Representative Pham Van Hoa ( Dong Thap ) raised the question of whether the negative behavior of reporters and editors in recent times is due to the explosion of specialized newspapers and magazines, leading to low professional quality, deviation from the principles and objectives, and violations of the law.
The delegates requested that Minister Nguyen Manh Hung clarify the causes of this situation and provide solutions to ensure healthy competition between online advertising and traditional media.
Representative Nguyen Dai Thang (Hung Yen) requested the Minister of Information and Communications to state the causes and solutions to address the situation where some media outlets exploit the negative aspects of agencies, organizations, and businesses with signs of profiteering. The representative argued that it is necessary to ensure that the press adheres to its principles and objectives to promote socio -economic development in the new era – the era of national progress.
Speaking about the negative aspects of journalists, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said: "We can see this." He shared that in 2018, when he took on the role of Minister of Information and Communications, he read an assessment of professional prestige where journalists were ranked 9th out of 10 professions surveyed.
The Minister emphasized that the ethical conduct of journalists has been a major concern in recent years. In 2022, when the organization re-surveyed those 10 occupational groups, journalists ranked third after teachers and doctors.
Explaining the reason, he said that in the economics of journalism, where 80% of online advertising previously belonged to newspapers, it has now "fallen" into social media, meaning that the advertising revenue of news organizations has decreased significantly.
In 2023, the Prime Minister issued a Directive on policy communication, which stipulated that all levels of government must consider policy communication as their responsibility, annually "commissioning" the press to do so, thereby providing an additional source of funding for the press to realize its economic potential.
The Minister stated that the press must also adapt to technological changes. He informed that there is a national transformation strategy for the press to bring journalistic technology on par with social media platforms.
However, the Minister affirmed that the most important issue remains the ethics of journalists.
"In fact, the income of reporters at media agencies is not low compared to that of civil servants. Many media agencies have incomes ranging from 15 to 20 million VND, lower than media companies, but higher than that of civil servants," the Minister stated.
Acknowledging that journalistic ethics have been neglected for many years, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed that the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Vietnam Journalists Association have identified the focus for this term as professional ethics for journalists.
Responding to a question from delegate Nguyen Dai Thang, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung stated that in 2023-2024, 14-15 reporters and collaborators were arrested each year, adding, "Those of us in the profession are deeply saddened." The Minister argued that compared to the 45,000 people working in journalism, including 21,000 with press cards, this is like "a rotten apple spoiling the barrel."
The minister also stated that 80% of the arrested journalists came from small magazines run by professional social organizations, where there is lax management.
Regarding solutions to prevent magazines from becoming like newspapers and to ensure they operate according to their stated purpose, the Minister shared that the first step for the Ministry of Information and Communications is to announce criteria for identifying what constitutes a magazine that has become like a newspaper and to publish them publicly in the media for the entire society to monitor.
When conducting inspections and audits, this criterion is used, and the governing bodies also rely on this criterion to assess whether "their media organization shows signs of violating regulations."
The Ministry of Information and Communications also publicly discloses the operating principles and objectives of 880 media outlets on its portals so that any individual or organization can access and check them. "When a reporter is assigned to a location, we ask if it aligns with the stated principles and objectives. If it doesn't, we have the right to refuse. If we are pressured, there is a hotline to report it," the Minister stated.
The Ministry of Information and Communications affirmed that it has also upgraded the inspection, auditing, and supervision of magazines by provincial departments. “We have some new regulations; if a reporter from a media agency is arrested, the responsibility of the editor-in-chief must be considered. Previously, only the media agency was held accountable; now, the editor-in-chief and the reporter who committed the violation are directly held accountable,” Minister Nguyen Manh Hung stated.
According to the Minister of Information and Communications, the Vietnam Journalists Association has issued regulations on professional ethics for journalists. "Repeatedly, the issue of journalistic ethics remains a matter of concern because journalism is a very special profession. A single voice, a single sentence, a single word from them can impact or spread to millions of people. Therefore, the standards must also be very special," the Minister explained.
The Minister stated that the current Press Law sets "not very high" standards for journalists, and therefore, in the upcoming revision of the Press Law, the Minister hopes that the National Assembly will consider allowing for a higher standard for journalists.
The government has agreed on four main policy groups when amending the Press Law.
Proposal to reduce income tax for journalists to 10%
According to Nguyen Dac Vinh, Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education, the Committee has worked with the Ministry of Information and Communications and agreed to propose a general income tax rate of 10% for the press, the same as for print media currently.
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