Minister Nguyen Van Hung: Continue to absorb and perfect the Draft Press Law (amended) to ensure the highest quality

On the morning of April 17, in Hanoi, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung chaired a working session with key press agencies on the Draft Law on Press (amended).

Attending the meeting were Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Permanent Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Hai Binh, and leaders of relevant Departments and Offices of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

On the side of key press agencies, there were General Director of Vietnam Television Nguyen Thanh Lam; Editor-in-Chief of People's Police Newspaper Pham Quang Khai and representatives of the leadership of Voice of Vietnam; Vietnam News Agency; Nhan Dan Newspaper; and People's Army Newspaper.

Minister Nguyen Van Hung works with key press agencies on the Draft Press Law (amended)

At the meeting, leaders of key press agencies contributed their opinions on the functions, tasks, mechanisms, and specific policies for the development of key multimedia media agencies, the model of press and media complexes, the issue of unifying the names of press agencies nationwide, and new issues arising in current press activities... Delegates also contributed their opinions on a number of specific provisions in the Draft Press Law (amended).

Speaking at the meeting, Permanent Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Hai Binh said that the amendment of the Press Law was carried out in the context of many changes in the country's situation and press life.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Hai Binh spoke.

Immediately after receiving the task of drafting the revised Press Law, the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, directly Minister Nguyen Van Hung, had meetings with the Press Department and other agencies to closely direct the drafting of the Law. Over the past time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has actively coordinated with relevant agencies to continuously update the instructions and changes in the press life.

According to Permanent Deputy Minister Le Hai Binh, in the face of the country's new development stage, the amendment of the Press Law will contribute to opening up new development space and a new position for the Vietnamese revolutionary press. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism hopes to continue receiving comments from agencies to complete the Draft Law.

General Director of Vietnam Television Nguyen Thanh Lam speaks.

Editor-in-Chief of People's Police Newspaper Pham Quang Khai speaks.

Concluding the working session, Minister Nguyen Van Hung thanked the dedicated, responsible, and in-depth contributions of leaders of key press agencies on the Draft Press Law (amended).

All comments agreed that amending the Press Law is necessary and must be done at the present time. However, in the context of many changes in the press, along with the rapid development of science and technology, amending the law will face many difficulties, with many new issues and contents to approach.

Giving opinions on each group of content contributed by leaders of key press agencies, the Minister said that for the group of issues related to the functions and tasks of press agencies associated with the orientation of the 13th National Party Congress: "Building a professional, humane and modern press and media", the Draft Law is not yet clearly expressed, so it is necessary to continue studying to complete it.

Regarding the issue of naming press agencies and the proposed new model of media complexes, the Minister said that this is a very new issue, with some unprecedented issues, so it is necessary to update the current changing situation according to the direction of the Politburo and the Secretariat and seek opinions from competent authorities to orient this content. The Minister requested that the Drafting Committee pay close attention to this issue.

Regarding the issue of bottlenecks in mechanisms, the Minister said that the revision of the Press Law needs to remove bottlenecks and bottlenecks in the information provision mechanism. Removing these bottlenecks is very important, obtaining fast, timely and accurate information is an important factor to promote the development of press agencies. In addition, the Draft Law must also design specific mechanisms and financial mechanisms for press agencies.

Regarding the current issue of press information management and orientation, the Minister said that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is currently assigned by the Government to manage the general state of the press, and the direct management of each press agency is carried out by the competent authority. In addition, the orientation of press information work is managed by the Central Propaganda and Education Commission and the management of professional ethics is in charge of the Vietnam Journalists Association... According to the Minister, these contents also need to be included in the Press Law (amended) to clearly define the functions of the agencies.

The Minister noted that the approach in law-making should be towards "governance" rather than simply "management" of the press.

Regarding the group of issues related to legislative techniques that were commented on by delegates, the Minister expressed his agreement and said that the Law needs to be clearly and distinctly regulated, avoiding the use of ambiguous words that cause difficulties in the implementation of the Law.

Minister Nguyen Van Hung concluded the meeting.

Regarding some key tasks in the coming time, the Minister requested:

Firstly, it is necessary to immediately summarize the implementation of Decision No. 362/QD-TTg dated April 3, 2019 of the Prime Minister approving the National Press Development and Management Plan until 2025. This is an urgent task that must be urgently implemented and completed before the 100th anniversary of the Vietnamese revolutionary press. The summary results will be an important basis for advising the Politburo and the Secretariat in leadership and orientation for the coming time.

Second , based on the comments at the meeting, the Minister assigned the Drafting Committee to proactively review each content (regarding functions, tasks, names, mechanisms, management models, responsibilities of governing agencies, state management agencies, contents related to legislative techniques...) to include in the Draft Law.

In particular, it is necessary to proactively review and institutionalize the viewpoints and guidelines of the Party and the State. In addition to the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the Resolutions on press and media, it is necessary to specify new points in Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW on a number of issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently; Resolution 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation and Resolution No. 59-NQ/TW on international integration in the new situation.

Third, the Drafting Committee needs to coordinate and work with the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Journalists Association to revise and complete related contents. At the same time, proactively work with the reviewing agency to complete the contents of the Draft Law.

Fourth , the Minister suggested that VTV, VOV and key press agencies study and organize a forum on the Press Law (amended) to gather opinions from experts and people, promote communication work, and create social consensus.

The Minister hopes that press agencies will continue to accompany and contribute opinions to complete the Draft Law on Press (amended) to ensure the highest quality for submission to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 10th Session./.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/bo-truong-nguyen-van-hung-tiep-tuc-tiep-thu-hoan-thien-du-an-luat-bao-chi-sua-doi-dam-bao-chat-luong-cao-nhat-20250417142152286.htm