The work, which was painstakingly done by reporter Bong Mai and her colleagues, was awarded the B prize by the Final Jury of the 17th National Press Awards - 2022.
Opportunity to grow in career
As the economic “locomotive” of the whole country, Ho Chi Minh City has up to 10 million people living, studying and working. In fact, with concerns about food safety and quality, many people are willing to pay 3-4 times higher than the market price for vegetables labeled “safe” and “VietGAP standard” which are beautifully displayed in many stores and supermarkets…
However, the information that nearly 50% of vegetable and fruit samples in the city's wholesale markets contained chemical residues, released by the Ho Chi Minh City Food Safety Management Board, shocked many people. Faced with this issue, the leaders of the Economic Department and the editorial board of Tuoi Tre Newspaper sent a group of reporters to find out the truth and conduct an investigation "Exposing fake VietGAP vegetables" . From here, the hidden corners were revealed more clearly.
The Tuoi Tre newspaper group of reporters, including Bong Mai - Thao Thuong - Nguyen Tri - Duc Thien, then spent a lot of time researching, approaching and working at many different clean vegetable processing facilities in Ho Chi Minh City, to record the journey of "transforming" fake vegetables into VietGAP vegetables. They also coordinated to record the vegetable import sources of the processing facilities they were in charge of investigating.
At the same time, right after the fake vegetables were labeled as VietGAP vegetables, reporters followed the path of the vegetable delivery drivers, going from the vegetable processing facility to the customers who imported the "transformed" vegetables, to see if they were ordinary individual customers, or supermarkets and large stores.
Workers affix VietGAP stamps to packages of vegetables bought from wholesale markets that have been pre-processed, then shipped to many high-end stores and sold at high prices. Photo: Bong Mai
The group of authors also investigated whether there was laxity in the process of granting VietGAP certification and proved this laxity. From the evidence obtained, the reporters reported the incident to the relevant businesses and authorities.
“When doing investigations, we have to meet many strict criteria to produce quality products. At the same time, for this topic, there are long periods of time when we have to stay up all night and continue working during the day, requiring good health. However, because we know what we are doing and are mentally prepared for what we have to face, we do not find it too difficult or tiring. We do journalism because we love it, because we proactively choose it, so we take responsibility and accept the challenges. Investigative reporting is an opportunity to grow in our profession,” reporter Bong Mai confided.
“There is no reason not to be willing to commit”
Having truly embarked on the investigative journey, the Tuoi Tre Newspaper’s team of reporters tried their best to do a good job. Therefore, when the series of articles was published and widely spread, they felt happy because there were many readers waiting to read the next articles in the series, expressing their love for journalism.
“Through that, we understand that we have contributed a little to the community, helping to protect consumers, protect VietGAP vegetable growers and honest business people,” reporter Bong Mai shared.
Authorities work with representatives of Dong A Company, right after Tuoi Tre Newspaper's investigation was published. Photo: Nguyen Tri
On the side of the authorities, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan also held an urgent meeting, saying that the series of investigative articles "Exposing fake VietGAP vegetables" had pointed out the shortcomings and hidden corners in the management of product quality entering the distribution system. Speaking at the opening of the meeting, the Minister emphasized: "The series of articles by Tuoi Tre Newspaper touched our consciousness so that we could act together" . After this meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also carried out many activities to build and standardize the domestic agricultural market.
Having created a strong effect with the above series of articles, when asked what is the core element to make an impressive investigative work, author Bong Mai answered briefly but clearly: "A journalist is also a citizen. The core is to reflect the concerns of society, close and realistic to the people" .
Although the names of four reporters are shown, to complete this series of articles, author Bong Mai said that in reality, she received a lot of “coverage” from behind, including the leaders of the Economic Department, the leaders of Tuoi Tre Newspaper, and many colleagues and readers. Before publication, each article also received support from reporters in the photo department, morasse, and sober-minded people...
“Through the implementation of investigative stories, we understand more and more that when an article is published, it is also the result of a collective effort, including those whose names are in the newspaper and those who always support silently. The ultimate goal is to serve readers, serve the people, through high-quality journalism products,” author Bong Mai shared.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan held an urgent meeting immediately after a series of articles exposing “fake” VietGAP vegetables published by Tuoi Tre Newspaper. Photo: Chi Tue
For many reporters, investigative reporting is not an easy genre, especially for female reporters. However, Bong Mai said that she approaches the issue from the perspective of a journalist, not considering whether she is male or female. “However, each gender also has many interesting things and brings out the strengths well for each specific task. Our group has both men and women, supporting each other in many tasks,” she said.
Having the opportunity to work with many talented and kind seniors, reporter Bong Mai said she was motivated to strive in her journalism journey. Because people trust them, journalists always strive to live up to that trust.
Bong Mai said: “Through the investigative articles, we have new experiences, learn and grow, create positions and opinions, have the opportunity to contribute a little to spread the truth, be listened to to form policies, help many people, and be loved by readers. Obviously, we receive a lot.” With a heart of appreciation and gratitude, the young female reporter affirmed that “there is no reason not to be ready to commit.”
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