"Mass Fish Deaths in Vietnam Highlight Country’s Press Freedom Problem"

"MELBOURNE, Australia — The stink from Vietnam’s fish kill scandal — which left some 70 tons of dead fish scattered across the beaches of four of the country’s provinces and fishermen out of work — is symptomatic of something greater than worries about food security and the environment: access to information and the ability to distribute it.

On June 30, almost three months since the mass fish deaths began, Vietnam’s newspapers all began printing the same story: Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp., a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group, blamed by many for the incident, had accepted responsibility for the industrial pollution that had caused the environmental fiasco and would pay $500 million in compensation. The government of Vietnam, which had been silent for much of this, also noted the company was responsible due to a toxic spill. "

Helen Clark reports for the Huffington Post July 2, 2016.