Currently, press agencies are assigned autonomy, self-accounting, operating according to the enterprise model and according to Decree No. 60/2021/ND-CP regulating the financial autonomy mechanism of public service units (the Decree takes effect from August 15, 2021).
Financial autonomy will go hand in hand with self-responsibility, creating dynamism and autonomy in management. Autonomy from the beginning has become the driving force for leaders of press agencies to be proactive and dedicated to bringing their press products to the market, thereby improving management capacity.
Financial autonomy with scientific journals challenges and solutions. Illustration photo
Many press agencies rely on this mechanism to develop multi-platform, multimedia, multi-service journalism, develop many press products on digital platforms, change the way of producing digital content and digital communication. Help expand the number of customers, improve the experience for the public.
With their autonomy, press agencies have arranged their own apparatus, organized their own work, and employed workers according to their financial capacity. These press agencies operate according to their own principles and purposes, and on the other hand, they must "satisfy" the needs of the market and businesses to have a source of income to support their own units. The main sources of income are advertising, newspaper/magazine sales, fees for publishing scientific articles, and organizing events. Some press agencies carry out orders from propaganda programs of the Government, ministries, departments, branches, localities, etc.
In recent years, the scientific journals of the Vietnam Union of Science Associations have had many agencies that have done a good job of disseminating specialized knowledge, serving as a bridge for social criticism and consultation from a large team of scientists. These press agencies have contributed significantly to improving people's knowledge, quickly bringing scientific progress into production and life, and contributing to pushing back negativity. However, in reality, financial autonomy also poses significant challenges for scientific journals.
Journalist Tran Thi Giang - Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Secretary of Today's Automation Magazine said that up to this point, few magazines have been able to cover their expenses, or have only been able to do so at a minimal level. This has led to a lack of truly good journalists. Lack of financial resources has led to a lack of a series of necessary conditions for producing high-quality journalism products and converting journalism to digital.
Journalist Tran Thi Giang analyzed that in order to effectively implement the financial autonomy mechanism, those press products need to attract readers to research in depth, and the information of that type of press must keep up with the development of knowledge and the intellectual level of the people in that society. However, if scientific information is too academic and theoretical, the readership will be narrowed, which means the number of publications will be limited. The innovation of information content on press products needs to be carried out simultaneously with effective distribution.
Automation Magazine today constantly innovates its methods, increasing its appeal.
“To have good, “hot” journalistic works, to fulfill the social responsibility of journalism, one of the requirements of journalists is to be proactive and creative in their work. That is to know how to listen to the breath of life, to know how to discover issues of public interest in order to have good topics and good information. But besides professional capacity, one also needs professional ethics, political courage and professional principles to avoid mistakes and violations” - journalist Tran Thi Giang shared.
In reality, investing in content to increase the coverage of the magazine brand and its accompanying publications, thereby creating a source of value-added revenue. In editorial offices that do not have a separate communications department, even if the editorial office does not have a policy, each reporter and journalist, because of their passion for the survival of the editorial office, will "shoulder two shoulders", both doing professional work and mobilizing partners and the community to share and upgrade the way of transmission, in order to create stronger information effects and effectiveness.
Many magazines have made innovations in developing and improving the quality of content along with expanding distribution channels. For example, at Health and Environment Magazine, the editorial board determined that if they knew how to take advantage of the power of technology, the 4.0 revolution and the coverage of social networks to bring their channels to a wider readership, they would create new customer files and expand advertising revenue sources.
According to journalist Pham Thi My - Editor-in-Chief of Health and Environment Magazine, in order for each press agency to be financially autonomous and operate effectively, it is necessary to clarify policies related to business activities inside and outside the newspaper; at the same time, maintaining the ordering of newspapers to propagate policies and paying for such propaganda is necessary to ensure fairness and affirm the role of the press.
“To reduce the burden on the press, it is necessary to soon issue new decrees regulating the autonomy mechanism of public service units in the field of information and communication; allowing press and publishing agencies to pay salaries like state-owned enterprises. At the same time, it is necessary to consider reducing corporate income tax of press and publishing agencies from the current 20% to about 5-10%, to reduce the tax burden, increase income for workers, and help press agencies,” shared journalist Pham Thi My.
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