National Press Forum 2024

(BLC) - On the afternoon of March 15, 2024, in Ho Chi Minh City, for the first time, the Vietnam Journalists Association organized the 2024 National Press Forum. The forum consisted of 12 sessions with attractive topics, related to the top concerns of press agencies and press management agencies.

Attending the opening session of the Forum were: Nguyen Trong Nghia, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda Department; Tran Luu Quang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister; Phan Van Mai - Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee; Nguyen Manh Hung, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Information and Communications, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Vice Chairman of the National Committee on Digital Transformation; Tran Thanh Lam - Deputy Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee; On the side of the Vietnam Journalists Association, there were: 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; Nguyen Duc Loi - Former Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association; Tran Trong Dung - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association (in charge of the South).

Attending the opening session of the Forum were also distinguished delegates, distinguished guests representing press agencies, press managers, representatives of leaders of agencies, departments, enterprises, representatives of central press agencies, Ho Chi Minh City and localities.

Delegates attending the 2024 National Press Forum.

The Vietnamese revolutionary press is reaching its 100-year milestone. After nearly a century of development, the Vietnamese revolutionary press has increasingly demonstrated its orientation, promoted its mission and responsibility, and improved its operational efficiency, gradually asserting its professionalism, humanity, and modernity, making a very important contribution to the common achievements of the country and the nation.

In the current period, the press has constantly innovated, created, flexibly and effectively promoted the application and mastery of modern communication technology with the launch of many new programs and products, spreading widely on digital platforms, having a good effect on society.

However, facing increasingly fierce competition from new forms of information such as social networks, it is currently an extremely difficult time for the world press as well as the Vietnamese press due to the development of technology, changes in the habits and information consumption behavior of the public, plus the widespread development of fake information and false information, causing the society's trust in the press to decline, while advertising revenue is increasingly decreasing for all types of press, including electronic. The press provides useful information to society, but its important role and power over hundreds of years is being threatened by continuous changes, especially in the past decade.

Mr. Phan Van Mai - Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City gave a quite impressive speech about Ho Chi Minh City...

Speaking at the opening of the Forum, Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, emphasized that the 2024 National Press Festival is an extremely meaningful event not only for the press but also for the socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Mr. Phan Van Mai, in recent times, the revolutionary press has made great contributions to the process of building and developing the City. The city leaders have also received a lot of attention and comments from the press.

"Therefore, we consider the press from the central to local levels as an organic force contributing to the development of the City. We are very grateful for the contributions of the press agencies and hope that this companionship of the press agencies with the City's leaders will continue in the future," Mr. Phan Van Mai expressed.

Sharing about the socio-economic situation of Ho Chi Minh City at the Forum, in which three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure, and human resources are the three bottlenecks of Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Phan Van Mai hopes that the Central leaders and especially the press who have paid attention will continue to pay more attention to help the City see more clearly the strategic bottlenecks and solutions in the upcoming journey.

Specifically, according to Mr. Phan Van Mai, first, recognizing the institutional bottleneck, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 31 for Ho Chi Minh City, identifying the orientations and tasks for the city's development. The National Assembly issued Resolution 98 opening up mechanisms for Ho Chi Minh City. "Thus, in terms of orientation and institutions, there is Resolution 31 of the Politburo, Resolution 98 of the National Assembly and the City is also proposing many policy mechanisms," said Mr. Mai.

Second, to solve the strategic problem of infrastructure bottlenecks, Ho Chi Minh City is focusing on investing in the transport infrastructure system, beltways, connecting highways, and the Metro system. The city will focus on urban infrastructure and social infrastructure to improve traffic conditions, population distribution, and solve problems such as flooding, environment, and traffic jams. It will also invest in digital infrastructure to promote the digital economy, digital government, and digital society.

Third is human resources, administrative reform, the issue of improving the quality of human resources, the City is building and plans to deploy in the second quarter the Project on effective and efficient Ho Chi Minh City civil service to build the quality of human resources of Ho Chi Minh City effectively in the political system, in enterprises and in the people; contributing to improving the productivity of the city's economy.

"The above are the things the City hopes to receive comments from press agencies, experts, and journalists to help Ho Chi Minh City identify more clearly, choose the right issues, and achieve its goals faster," Mr. Mai hopes.

In particular, at the Forum, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee shared that the city is currently known in history as a very dynamic and creative locality that always thinks and seeks new ways of doing things.

"But how dynamic and innovative in the current context is an issue that we really hope that press agencies and journalists, with their experience, can further analyze and suggest ways to stimulate the internal driving force of creative dynamism for the development of the City and the country, while still ensuring compliance or the results from that practice are quickly summarized, legalized, and mechanized," said Mr. Phan Van Mai.

According to the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, in 2025, the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country will be celebrated. Ho Chi Minh City, as a locality, will be a historical witness to this anniversary. The City Party Committee has also issued directives and plans, and the Committee has many branch plans to implement. We will report to the Central Committee and the Secretariat.

The City People's Committee has also implemented many activities, from literary and artistic creations to celebrate the 50th anniversary, launching special movements from the beginning of 2022 until April 30, 2025. Along with that, Ho Chi Minh City has implemented 50 typical city-level projects and works to celebrate and many other activities.

"We hope that the press will participate in these 50th anniversary activities, not only in terms of propaganda but also in participating more in activities of Ho Chi Minh City as well as the South and the whole country," Mr. Phan Van Mai suggested.

Speaking at the Forum, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung - Minister of Information and Communications said that digital technology has the first and strongest impact on the field of journalism and communications, creating fundamental changes in this field.

According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, cyberspace is now the main battlefield, the main battle of the press. "Win or lose is here! The fourth industrial revolution (IR), digital technology (CNS), digital transformation (CĐS) has been going on for more than ten years, now it is not only about going to cyberspace (KGM) but also about reclaiming KGM, creating the mainstream on KGM. The main source of revenue for the press will also come from KGM".

However, CNS takes away some old things but also creates new things. "So the press has to do new things. Innovation in the press lies in the fact that the press has to do more than what it is doing," the Minister of Information and Communications asked, saying that the press needs a wider space than "Who, what, when and where", that is, wider than reporting news. Readers want to know what is behind too much news. It can be an interpretation, analysis or commentary on the news. It can be a multi-dimensional view, a deep and intellectual understanding, an interesting and suggestive interpretation, or a solution to the country's problems.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung also stated that innovation is not a very difficult task. Innovation is finding an easier way to do a more difficult task. That new way often appears from a different perspective, a different approach. At the beginning of a new industrial revolution, the new way is often the opposite.

"Use digital technology to do the opposite. Instead of writing, create a platform for people to write. Instead of letting people read on your website, let them read on different platforms. Instead of providing information, provide knowledge. Instead of doing it yourself, collaborate. Instead of letting reporters process a lot of information, let them process things with very little information and let AI process a lot of information. Instead of avoiding accidents, control accidents," Mr. Hung shared.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung said that if the press wants to develop, it needs new space, new production forces, new production resources, new production factors and new motivation. The new space is digital space. The new production force is digital technology. The new production resources are digital human resources. The new production factor is digital data. The new motivation is digital innovation. "Therefore, investing in digital technology, digital human resources, digital data and digital innovation will be an investment for the future of the press," Mr. Hung stated.

In particular, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung stated that digital technology, especially AI, is stronger than nuclear energy, so the problems, challenges, and risks it brings will also be greater than nuclear energy. "That is the rule. The previous three industrial revolutions were like that. This fourth industrial revolution, whose center is digital technology, and the center of digital technology is AI, will probably be the same," Mr. Hung said.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung believes that to solve the problems of new technology, we must use new institutions and new technology. Digital technology, the Internet and social media are strong impetus to innovate the press. This innovation will only increase the role and contribution of revolutionary press to the cause of building a strong and prosperous Vietnam.

For the discussion sessions at the forum, the Ministry of Information and Communications will fully participate, listen, explain policies, absorb and support press development.

In particular, at the opening session of the Forum, Mr. Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, President of the Vietnam Journalists Association gave a general presentation titled: "Vietnamese Press: Challenges - Opportunities".

The President of the Vietnam Journalists Association pointed out the development trends as well as the overall picture of the Vietnamese press today. At the same time, he also frankly pointed out the great challenges and opportunities that the Vietnamese press in particular and the world press in general are facing.

Specifically, the first is the emergence of artificial intelligence AI. Affirming that AI is contributing to improving the work of journalists, he also said: AI brings great potential to the world and to journalism, but also has potential risks, so we need to be extremely careful. Many large newsrooms in the world also share the same concern about the risks that AI can bring, especially in the field of content production.

Second, the world press is also facing the problem of fake news. Many people have used AI to distort images, creating deep fakes with serious consequences.

Third, the increasing number of new devices has created great opportunities for the press to develop. "In 2024, we will witness the emergence of new devices beyond smartphones, using interactive methods such as voice commands, eye or hand movements," said comrade Le Quoc Minh.

Talking about what needs to be done immediately in the near future, the Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association said: Press agencies need to promote the promulgation of legal regulations to protect the intellectual property of the press, so that it is not used and analyzed by AI systems without approval and without adequate financial compensation.

In addition, news organizations need to find niche markets and test new business models. They need to clearly identify their audience so that they can develop journalism economic models with high profit margins, loyal users, or direct relationships with specific advertisers without being dependent on technology platforms.

"In addition to advertising, agencies need to look for other sources of revenue, in which revenue from readers must be considered the top sustainable strategy," Mr. Le Quoc Minh suggested.

Mr. Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, President of the Vietnam Journalists Association gave a general presentation titled: "Vietnamese Press: Challenges - Opportunities".

Next, Mr. Le Quoc Minh said that prioritizing Digital does not mean prioritizing social networks. In particular, the Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association emphasized that it is time to bring readers back to the newspaper's website. Along with that, printed newspapers need to be cherished and treated as a premium product, providing valuable information with depth and understanding that only humans can bring.

In the context of general difficulties of the domestic and world economy, in the encroachment and fierce competition from social networks, in the change in information tastes of the public, the world press in general, the Vietnamese press in particular, have also had to face countless difficulties and challenges, the most difficult of which is the issue of press economics. In recent times, in order to maintain operations, many press agencies have had to make maximum cuts in costs, personnel, etc.

However, in challenges there are always opportunities. What is important for Vietnamese press agencies today is to see what opportunities there are so that each press agency, whether central or local, large or small, can find its own direction.

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