National broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) has recently been slapped with a fine of over US$1,000 for airing a show featuring an air route map which misplaced Hanoi in a Chinese province and provided incorrect information in its footage on the recent Nepal earthquake rescue efforts.

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The Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications recently issued a decision to impose a total fine of VND25 million ($1,165) on VTV for its two latest blunders, which led to its provision of untruthful information and misrepresentation of the country’s sovereignty.

The national broadcaster was fined VND15 million ($699) for its gaffe involving the local version of Dutch show “Sabotage,” “Diep Vu Tuyet Mat,” which is the product of a partnership between VTV and Cat Tien Sa, a Vietnamese media company.

The show was scheduled to air at 8:00 pm every Saturday on VTV3, the broadcaster’s entertainment channel.

The 14-episode program features 11 local celebs as contestants who try to complete challenges amidst “sabotage” by an undercover “spy.”

The show was marred by a serious blunder committed right in its first episode, which was broadcast on May 2.

The slip was made in an infographic illustration broadcast at the end of the first minute and the onset of the second minute into the show, when its introduction trailer briefed TV viewers on the prizes to be presented to the contestants.

In one of the prizes, each of the show’s four finalists would be given two return tickets to Thailand, provided by Air Asia.

The illustration featured an air route map with services from Bangkok to Hanoi and Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City showing Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, placed in Guangxi, China.

The map also failed to include Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archielagoes to the east of the country.

This still image taken from the first episode of "Diep Vu Tuyet Mat" shows Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, placed in Guangxi, China.

Tran Binh Minh, VTV general director, later decided to suspend the reality show.

The Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications also fined the national broadcaster VND10 million ($466) for its slip-up in an episode of the program “Chuyen Dong 24h” (24h Motion), which aired on VTV1 at 11:15 am, also on May 2.

The episode featured a video clip of a child purportedly rescued from the rubble following the devastating Nepal earthquake, which ravaged the country’s capital, Kathmandu, on April 25, killing over 8,000 people and injuring several thousand others. The clip in fact featured a child who was pulled to safety from the debris of a bombing that took place in Syria in January 2014.

VTV’s timely detection of the gaffe, report to the communications ministry, and prompt rectification were considered mitigating details, which helped the broadcaster walk away with a fine of only VND10 million.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications’ statistics, VTV has made 51 blunders, including serious mistakes, and has been fined over VND100 million ($4,660) from 2013 to early April this year.

The national broadcaster repeated many blunders last year alone, including the broadcasting of the beheading of a live turtle during a reality show, a suggestive joke in a quiz show, and a “Vietnam’s Got Talent” semifinalist mistakenly drinking acid.

Early last month, the broadcaster was slapped with a fine of VND50 million ($2,330) for airing two episodes of the local version of “Asia’s Got Talent” without a license.

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