Journalist Dao Trung Hieu: The number one quality of journalism is honesty.

(Dan Tri) - According to Journalist, Lieutenant Colonel Dao Trung Hieu, no matter what technology is applied in journalism, the number one important quality of a journalist is honesty.

"Memories of dangerous moments when facing criminals, along with the journey to discover and decode the secrets behind the crimes, are always the most special luggage that every criminal investigation soldier carries with him throughout his life. Even though many years have passed, the files have turned yellow and the ink has faded due to the dust of time, but for the soldiers, everything seems like yesterday", Preface "Journey to decode crimes" - Journalist, Lieutenant Colonel Dao Trung Hieu (PhD in Criminology). On the occasion of the 99th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925 - June 21, 2024), Dan Tri reporter had an interview with journalist, Lieutenant Colonel Dao Trung Hieu about his feelings and thoughts about journalism and investigation.

It is known that "Journey to Solve Crimes" is not the first book you have written. What motivated you to "conceive" 54 crime-solving stories of you and your teammates in 444 pages of the book, Lieutenant Colonel Dao Trung Hieu? - I write quite "mixedly", that is, in many different genres, from short stories, novels, notes, memoirs, film scripts, songs to monographs in scientific research and books on common security knowledge. The book "Journey to Solve Crimes" - my 8th brainchild - is a collection of 54 crime-solving stories, told from the memories of a soldier, which I myself used to be, in the years before.

I am a former Criminal Police officer, with many years of fighting in the Criminal Police force in many localities. The fields of work that I have experienced include drug prevention, serious crime investigation, high-tech crime prevention... The journey of nearly 20 years of working has left in my memory many profound memories of dangerous moments when facing criminals, along with investigations, decoding the secrets behind the crimes. As I wrote in the preface of the book, that is the most special luggage that criminal investigation soldiers like us always carry with us throughout our lives. Rarely is there a detail in the fierce battles that can be forgotten, because we have lived through the full range of emotions, from anxiety, restlessness, determination, to bursting with happiness when the mission is completed. Then when we meet again, those comrades in that battle, time reverses, pulling the past to appear fully in each person's heart. The battle that day took place like a slow-motion film, from many angles, in the thoughts of those involved. So, what do you want to convey to the readers? - The field of security and order is very different, not everyone has the opportunity to access it. But through the stories of our soldiers, life in this area appears vividly, with all its nakedness and fierceness. Each story is like a slice of reality, allowing the listener to somewhat feel the hidden corners on the sidelines of each case, along with the investigations. And also through the stories of the soldiers, to understand the strategies and ways of using troops. More than that, it is the dedication, silent sacrifice, and heroic qualities of ordinary soldiers. For the next generation in the criminal investigation profession, these are also valuable lessons from the previous generation, with profound reference meaning to draw something for themselves when encountering similar investigation situations. In this sense, the soldier's crime-solving stories are also vivid, intuitive examples of how to flexibly and skillfully use investigative measures to solve crimes.

My profession has given me the opportunity to experience many hardships during my years of fighting, to face myself in difficult, challenging and dangerous situations. With professional enthusiasm, love for justice, courage and strategy of a police officer, we have strived to complete our tasks, together contributing beautiful flowers to the "garden of heroic achievements" of the Criminal Police force. Becoming a professional writer, I have the opportunity to go, to meet and write about my comrades who are still firmly holding their guns to protect the peaceful lives of the people, to listen to them recount memorable memories in criminal investigations. This book records our crime-solving stories, hoping to bring readers a more multi-dimensional and realistic perspective on a very special profession: Criminal investigation.

What was the opportunity for Lieutenant Colonel Dao Trung Hieu to become a professional journalist and writer? And why did he choose to write about his own profession of "Crime Investigation"? - During my years as a criminal police officer, I always had a burning passion for every word. Because the tradition passed down through many generations of my family is the profession of literature and teaching. I myself was a literature major in high school. When I was a criminal police officer, I solved cases during the day, and at night I stayed up to write down on paper the emotions of the battlefield that were still hot, imbued with the breath of the battle on the field with criminals. I wrote to balance myself, after all the hardships and difficulties of a soldier's life. What I wrote at that time, I combined them into two books "Stories outside the file" and "Lost gunfire", published in 2012 and 2013. When writing and printing the books, I did not know that it was the opportunity for me to suddenly change my career from holding a gun to holding a pen, when the books "fell" into the hands of my leaders at the Ministry of Public Security.

At that time, they needed a writer with a deep understanding of the force directly fighting crime, and I satisfied these requirements. So I was invited to join the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Public Security Newspaper. Having a love for words, and fortunately possessing a "pure gold" material store of memories accumulated through battles, I nodded "immediately". That was more than 10 years ago. Becoming a journalist in the CAND force, I "shelved" (in charge - PV) for many years the column "Criminal solving journey" in the World Security publication of the CAND Newspaper, with content recounting the achievements of the national criminal police force in fighting special cases, decoding crimes, cutting off and destroying criminal networks and organizations. The reason I chose this topic is because I have a love for criminal investigation, a deep understanding of it, and relationships with friends and brothers in the direct combat force. When getting news about the results of solving a case, I know how to ask them about the "keys" that help make each project successful, as well as side stories that if I had not experienced this force, I would not know to ask. Besides this topic, I also write a lot for the section on literary life, art, short stories... because I am also a writer and my passion for literature has never cooled down. After 10 years of working as a journalist, I have matured a lot. My agency, CAND newspaper, is a gathering place for many talented people in the literary and journalism world, including names such as: Huu Uoc, Nhu Phong, Hong Thanh Quang, Pham Khai, Nhu Binh, Dang Truong, The Hung, Phan Dang... They are all veteran writers and journalists or have become famous in the literary profession. Working with them, I learned many things. If before, my knowledge was limited to the field of security and order, then when working at CAND newspaper, being in contact with those "brains" helped me to gradually improve myself.

I learned from them how to think, how to be creative, how to work. More than that, they are the ones who inspire me to try to overcome my own limits, to best develop my creative ability. On this occasion, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to them for their valuable guidance and instruction over the past time, so that I can transform from a "gunman" to a "writer" in the true sense. After 10 years of working as a journalist, what are your feelings and thoughts about the "wordsmith" profession? Especially when the "technology storm" has been and is coming, is the role of journalists still important, sir? - Journalism is poor but luxurious. I think so. The mission of a journalist or reporter is to convey to society information that the public is interested in, to bravely fight, to expose the bad and negative things to improve social life, as well as to discover and praise good examples to spread humane ways of living, to inspire kindness, to contribute to building a civilized and safe society for everyone. In reality, the life of a reporter is quite difficult and arduous if only relying on a "meager" royalty. Our colleagues often joke that being a journalist "just enough to eat" is lucky. That's right, because the cost of living is increasingly inversely proportional to the income of reporters, without additional side jobs, it is very difficult to maintain life and passion for the profession. Since the rise of social networks, journalism has entered a fierce competition for information, many printed publications have had to "die" because no one reads them. The profession of selling newspapers on the street has disappeared for a long time. Some once-famous publications are now absent from the shelves, and buying them is harder than "buying drugs". In addition, many newsrooms cannot support their staff because their revenue is not enough to cover expenses. Print newspapers cannot be sold, electronic newspapers have low views, and advertising and media contracts are increasingly difficult to find, due to the economic downturn after the pandemic, businesses going bankrupt, closing stores en masse due to lost orders, reduced purchasing power... so there is no budget for advertising, but the press relies on it to survive. Despite the difficulties, it can be seen that in many newsrooms, there are still many reporters who overcome difficulties in life to devote themselves to their profession. They still "burn" themselves out for their journalistic work, not afraid of danger when fighting directly against negativity, bravely exposing to the public the irregularities and harassment, or protecting the weak from violence and tyranny...

The topics they reflect often have profound social effects, bringing noble human values ​​to life. They are respected by society for living up to their conscience and professional ethics. However, in recent times, many journalists and reporters have been investigated, arrested, and prosecuted... What do you think about this issue? - We know that there are also many reporters who, due to circumstances, desires, and greed, recklessly "break the rules" and take advantage of their profession for personal gain. They are known as the "floor counting" army or "IS", specializing in "ganging up" on agencies, organizations, and businesses, with the common method of accusing them of wrongdoing, harassing, and threatening them to force them to "pay money" to not write articles for publication, or to remove published articles. In essence, that is an act of extortion. In the eyes of the community, they are harassers, tarnishing the noble image of true journalists. Of course, the number of these reporters is not much and sooner or later they will have to pay the price according to the law of cause and effect.

In the era of the 4.0 technology revolution, according to the Colonel, what qualities of capacity and ethics should each reporter cultivate? How should the work of reporters change? - I think that, in the current situation, the press cannot stand outside the stormy development of science and technology. Many newspapers have very unique and attractive ways of reporting news and articles. For example, today I was very excited to access the content of news articles on Dan Tri newspaper through the voice channel, read by AI technology. Thus, at the same time, readers can access your newspaper's information products in many different ways. This helps optimize readers' choices, resulting in maintaining a loyal readership.

I think that, nowadays, every reporter has no other choice but to improve himself by self-studying, self-studying the development of technology and journalism trends in the world, in order to be able to skillfully use scientific achievements in writing. But no matter what technology is applied in journalism, the most important quality of a journalist, in my opinion, is honesty. Honesty in getting news, in reporting and honesty in reporting. If this core element is lacking, journalistic works can be harmful to the community, because when lies are spread, the consequences are often limitless.

Content: Hai Nam, Nguyen Hai

Design: Patrick Nguyen

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/nha-bao-dao-trung-hieu-pham-chat-so-1-cua-nghe-bao-la-su-trung-thuc-20240620175129996.htm