On the eve of the Forum with 12 opening sessions, journalist Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association had a conversation with Nha Bao va Cong Luan Newspaper about the content as well as expectations of this highly-noticed career forum.
We select the most urgent issues
Mr. Le Quoc Minh shared at the discussion "Creative youth in digital transformation" held at the National Newspaper Festival 2023.
+ It is known that the National Press Forum will spend most of its time discussing the hottest issues of today's press life. This shows that the Vietnam Journalists Association has closely followed developments in press life. As the person who came up with the idea and directed the implementation, what does the Chairman expect from this event?
- Journalist Le Quoc Minh: After a long period of monitoring, we have noticed some shortcomings of the Vietnamese press, such as the lack of specific measurement and statistical data on the activities of press agencies. Most press agencies are small and medium-sized, so they do not have enough resources to research new trends in the world, and do not have the conditions to experiment with new ways of doing things. There have been many conferences and seminars each year, many training courses organized by the Vietnam Journalists Association as well as local Journalists Associations, Associations and Journalists' Associations, pointing out many difficulties that the press is facing, suggesting many directions, but not many press agencies have really created breakthrough changes for themselves. Every year at the National Press Conferences, there are meaningful seminars and discussions, but they are often individual initiatives of affiliated units.
This year, the Vietnam Journalists Association realized that it was necessary to change the way of organizing so that all activities were comprehensive, the conference standards had to be international, and it was necessary to take advantage of the presence of a large number of press leaders from all over the country to exchange and discuss macro issues, in many fields, many challenges as well as opportunities for the press in the new era. Among the speakers participating in the National Press Forum, there were not only experts in press and media but also in the fields of state management, technology, business, copyright protection, including both domestic and foreign experts. There was even a very special session, for the first time, representatives of the press, businesses and advertising companies sat together to discuss the possibility of cooperation to promote brand promotion and support the press. I think this way of organizing a professional conference will certainly bring many interesting and useful things to the participants.
Journalist Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association.
+ As you shared, the Forum will be an important event for leaders of press agencies and journalists to find new directions and methods for modern journalism, maintain the pioneering position of journalism and ensure sustainable development... Mr. President, why in the current context of journalism, does this goal need to be set? Why does journalism really need new directions and methods on the eve of the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Journalism Day?
- Journalist Le Quoc Minh: Currently, this is an extremely difficult time for the world press as well as the Vietnamese press due to the development of technology, changes in the public's information consumption habits and behaviors, and the widespread development of fake and misleading information, causing the society's trust in the press to decline, while advertising revenue is increasingly decreasing for all types of press, including electronic ones. The press provides useful information to society, but its important role and strength over the past hundreds of years are being threatened by continuous changes, especially in the past decade. If the press does not adapt to the real situation, does not innovate and continuously innovate, its position will decline, and for the revolutionary press carrying the mission of propagating the Party and State's guidelines and policies, and being a bridge between the Party and the People, this is unacceptable. Looking forward to the 100th anniversary of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Press, we realize that this is the time to create strong changes, to help the revolutionary press maintain its position through proactive and effective methods, to promote the dynamism of press agencies of all types, and to call for cooperation from businesses.
+ The 2024 National Press Forum will have up to 12 sessions, including 10 discussion sessions on many issues revolving around the contents related to the top concerns of press agencies and press management agencies in the context of many new challenges and opportunities... What will be the "hottest" issues discussed in the sessions, sir?
- Journalist Le Quoc Minh: In addition to the two opening and closing plenary sessions with general and macro summaries, the remaining 10 discussion sessions all addressed extremely urgent issues of the Vietnamese press. From enhancing Party spirit, orientation in press activities, building a cultural environment in press agencies, challenges to radio and television, to investing in technology, artificial intelligence, diversifying revenue sources, or protecting copyrights that are vital to the press. Of course, there are many other important topics, but within the framework of the Forum, we have selected the most urgent issues. Please note that to organize this event, the Vietnam Journalists Association (VJA), the Vietnam Digital Communications Association (VDCA), the Press Department and the Department of Radio and Television (Ministry of Information and Communications) coordinated to implement, the Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development (IPS) is the unit directly implementing an unprecedented large-scale survey on the "health" of the Vietnamese press. There will be a lot of interesting data presented, and press agencies can see where they are, what advantages they have and which direction they need to go.
Hopefully, press agencies will be proactive and bold in experimenting to find their own path.
+ At this Forum, the presence of many leaders of press agencies, journalists, famous media experts at home and abroad, businesses... in the role of Coordinators and Speakers of the event is a very interesting way of "program design". This not only shows the effective connecting role of the Vietnam Journalists Association, but also demonstrates the spirit of "solidarity" and joint efforts of agencies and units for the development of Vietnam Revolutionary Press, don't you think?
- Journalist Le Quoc Minh: We have attended many international press conferences and forums and found that this way of organizing is very professional and effective, gathering many experts from many fields, creating a highly professional but close and friendly atmosphere of exchange. There are still in-depth presentations and discussions, and there is also a discussion section to discuss many aspects, many contents, and even increase interaction with the audience in the hall. The discussion sessions are led by famous journalists and experts, and they themselves, together with the Organizing Committee, have selected the speakers of each session to be suitable for the topic and personal experience, while at the same time there is a diversity of press agencies of different sizes and different regions. We believe that the content of the discussion sessions is very high quality.
+ We are going through the first months of 2024, which are predicted to have many difficulties and challenges with many unpredictable developments. The gloomy outlook of the global economy, the increasingly fierce threat of ChatGPT, AI technology... are greatly affecting society in general and journalists in particular. So, Mr. Chairman, with the stories at this Forum, how should press agencies and individual journalists "keep up" to effectively apply, overcome challenges and seize opportunities for the new journey?
- Journalist Le Quoc Minh: Difficulties and challenges are always present in every period, and more importantly, it is important to see what opportunities each press agency, whether central or local, large or small, can find its own direction. There is no solution that is right for every unit, but there is no solution that is not suitable if one does not boldly experiment and even accept mistakes. There is a fairly common view in the world that people go to meetings and conferences to learn from each other, and people are even encouraged to "take advantage of each other's ideas". Of course, "taking advantage of ideas" here does not mean copying, but replicating and having their own creativity. There will be ideas that no one can imitate but still need to be learned, there will be innovations that seem to be only suitable for a specific press agency but in fact are still useful lessons for many other press agencies. And there are even learned journalistic products that are ultimately more interesting than the original idea. If you don't go, you won't succeed, if you don't try, you won't know what your strengths are. We hope that through forums and seminars like this, press agencies will be proactive and bold in experimenting to find their own path and at the same time contribute to the overall development of Vietnam's Revolutionary Journalism.
+ Sincerely thank journalist Le Quoc Minh!
Ha Van (performed)
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