6 speakers participated in the fourth discussion session (within the framework of the 2024 National Press Forum) with the topic "Investing and applying technology effectively in newsrooms" including: Mr. Tran Viet Hung - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper; Mr. Bui Cong Duyen - Product Director of ONECMS Convergence Newsroom; Mr. Pham Anh Chien - Deputy Director of VTV Digital; Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong - Expert of Google New Initiative Program, Google Group; Mr. Kha Whye Lee, Director, WAN-IFRA (ex-SPH, ex-Reuters); Ms. Thi Uyen - Reporter of Nhan Dan Newspaper.
View of the discussion session.
Not investing heavily in technology will miss the digital front.
Participating in the discussion on technology application in the Total VTV model, journalist Pham Anh Chien - Deputy Director of the Center for Digital Content Production and Development of Vietnam Television (VTV Digital) raised two issues: the issue of rating (ranking) of waves - numbers and the Total VTV strategy in content production and distribution.
Regarding the issue of airwave ratings, there are programs such as 24-hour movement, 7 p.m. news and prime-time movies.
Specifically, 24-hour movement:
Hanoi: Television (TV) - 1.78, VTVGO - 1.2; number of TV viewers is 63,760 - VTVGO viewers is 42,856; contributing 40%
HCMC: TV yes - 0.41; VTVGO - 0.16; TV viewers - 26,908, VTVGO - 10,682; contributing 28%
7pm News:
Hanoi: TV has 1,568, VTVGO has 1,86; TV viewers 203,458, VTVGO viewers 66,644; contributing 25%
HCMC: TV has 1.61, VTVGO 0.31; TV viewers - 105,664, VTVGO - 20,645; contributing 16%
Primetime movies:
Hanoi: TV has 9.76, VTVGO has 1.87; number of TV viewers is 349,603 - VTVGO viewers is 66,969; contributing 16%
HCMC: TV has 0.53, VTVGO 0.34; TV viewers are 34,784 - VTVGO is 22,323; contributing 39%.
Journalist Pham Anh Chien said that investing in technology must include strong investment in digital platforms.
According to journalist Pham Anh Chien, from the number of viewers on OTT (the new-age television trend) being higher than on traditional TV, it can be seen that: First, there is a lack of a tool to measure Total rating on the digital wave platform. Second, if there is no strong investment in technology, there will be a huge risk, that is, missing an important front, the Digital front.
“This is not only VTV's problem but also a common problem for press agencies when, in addition to official publications, a series of platforms and derivatives will play a very important role in the overall perspective of product development,” said Mr. Chien.
Deputy Director of VTV Digital, VTV content statistics recorded 16 million pre-show views on CABLE, IPTV, DHT, DVB. But there are more than 36 million monthly via OTT.
Viewers of VTV Live channel are recorded as only 50 to 70% of reality in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Viewing VTV content in other forms such as replay, VOD is not recorded. (30% of total views).
“In reality, it can be seen that the concern when investing in technology must be to invest heavily in digital platforms,” Mr. Chien stated, and from there, VTV launched Total VTV. With the general press, it is total media.
“Through many years of research and evaluation, we have found that we cannot separate waves and numbers. In the past, waves + numbers created strong progress, parallel to each other, but we found that we must combine them. A product that is distributed on multiple platforms must have a strategy to attract data on multiple platforms and must be able to run on a common platform. From there, we can ensure that a product is created and creates maximum efficiency,” journalist Pham Anh Chien shared.
Delegates and reporters attend the discussion.
Also according to journalist Pham Anh Chien, VTV has the concept of 1 - 4 - 10. That is, 10 products distributed on 4 devices for 1 viewer. Viewers can watch at any time.
Along with that, in terms of strategy, VTV will focus on technology, content, and data. In terms of resources, it will focus on infrastructure, customers, content, and data.
Accordingly, VTV strongly shifted resources (90%) to make traditional TV switch to digital content, with the goal of having 1,000 people switch to digital work by 2030.
Technology solutions for newsrooms converge in the digital transformation of journalism
At the discussion session, Mr. Bui Cong Duyen - Product Director of ONECMS Convergence Newsroom discussed technology solutions for convergent newsrooms in the digital transformation of journalism in Vietnam.
Mr. Bui Cong Duyen - Product Director of ONECMS Convergence Editorial Office.
According to Mr. Duyen, most press agencies in Vietnam have many types of press at the same time: print, electronic, video clip, podcast... Each type of press uses separate content management software (CMS) or does not have a CMS to manage. There is no software to serve political administration such as managing work, equipment, documents...
Along with that, there is a lack of tools to support the rapid production of multimedia journalism works such as emagazine, longform, megastory. There is a lack of centralized content management tools on social networking platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok, YouTube, Zalo...
Besides, the application of artificial intelligence in editorial activities is still limited.
To solve the above problems, the proposed solution is a converged newsroom. At the discussion, Mr. Bui Cong Duyen introduced to the delegates a modern newsroom management tool, which integrates many modern utilities such as allowing direct design of special publications (emagazine, longform...); parallel management of both print and electronic newspapers; keyword suggestions, spelling check...
In which, Mr. Bui Cong Duyen introduced in detail the platform for general management with super editor table, news progress board, page layout management and editing, and editing tools.
Mr. Bui Cong Duyen introduces AI tools.
Notably, at the discussion, Mr. Bui Cong Duyen also shared about the use of Al in the converged newsroom. Including the use of tools: Vietnamese natural language processing; Converting text to speech and vice versa; Image recognition and classification, with the system recognizing images.
Regarding suggestions and trend detection, Mr. Duyen gave the example of a “monitoring system” of information in the press to detect press trends. Along with that is the use of content suggestions for other types of press.
According to Mr. Bui Cong Duyen, some AI tools that can be used immediately are ChatGPT, Gemini...
Understanding reader behavior and segmentation are important steps to developing an audience.
Speaking at the discussion, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong - Google New Initiative Program Expert, Google Corporation said the reason why Google devotes so much effort to journalism. That is: Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it useful and accessible to everyone. News from the press is an essential source of information for society.
As a company, Google invests in products that support news organizations, so that users can access high-quality information online. “Our company believes that when citizens are informed, society becomes stronger,” Ms. Duong emphasized.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong - Google New Initiative Program Expert, Google Corporation introduces steps to develop readers.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong, through Google's survey of over 12,000 press agencies and based on the responses of the press agencies, Google will support press agencies in 5 stages, these steps can be implemented step by step or at the same time.
Specifically, the steps of approach: 1. Understand readers - 2. Improve the quality of press products - 3. Expand distribution - 4. Develop revenue and 5. Build a culture of innovation and creativity.
In particular, understanding readers is extremely important. According to research and surveys, 80% of visits come from ~20% of readers. “Understanding reader behavior and categorizing readers are important steps to develop readers,” Ms. Duong emphasized.
Steps to develop readers: Step 1 is analysis: analyze reading behavior; correlation between content and reading behavior; impact of UI, UX.
Step 2: Optimize by classifying readers by behavior; identify high-value reader groups.
Step 3: Interact effectively by customizing the experience for each different audience; survey readers and receive feedback.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong shares many practical issues with the press.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong, the goal is to develop a group of paid readers. In which, the first step is to use News Consumer Insights to analyze reader behavior.
Step 1: Fix technical errors related to reader experience.
Step 2: Optimize - identify high-value audiences like newsletter readers.
Step 3: Interact - survey high-value solutions to optimize marketing strategy.
Step 4: Aim for 17%+ conversions to paid from high-value readers.
Multimedia interaction helps newsrooms create premium content
At the discussion session, presenting on the multimedia interactive feature on digital press works, journalist Thi Uyen - Nhan Dan Newspaper said that the purpose of the multimedia interactive feature is to attract users and interact with them in a way that traditional media such as (television and radio, print newspapers, etc.) cannot do. Or to put it more simply, the multimedia interactive feature (abbreviated as multimedia works) is a "specialty" of the digital environment, including electronic newspapers. At the same time, this feature helps editorial offices create "luxury" content, quality content; enhance user experience; increase competitiveness in the context of a sharp decline in the number of readers.
Journalist Thi Uyen - Nhan Dan Newspaper discusses the multimedia interactive feature on digital journalism works.
According to journalist Thi Uyen, these technologies and devices will support journalists in producing and users in experiencing multimedia interaction features in digital journalism works, bringing many specific benefits:
First, enhance user experience: Instead of just reading text, users can watch videos, listen to audio, interact with graphics and animations. This helps increase user engagement and interaction with the content.
Second, effective communication: Interactive multimedia features allow information to be communicated in a more visual and understandable way. Videos, images, and interactive graphics can help illustrate and explain complex concepts more clearly and vividly than traditional text.
Third, create interactivity and engagement: Users can interact with videos, images, or interactive graphics by clicking, dragging, or participating in interactive activities. This feature creates stimulation and satisfies users' curiosity, increasing the ability to absorb and apply content.
Fourth, create uniqueness and difference: Multimedia interactivity helps digital journalism stand out and differentiate from traditional content. The combination of multiple media creates a unique and different experience, attracting readers' attention and creating a strong impression.
Fifth, increased virality and sharing: Users are more likely to share visual, engaging, and interactive content, which can help the work spread across social networks and other social media platforms.
According to journalist Thi Uyen, multimedia interaction helps the newsroom create "high-class" content.
At the discussion, journalist Thi Uyen presented a number of multimedia interactive works in Nhan Dan Newspaper: People who build Tet; Vietnamese Artificial Intelligence; Women who bring Vietnam to the world.
However, journalist Thi Uyen said that although the multimedia interaction feature in digital journalism brings many benefits, this feature also has some disadvantages that need to be considered: Time-consuming and labor-intensive; Resource and bandwidth-consuming; Complicated compatibility. Along with that, there is difficulty in compatibility with mobile devices.
Journalist Thi Uyen suggests ways to overcome the disadvantages of multimedia interaction features such as: Optimizing production processes; building user-friendly interfaces; managing and controlling content; evaluating effectiveness and user feedback, etc.
Journalist Nguyen Hoang Nhat - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of VietnamPlus e-newspaper moderated the in-depth discussion.
Investing in technology must go slowly, "going with both feet in parallel"
After the journalists and experts presented their opinions, an in-depth discussion took place with the participation of Mr. Lee Kah Whye - Regional Director of the World Association of News Publishers (WAN - IFRA); Mr. Tran Viet Hung - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper; Mr. Pham Anh Chien - Deputy Director of VTV Digital and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong - Expert of Google New Initiative Program, Google Corporation.
Journalist Nguyen Hoang Nhat - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of VietnamPlus e-newspaper moderated the discussion.
Sharing at the discussion, Mr. Lee Kah Whye - Regional Director of the World Association of News Publishers (WAN - IFRA) said that press agencies in the region, like in Vietnam, have different levels of digital maturity. Some press agencies are very developed, while others are just starting out. Therefore, learning from each other and sharing experiences from more mature press agencies will be very helpful for press agencies in the transformation process. This transformation should not be limited to the domestic market but can be more accessible to the international press environment.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong - Google New Initiative Program Expert, Google Corporation, through working with Vietnamese press agencies, there is a similarity that the most basic investment in technology is being "ignored" to prioritize new improvements. However, we recommend doing it at the same time, that is, strengthening our technical foundation to optimize everything that can be optimized. Normally, improving the basic technical foundation can bring about relatively obvious changes to press agencies.
Second, with a solid foundation, technological innovations can be implemented more effectively. If there is a lesson learned, it is easier to replicate it with a technical foundation.
Sharing more about small and medium-sized press agencies investing in technical teams for digital transformation, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong said that most of the press agencies surveyed by Google are small and medium-sized, not all press agencies have the costs and expertise from the beginning to have an initial investment vision, what should be done?
According to Ms. Duong, many press agencies ask if there are any free tools that can be optimized in advance. When they start working, they start learning and when they learn, they will know what they are lacking, what they need and then determine whether to hire outside staff and invest in staff appropriately.
"I also met large press agencies with a lot of support and a lot of budget. And if they want to move too quickly, hire too large a staff but the leadership team is not effective enough to operate the large system, it will lead to stagnation in developing new products, or renovating the old system. For small press agencies with limited budget, going slowly and then gradually adjusting may be a more sustainable solution," Ms. Duong shared.
Ms. Nguyen Thuy Duong - Google New Initiative Program Expert, Google Corporation shared at the discussion.
Sharing about the digital transformation strategy at Thanh Nien Newspaper, Mr. Tran Viet Hung - Deputy Editor-in-Chief said that investment in technology is always a priority.
Mr. Tran Viet Hung believes that the process of implementing investment in technology must go hand in hand. That is, investing in technology and investing in human resources.
"We have a technology team of about 10 people. In addition, we must strengthen partnerships with technology companies to help develop new solutions, especially platform solutions, build new platforms and new products," said Mr. Hung.
Reporter team
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