Vietnam suspends two sports newspapers for porn during World Cup

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Hanoi (dpa) - Communist Vietnam has suspended two leading sports newspapers ahead of the World Cup round of 16 after they published advertisements with banned sexual content, an official said Saturday.

The order from the Ministry of Culture and Ideology came Friday after the ministry noticed the ads for one of several mobile phone text-messaging services that allows young people to ask questions about sex and receive answers by text.

The Vietnamese-language dailies Football and Sports Today will each be suspended for five days starting with Sunday's editions and pay fines of 15 million dong (937 dollars), according to Vu Xuan Thanh, head of the ministry's Inspection Department.

The advertisements for the message service did not feature any photographs, but did feature sample questions and answers such as "How to bring your girlfriend to orgasm," according to Thanh.

"This seriously violated the Press Law and the Advertisement Decree," Thanh said. "This SMS service brings deviant information on sex and aphrodisiac contents to the young generation."

He added that eight other newspapers featuring the advertisements for the services will also face suspensions and fines for the advertisements, though he would not name them.

Vietnam's strict media controls ban pornography, and recently state-controlled media reported that the government planned also to crack down on "sex-consulting" web sits and message services, which the government considers a front for pornography.

Thanh said the ongoing World Cup finals had no bearing on the ministry's decision, saying that Vietnamese fans will not be deprived of news of World Cup action.

"The papers have to be suspended no matter what," Thanh said. "Readers who are interested in World Cup news will be able to get access to the news from other newspapers, websites, televisions and radios."

Vietnam has more than 700 newspapers, magazine and broadcast outlets, all of them state-run or subject to government control.