Fast-forward now to 2005, the dawn of internet blogging in Vietnam. A new service, Yahoo 360°, was an overnight sensation. Unheralded, it destroyed the regimes monopoly control of public communications. For the first time, anyone with access to an ISP could post to a forum where they could trade ideas with unprecedented freedom. Blogs sprang up. By 2007, some of these were tackling political issues, with particular attention to escalating tension between Vietnam and China.
Dieu Cay emerged as the most popular of these political bloggers. He posted stories and photos that told about peoples lives. With a laptop and a camera, Dieu Cay travelled about, talking with disadvantaged people. He interviewed farmers whod lost their land, young women who sewed garments for export in sweatshops, construction workers who lived somehow on wages of less than 20 US cents per day. Investigating a spectacular worksite disaster, Dieu Cay uncovered evidence of corruption that may have led to the death of more than 50 workers.
Via A Starving Blogger’s Vietnam Crusade – Global Voices Advocacy.