INDOCHINESE RADIO AND PRESS, AND MONITORING AND SCRUTINY ACTIVITES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04864A000200020007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 13, 1998
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: April 21, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

COUNTRY
SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT NO. 00 -F-147
INFORMATION REPORT
Indochina
CD NO.
DATE DISTR.21 April 1951
INDOCHINESE RADIO AND PRESS, AND NO. OF PAGES 4
MONITORING AND SCRUTINY ACTIVITIES
25X1A6a
DATE
ACQUIRED BY SOURCE
DATE OF INFORMATION March 1951
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
GRADING OF SOURCE BY OFFICE OF ORIGIN
SOURCE'S OPINION OF CONTENT
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FAIRLY
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NOT
USUALLY
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CANNOT
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PROBABLY
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POSSIBLY
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DOUBTFUL
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THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OP THE ESPIONAGE ACT 50
U. S. C., 3t AND 32, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PRO.
HIBITED BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
SOURCE
A, HO GOVERNMENT MATERIAL
1. Morse Code Transmission
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
25X1A6a
a. Transmitters: The Vietnam News Agency transmits in English, French,
and Vietnamese Morse, in addition to five-letter and five-digit code groups.
Engli h and French Morse are generally heard on a frequency (variable) of 11935 k
with the call letter VNA. The transmitter is believed to be one used by lhoice
Vietnam" for regular voicecasts. The copy is sent by hand at a speed of from
fifteen to eighteen word per minute. Pre a material is beamed usually for generaCin
use and sometimes to recipients designated as BP033, HTB, BHOX, ABC and VN/4. Five-
letter and five-digit groups are always sent to designated recipient s0 The trans
mitter has greatly improved in quality during the past year, though it still displ
such odd characteristics as shifting frequency without warning and sometimes win
the call letters LCJ.
There is, however, a station identifying itself regularly as,. LGJ LAW
operating on a frequency of 7409 kcs. Its daily pre s file is transmitted in Vietrit
name ee Morse. As with VNA, Its coded traffic is beamed to designated recipienes.
Keying i by hand, sometime by an extremely poor operator. A third Morse carrier,
announced by VNA as operating on a frequency of 4730 kcs., has not been heard. Imams
b. Materials Viet Minh Morsecasts until about a year ago I eked profes',t
quality. They were porrly edited, crude, and sometimes obscene in their atrocity
charges against the French--often immature to the point of childishness. During 1950
the quality of filed copy, particularly English, improved so greatly in journalietic
aspects as to overtake and perhaps surpass that of the AFP file out of Saigon. ree
material is extremely readable except for occasional barbarisms and the Oriental ten-
dency to employ pluperfect tenses instead of the past. An incongruous characteristic is
the occasional use of American lang rendered in the inevitable British-style spelling.
e. Monitoring: The French are carrying on extensive monitoring of internal
Viet Minh transmissions in Morse code. This material is not available to the U.30
Legation.
2. Voice Broadcasts
a. Transmitters Transmitters are believed to number five or six and to be
of one and two kilowatt power. Two are located in the north, one in the central part
of the Hue area and two in the Mekong Delta area in the south. The best equipment
Is reported to be in the central area. Equipment is primarily Japanese military but
there is also a large amount of all types including RCA. It is all highly mobile.
The general location of the transmitterA can be fixed by triangulation but they
cannot be located by the police.. There seems to be a different point of view on the
pall- of the French and the Vietnamese toward action to silence the Viet Minh trans-
mitte-s. The French asked if the United States had any equipment which could be
insteeled in an airplane which would enable them to bomb out the transmitters. The
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director of the Vietnamese broadcasting activities, on the other hand, said that he
knew where the Saigon-Cholon transmitter was located but that it was a "high-level"
decision not to take action against it.
Ho Chi Minh's former chief radio technician who had changed sides about
a year ago, said that about eight months ago the Viet Minh had asked him to return
and supervise the installation and operation of some new equipment which bad been
received. He assumed that it was probably Russian from China but said it might have
been anything as a good deal of equipment was coming from Bangkok. He refused thiS
offer but did say that during the last six months Viet Minh transmissions had
improved considerably--a statement with which the Director of the Vietnamese broad-
casting activities agreed.
All Ho transmitters are audible in Saigon, but the two northern ones are
less dependably received than the others.
b. Material: The morning programs generally consist of music, political
talks, and news. Music is furnished by a single banjo or harmonica. Newscasts from
the South Vietnam station are adequate for South Central and South Vietnam, but North
Vietnam news customarily lags about twelve hours behind that transmitted by the
Vietnam News Agency. News at dictation speed covers domestic developments. For its
world news the radio depends heavily upon Peking and Moscow dispatches. Commentaries
are well written, often containing well-turned phrases of irony, sarcasm or biting
humor which retain their distinctive flavor even after translation into English.
Cochinchinese was the only language intercepted until the middle of
1950, when a Vietnamese "who talks very bad Chinese, worse than the Moscow announcer,"
came on the air with a program highlighted by Communist China's national anthem. Two
male announcers who speak a poor brand of Fukien-accented Mandarin now conduct the
voice casts, which are devoted mainly to Ho Government news and to items about over-
seas Chinese,
e. French Monitoring Activities: French voice monitoring activities
include
(1) Voice of Vietnam North Area)--Broadcasting 3i hours of French and
Vietnamese language programs with 7 hours of Mandarin and Cantonese language programs
listed in the French operation as not taken.
(2) Voice of South Vietnam Oentral area transmitter)--Broadcasting 1 3/4
hours of Vietnamese and French with one hour broadcast it Mandarin listed as not
taken.
(3) Voice of Nambo (South)--Broadcasting 21-, hours of Vietnamese and
French with one hour broadcast in Cantonese listed as not taken.
(4) Voice of Saigon-Cholon--Adequately covered by French monitoring,
texts made available in the Bulletin des Ecoutes.
French monitoring equipment includes RCA and SX-28 receivers and
dictaphone wax cylinder recording equipment. From the wax recording a transcription
is made in Vietnamese, which is then translated into French.
French translators work a normal work day, that is 0800 to 1200 and
1500 to 1800 with half day Saturday. A technician records the evening shows and no
attempt is made to maintain an editorial evening watch for spot new or important
developments. The Bulletin des Ecoutes is available at approximately 1230 with news
up to 1000 of that day. Monitoring techniques seem to be adequate.
There is a general feeling in Saigon that no translator is really
reliable. All are under pressure from the Viet Minh or the French or both. USIS
assumes some of its employees are Viet Minh sympathizers. One man in USIS reported
that he was offered 5000 piasters per month to report to the French on U.S.
activities. It takes a certain amount of courage to work for the United States
and more to resist the pressures which make it difficult to live in onets environment.
d. Vietnamese Monitoring Activity: This service consists of a stenographic
transcription made from the air and without the aid of a recording. All
monitoring is done in Saigon on a recent model Hallicrafter receiver using a 25-meter
single wire antenna. The object of the service is to gather information for counter
propaganda purposes and for the general information of the Vietnamese Government
officials. Transcription includes Pnom Penh.
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3, Press
In the last four months it has become increasingly difficult for Vietnamese
in Saigon to see the Viet Minh press. It has been driven further underground by
suppressive measures. Most of the Viet Minh printed matter Is leaflets and mall
pamphlets of a purely propaganda nature and usually undated. The periodic. press is
irregular in its issue and is difficult to find. Most examples are obtained in
raids.
B. BAO DAI GOVERNMENT MATERIAL
1, Radio Broadcasts
a. Transmitters in use:
(a) Saigon: four (two I-KW, two 12-KW); equipment dates
from 1928.
(b) Hanoi: one (1-KW) 1945 model communications trans-
mitter rebuilt for broadcast,
(c)
Hue: same as Hanoi.
(d) Eclat: same as Hanoi.
b. Future Plans: At the present time a Dutch engineer is making a survey
for ECA of Vietnamese technical needs. His recommendation will include the following:
One 504KW transmitter in Saigon and three new 1-4CW transmitters in
Hanoi, Hue, and Dalat. He has been advised to keep his recommenda-
tions down to $150,000 but he believes ECA will put up approximately
$200,000 to carry out the above plans. He estimates that the
time necessary to send the specifications to Paris, secure bids,
build and install the transmitter will be about one year.
c. Control: Control over all Vietnamese broadcasting is exercised by the
Director General of Information. The transmitters used in regional broadcasting were
made available to the regional governors by the central Government, and regional
governors are responsible for their operation and policies. Provincial governors
are appointees of the central vernment.
A weekly meeting is held by responsible persons in the Government
Information Service at which the past week's broadcast programs are critically
analyzed and the upcoming week's programs are planned. Criticisms of regional
stations arising in these meetings are forwarded to provincial governors. The line
laid down by the Government Information Service is followed precisely.
d. Programming relationship between Saigon and regional stations:
Approximately 20% of all regional broadcast hours are direct relay of Saigon. All
political and news broadcast programs originate in Saigon with the Government
Information Service and are distributed as written scripts, recordings or direct
relay to the regional stations. In order to determine the practical application of
the degree of control exercised by the Information Service, the director of broadcast
activities was asked whether a highly sensational and important event such as the
assassination of the Governor of the Hue area would be reported by the Hue radio
without reference to the Government Information Service. The answer was that the
provincial authorities would telegraph the new to Saigon where it would be put in
form for rebroadcast by regional station
music, etc.
2. Press
Local stations prepare their own programs in cultural fields, art,
All publications are under strict censorship by the Vietnamese and French
and indirectly (through fear of retaliatory action) by the Viet Minh. Outspoken
papers are suppressed by the authorities. In general the newspapers do not touch
Idea s. They are filled with advertisements and run from two to three serialized
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romances each day. Most all news is on the front page and is straight press service
coverage with emphasis on AFP. DAN QUYEN, which is close to the Government, is
allowed more freedom to discuss ideas than other papers and has -editorialized that
the U.S. should drive out both French and Communists.
C. CAMBODIAN AND LAOTIAN MATERIAL
1, Radio Broadcasts
a. Cambodian: The Cambodian Government has a 1-KW transmitter located in
Prism Penh. It is the same type of communication equipment (built in 1945) as in
Hanoi, Hue, and Dalat. Upon the installation of the transmitter, the absence of
qualified Cambodian technicians made it nece sary to employ French technicians. The
general tone of the programs is similar to Radio France Asie as a result, informants
believe, of the high proportion of French staff members. Studios are better
equipped than Vietnamese studios because of French influence.
b. Laotian: Thelalvtian Goyernment has initiated broadeasta,frosa a
1-KW transmitter located at Vlentiane. The technicians for this project have been
supplied by the Vietnamese. No further information is available at this time. The
etation was delayed in completion, originally scheduled fez 1 January 1951.
2. Press
a. Cambodian: Strict control is maintained by the Cambodian Government
and little in the way of an independent point of view is presented.
b. Laotian: There is no newspaper press in Laos. A four-page mimeographed
news sheet is put out by the Government Information Service,
D. FRENCH MATERIAL
1, Radio Broadcasts
Radio France Asie has three 25-KW transmitters, Eta well as
one 1-KW transmitter. By agreement of 8 March with the Vietnamese UovernmenL -the
French radio does not discuss local political problems nor controversial matters
existing between the French and the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese say that the French
are being technically correct on this agreement but that they find subtle ways of
boosting the French point of view. The content of French news broadcasts covers
much the same ground as the French press.
2. Press
Two of the four French-language papers in Saigon are anti-United States.
One, run by a Vietnamese, is pro-United States. The fourth, reputed to be the organ
of the High Commissioner, is on the fence regarding the United States. It covers
world news according to AST.
E. CHINESE PRESS
The Chinese-language press consists of five 4-page newspapers. It is heavily
censored, like all other papers. All five are run by Chinese. There is little
local news. World news is monitored from press services without contract and no
credit is given for articles thus taken from the air. All support the Kuomintang
and are as careful as possible not to step on anyonels toes. Some feature story
material comes from Central News of China and from Hong Kong papers.
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