In celebration of Vietnam’s Revolutionary Journalism Day, Towards Transparency (TT) and the Media Education Center for Community (MEC) jointly organised two trainings for journalists on “Transparency Issues in Macroeconomic Management”. The trainings were attended by more than 100 journalists from various news agencies working in print, radio, television and online media across North, Central and South Vietnam. The trainings sought to improve knowledge amongst journalist of macro-economic issues and corruption risks, in order to strengthen the capacity of journalists to investigate, analyse and report on corruption in the financial sector.

The first training held on the 22-23 of June 2013 focused on transparency issues in monetary market policies. The second training, held on 28-29 June 2013, focused on transparency in fiscal and financial market management.

Presentations were given by current and retired representatives from the State Inspectorate, the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), TT and leading journalists who report on the financial sector. Sessions looked at how to identify risks and misuse of policy for private gain, how to make the most of information and documents from the State Audit, the Government Inspectorate and the State Bank of Vietnam and how to read and interpret financial reports.