1.

Situation 01: Misleading information between publisher and audience

1. Overview
In the Financial – Business news lived on August 17,2020 on VTV1, publisher’s reader Quang
Anh said that:  "...những gánh hàng rong, vốn được xem là sống ký sinh trùng trên những
con phố này...". The primary purpose of reportage is a sharing and sympathetic perspective with
street vendors who have been struggling to make a living during Covid -19 epidemic. After
publishing this news, the noun phrase “Ky sinh trung” made the audience misunderstand and
especially, a group of labor force felt offended.
Specifically in the introduction of the news, editor Quang Anh used the following quote: “ Dịch
COVID -19 đã khiến cho những con phố du lịch hay là chủ yếu phục vụ khách nước ngoài tại
TP.HCM trở nên tiêu điều. Và khi nhưng con phố không còn đủ sức sông, những gánh hàng
rong, vốn được xem là sống ký sinh trùng trên những con phố sẽ tồn tại ra sao?” Many audiences
who saw this news negatively reacted to the way the editor compared the street vendors between
parasite living on the other organisms.
In a news section, the publisher has used the term “parasite” as a metaphor to refer to street
vendors. In response to this choice of words, readers criticized that the term was both
inappropriate and misleading. Admittedly, the street vendors who work extensively to make a
living should not be called with such derogatory term. The term “parasite” is often understood
with a negative connotation, criticizing the people who live as organisms entirely dependent on
their host, without giving anything useful in return. Not only was this term offensive and
disparaging to street vendors, it is also inconsistent with the Party and State’s view on economic
types.

2. Reason for choosing this situation

Highlight the importance of information accuracy: With the core value of VTV reporting with
verifiable information and fighting against disinformation, misleading information is an
unacceptable problem. This type of problem concurs that the diffusion of misinformation
through social media is a potential threat to democracy and broader society.
- Decrease accurateness of information and details of the occurrence to decline.
When eavesdropping on conversations, one can gather facts that may not always be true, or
the receiver may hear the message incorrectly and spread the information to others. On the
Internet, one can read content that is stated to be factual but that may not have been checked
or may be erroneous. In the news, companies may emphasize the speed at which they receive
and send information but may not always be correct in the facts.

- Complicate the public’s understanding of issues.

Misinformation could create the impression that no consensus exists on a topic or that official
sources of information are not credible, which could generate feelings of apathy, confusion, and
mistrust. This could then lead individuals to trigger a reaction ( emotional response) and to gain
an action (share content). Although there are challenges to linking online activity with offline
behavior, theoretically informed empirical research is needed to elucidate the full extent of the
real-world consequences of misinformation exposure.

3. Analyze the situation 

Misleading information in verbal-communication: The problem mentioned above is that due to
wrong choice of words to deliver a sympathetic message for the audience. 
 Negative expression: The word “Parasite” is often understood with a negative
connotation, criticizing the people who live as organisms entirely dependent on their host,
without giving anything useful in return.
“ Parasite” is a form of clinging life, taking over the host’s biological material to feed itself and
destroy the host. That is a phrase that cannot be used to call street vendors – poor and vulnerable
objects of society. “ Parasite” is a word only used in biology and ecology. No one uses this
phrase to describe about people – their fellow human being, unless to disparage them.
“Parasite” or understood as “parasitic animal”, is a word used a lot in medicine. This is an
organism that takes the biological matter of another living organism to survive, develop and
posessive. Calling street vendors “parasites” is tantamount to implying that they posses othẻ
people’s lives to survive.
“ Parasite living”, as Anh Quang said, it is not only wrongly in terms of semantics but also
wrong in using a word that is completely inappropriate to call a class of people in society. Ho
Chi Minh City is the rendezvous of people from other city flocking to make a living. With all
sectors and social classes, the gap between rich and poor is inevitable. Street vendors are pẩt of
lìe, part of the face of the city. No matter how modern or grandiose, people can still find the
lovely simplicity of the city right from the dear vendors. Street vendors are still fair with
customers, do not negotiate any more. Theyy only exchange their eforts and capital to work to
support thếmlves, they do not steal from anyone but suffer the evil “ parasitic” reputation as a
posessive creature, even when they may be so poor.
 Unprofessional procedures: There is no grammar checker for the content before it goes
on air. “Sống ký sinh trùng" is grammatically incorrect in Vietnamese. If someone is
dependent on another person, then grammatically it can be said "to live like a parasite -
Sống như ký sinh trùng" or “to parasite - sống ký sinh".
The fact that broadcaster Anh Quang of VTV1 called street vendors as “ living parasite” in the
broadcaster’s August 17 news was received many negative public’s reacttions. In addition, there
are many opinions defending male editor and saying that this is jusst an occupational accident,
lack of understtanding and a “reading” incident when recording like Anh Quang confessing on
his Facebook. However, this is not the fault of the indiviual, but it is the mistake of the whole
editor. The truth is that on VTV1’s Weekend Economic Newsletter, in the Góc vỉa hè section,
broadcast at 8.30 am on August 15, the phrase “parasitic” (ăn bám) was once used by MC Huy
Hoang to call the street vendor.
The fact shows that blaming the incident during the broadcaster’s work enven moẻ clearly shows
the weakness in his profession, bravery and ability to take responsibility, dare to face mistakes to
correct mistake of the whole program implementation team. Obviously, the station can’n be
innocent by just disciplining only the broadcaster’s irresponsibility. Moreover, This is not a live
news, before being on the stage, it has to go through post-production, editing and approval. The
immature level of the performer and irresponsibility of the gatekeeper was exposed when the
mistake still happen continuously despite of the process with many steps done by the whole
editor.
 Consequences of this situation
In the Financial and Business Newsletter on August 19, VTV officially apologized for
calling street vendors as “ living parasites”. Editor Thu Hương also represent the whole
Editorial Board sincerely apologizes to the street vendors and the audience for this
serious mistake: “ Due to negligence during the editing and live broadcast, our editors
used inappropriate and unintended words, causing the audience to misunderstand the
content they wanted to convey, while the entire reportage was a point of view. share and
sympathize with street vendors who are struggling to make a living during Covid”

Previously, on August 17, editor Nguyen Anh Quang of Vietnam Television (VTV) made
waves in the online community when he said in the morning of August 17th Business
Finance News on VTV1 that street vendors considered "living parasites" on the streets.

Immediately after receiving feedback from the audience, editor Nguyen Anh Quang
apologized on his personal Facebook named " Wang Phố Cổ".
  Suggested solutions to similar situations in the future
 . Advanced preparation:
Preparation is the single most important part of making a successful for presentation. It is
absolutely crucial foundation, and everyone should dedicate as much time to it as
possible, avoiding short-cuts. Good preparation will ensure that people have thought
carefully about the messages that they want (or need) to convey in your presentation and
it will also help boost your confidence and fluency.
Mistake can happen to even the most experienced speakers. People might falter, forget
the lines or use the wrong words, etc. One of the best ways to minimize misleading
information between publisher and audience like Anh Quang’s mistake is that publisher’s reader
has to practice and prepare well before they are due to present the information in front of many
audience.
Suitable choice of word of each case
Vocabulary is one of those things that we don’t think much about. We don’t really
consider why we use the words we do – which doesn’t necessarily imply that we don’t
care – only that the words we do use are so spontaneous to us that it doesn’t cross our
minds to consider why we use them. Despite our nonchalance, the vocabulary people use
reveals a lot about themselves, whether that be where we are from, how much education
we have received or what industry we work in.
When presenting information, it is very important to use language that fits your audience
and matches purpose. Inappropriate language uses can damage your credibility,
undermine your argument, or alienate your audience. Especially when being a publisher’s
reader who are due to present the information in front of thousand or million audience,
choosing appropriate vocabulary is an important aspect of any presentation. It is nonsense
to impress the audience by using convoluted, dense word. More likely than not, that will
simply turn them off.
Revision: Editing and proofreading

Every successful broadcast use a writing script process. This process consists of revising, editing
and proofreading to create content that is clear, organized, and effective. Editing and
proofreading are essential parts of the writing process. They help with the effectiveness of the
scrip style and clarity of the ideas. Editing requires you reread your draft to check for more
significant issues, including organization, paragraph structure, and content. However, when you
proofread, you are focusing on finding and correcting errors in writing, grammar and language.