrongdoings are of course now obvious, reference to his culture has absolutely no purpose and relevance to the apparent crime he has committed. I do plan to send a formal complaint. I am happy to know that I am not the only one in the Vietnamese community that was completely offended by this story.

May 20, 2007 4:49 PM

Anonymous said...
Dear Channel 7,

Regarding about "Vietnamese Sting" showed 08-05-2007 from today tonight, I was not impressed with language used during the show.

And today, Channel 7 went a further to show the story again with the flag that does not represent the Vietnamese's community in Australia nor Vietnamese's refugees, a flag with blood of many innocent people.

We as an Australian are always proud of ourselves that we live in a multi-culture country,

Many Vietnamese's students doing their final year at high school are more likely to be encouraged from school to watch today tonight,news,current affairs...to help them to do well on their English subject. How would you think them, as a second,third generation migrants in Australia be response and think?

Thank you

May 24, 2007 8:45 AM

Anonymous said...
Many thanks to the team.
Wishfully, it will resolve in an appropriate manner.

May 24, 2007 6:25 PM

Anonymous said...
I wish to express my sincere appreciation and "Congratulations" to all of you for your efforts on this matter. Am so proud of you all. Please keep it up, and please be assured that myself and all members in my organisation always remain your "true supporters" on any Just Cause for the honor and dignity of our Community in this struggle for Freedom, Democracy and Justice for our homeland of VN.
Best regards,
Vo Dai Ton.

May 24, 2007 11:19 PM

Channel 7 's " The Vietnamese Sting" program‎
From: nguyen Hoai Nguyen (nguyen_sydney@unwired.com.au)
Sent: Friday, 25 May 2007 3:02:30 PM
To: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com

To: Channel 7 TV Station

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write in support of Dr. Tien Nguyen’s call to Channel 7 Manager to publicly apologize the Vietnamese Community for your irresponsible act.

Using a people‘s name for the title of such a program is generalizing and defamatory. This should be avoided in all of your future broadcasting.

Yours truly,

Steve Nguyen and family & friends (Oatley)

May 24, 2007 9:38 PM

Campaigner said...
letter from Vietnamses‎
From: Hoa Truong (slowhoa@gmail.com)
Sent: Thursday, 24 May 2007 2:41:21 PM
To: campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com
I feel so upset about Channel 7 with" Vietnamse sting". It is just a single case a mong more than 200,000 Vietnamse people who are living in Australia. In the past, the media who pro-Communist had launched the campaign against the Vietnam war one way, so their action destroyed the lives of more million soldiers of ally, including Australia Royal Army that is the" Weapon Mass Destruction" against the people who fight for freedom, democracy to prorect people inder threating of Communist, of course exlusive the lives, asset of the anti-war movement elements.
We all comdemm that programme, it is repeated the decade of 1970 during Vietnam war occuring.
MINH HOA TRUONG
(Vietnamese refugee, victim of Communist and the anti-war movement)

May 24, 2007 10:02 PM

Campaigner said...
RE: Vietnamese Sting‎
From: Tran, Nhan (Nhan.Tran@community.nsw.gov.au)

To: Campaigner AgainstRacist (campaign_against_racist@hotmail.com)

Hi Col

Thank you for raising this issue to C7 and the Vietnamese Australian community. I admire your previous article to the C7 about its segment on Mr Dat Van Vu.

I also watched last night segment and was shocked that they have not replied the letter from the Vietnamese Community in Australia and many other complaints against their racist comments on the segment. I also noted that Mr Dat said that "if I did something wrong, that's of my own, nothing to do with the Vietnamese community...

Any way, I hope the Committee on this issue would do and achieve something soon.

Have a great weekend.

Regards

Nhan Tran
Sydney

May 24, 2007 10:53 PM

WhimAndAPrayer has left a new comment on your post "Thư Cộng Đồng (BS Nguyễn Mạnh Tiến)":

Congratulations on taking a stand against Today Tonight. That programme is tabloid journalism at its worst, it's tactics pure poison.

Posted by WhimAndAPrayer to Campaign Against The Racist Reporter (Channel 7 Australia) at May 28, 2007 4:37 AM

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Latest News":

I watched ABC's MediaWatch this evening. ABC did give Seven a good blast at their use of the race card. Some executive at Seven went on defense and claimed that the crooks were being "cocooned within the Vietnamese community", meaning the Vietnamese in general are protecting these bad seeds? This claim is now MUCH worse than the original segment. We must find out more about this bloke at Seven and put in an even stronger complaint now.

Posted by Anonymous to Campaign Against The Racist Reporter (Channel 7 Australia) at May 28, 2007 5:37 AM

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Latest News":

We want an apology.

Posted by Anonymous to Campaign Against The Racist Reporter & The Racist Executive (Channel 7 Australia) at May 28, 2007 8:20 PM

David Tran has left a new comment on your post "Thư Cộng Đồng (BS Nguyễn Mạnh Tiến)":

Today Tonight is absolute rubbish. Saw this item though Media Watch podcast and now it angers me. Another reason why I don't watch network news...

Posted by David Tran to Campaign Against The Racist Reporter & The Racist Executive (Channel 7 Australia) at May 28, 2007 8:52 PM