HANOI — Vietnam media authorities fined a national television station for displaying a map that placed the capital Hanoi within southern China, news reports said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Information and Communications levied the US$715 fine on Vietnam Television, better known as VTV, after a public outcry following an episode of the reality show last month.
Territorial claims are a sensitive issue for Vietnam and China, Asian neighbours that have fought wars in the past and have more recently clashed over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea.
The show, based on a Dutch programme called Sabotage, was initially scheduled to run for 14 episodes but was suspended amid the controversy, newspaper Tuoi Tre reported.
It features a dozen celebrities who are filmed living and working together in an apartment in Thailand.
The producers blamed budget airline and show sponsor Air Asia for providing an incorrect map. Air Asia released a statement saying the mistake had been caused by "negligence in checking content."
Comments by readers online showed broad support for the fine, with some calling for the VTV staff involved to be sacked.
VTV was also fined for mistakenly using a video in a news programme on April 2 that purported to show a baby being rescued from the rubble of the recent Nepal earthquake. The video actually was shot in the aftermath of a bomb in Syria in January last year.
A map supplied to Vietnamese television station VTV incorrectly shows Hanoi inside southern China. (Air Asia website photo)