On November 21, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung and a delegation from the Ministry of Information and Communications visited and worked with the Editorial Board, staff and reporters of Tien Phong newspaper on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of Tien Phong newspaper (November 16, 1953 - November 16, 2023).
Governments at all levels must provide regular budgets to carry out communication work.
Sharing at the meeting, Tien Phong Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Le Xuan Son said that this agency has developed sustainably and balanced its revenue and expenditure well in recent years, even during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The income of the newspaper's staff and reporters is not high, but stable and has increased gradually over the years.
“Tien Phong Newspaper has 5-6 main sources of revenue, the advertising sector, the electronic newspaper contributes more and more; organizing events has a very good source of revenue; besides, there are also sources of revenue from orders from state agencies…”, the Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper shared.
Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the visit and working session with Tien Phong newspaper. Photo: Anh Dung
With the strong development of social networking platforms in recent years, the Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong newspaper is also concerned that advertising revenue of the press is shrinking. Therefore, Mr. Le Xuan Son asked the Minister to point out solutions for press agencies to overcome the difficulties in the current period, especially the ordering mechanism of State management agencies.
Responding to the above concerns, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said that in the past, 100% of the press agencies' revenue came from the budget. But with the market mechanism, there has been a trend of the press separating itself from the budget, living under the market mechanism to have more autonomy and possibly have large revenue from advertising.
However, when social media and social networks developed, they took away 70% of the press's revenue. Only then did the press think about whether it could survive completely according to the market mechanism.
"Revolutionary press that gets 100% of its revenue from the market can easily become a market press," said Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, adding that the law specifically stipulates that the managing unit is also responsible for creating conditions for the press agency to operate.
Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung recalled that when he became Minister, he realized that “there seemed to be a misunderstanding somewhere” about the issue of communication among State management agencies. After that, he worked with press agencies, the press management unit of the Ministry of Information and Communications and asked for the Government’s opinion to issue a directive on policy communication. In which, it was mentioned that communication is a regular function and task of all levels of government; it is necessary to organize a specialized apparatus for communication work.
“Governments at all levels must regularly allocate budgets to carry out communications work. That budget is used to order press agencies, including their own press agencies, but that does not mean it is only for their own units,” Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung shared.
According to Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, authorities at all levels must provide regular budgets to carry out communication work. Photo: Anh Dung
However, according to the Minister, there are currently two rather extreme branches. One is that large press agencies are completely autonomous and operate according to market mechanisms. The second branch is agencies that depend almost entirely on "mother's milk".
“Those two branches go in opposite directions. Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Communications has a policy that press agencies that have a great influence on society but are financially independent must still receive a portion of orders from state agencies, from about 10-30%. Some press agencies, at least 30% of their revenue must come from the market so that they can understand their media audience,” said the Minister.
However, when the press placed orders, it encountered difficulties due to the 3 circulars issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications on technical and economic standards. Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Communications held many meetings and found a direction for press agencies to base on to set technical and economic standards.
Journalists need to know where they stand in the digital transformation process.
According to the head of the Ministry of Information and Communications, digital transformation is a matter of survival for press agencies. “In the past, when we were doing journalism, our main weapons were paper and pen, now it is technology. We are currently lagging behind and losing out to social platforms mainly in terms of technology, not content,” Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung shared.
Tien Phong newspaper staff shared their concerns about journalism with the Minister of Information and Communications. Photo: Anh Dung
Therefore, the first strategic goal of the Ministry of Information and Communications for the press is digital transformation. It indicates the direction and path for press agencies in the digital transformation process. After that, the Ministry of Information and Communications also issued a set of indicators to measure the 'maturity level' in digital transformation of press agencies. Based on that tool, press agencies know where they stand in the digital transformation process.
"In addition, the Ministry of Information and Communications also established a Center to Support Digital Transformation of the Press. If there are any difficulties during the digital transformation process, press agencies can contact the center for support," Minister Nguyen Manh Hung shared.
Regarding the story raised by the Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said that if newspapers keep struggling with journalism but do not have people working in technology, there will be problems. Therefore, press agencies really need people working in technology.
However, we should not completely outsource journalism to technology workers. “To have an excellent journalism product, 70% of the effort belongs to the content worker, the remaining 30% belongs to the technology worker,” said the Minister.
Concluding the meeting, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung suggested that the Editorial Board of Tien Phong newspaper, if they encounter any difficulties during the operation and development of the newspaper, can think of the Ministry of Information and Communications as the 'first home' to discuss, share and resolve difficulties.
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