On July 31, in Hanoi, the Central Propaganda Department coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Vietnam Publishing Association to organize a conference to review publishing work in the first 6 months of 2024. Chairing the conference were: Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department Phan Xuan Thuy, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Communist Magazine, Chairman of the Vietnam Publishing Association Pham Minh Tuan. Publishing activities maintain a stable growth rate, meeting readers' needs. In recent times, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Vietnam Publishing Association have closely coordinated and proactively directed and managed publishing activities; strictly implemented the principle of a single focal point in directing and orienting politics, ideology, and publication content, ensuring unified, timely, and convincing direction and orientation.

Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department Phan Xuan Thuy

In the first 6 months of 2024, publishers published 25,510 books with nearly 397.8 million copies (an increase of nearly 19% in books and 31% in editions). Of which, printed publications reached 23,066 books with more than 370 million copies (an increase of 20% in books and more than 29% in editions); Electronic publications reached 1,550 publications (an increase of 1.4%); Other publications in the form of CDs, DVDs, maps, postcards, calendars of all kinds reached 894 publications with more than 27.2 million copies (an increase of 29% in the number of publications and nearly 63% in editions). The growth in the number of books and editions in the context of general difficulties in the world and domestic markets shows that the publishing industry's activities in the first 6 months of the year still maintained a stable growth rate, meeting the needs of readers. The content of publications and publishing activities closely follow the direction of the publishing management and direction agency. In addition to the achieved results, publishing activities still have some limitations: The situation of poor quality publications, with content violating political ideology to the point of having to be handled; The situation of lax cooperation activities reduces the role, reputation, and brand of publishing houses; The shortage of publishing house leaders still occurs, even in some places this situation has lasted so long that the directing and management agency has to issue a written reminder. In the first 6 months of 2024, the state management agency has handled 10 publications violating content with different levels. In addition, compared to the scale of book imports, the flow of book exports is still modest; there is a lack of investment strategy for translation and promotion of publications abroad. The trend of reading concise books

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam

After listening to the leaders of some publishing houses sharing their difficulties and problems, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam said that with the current development of digital technology and artificial intelligence, on the one hand, it helps publishers shorten a few steps, on the other hand, it forces them to redefine the work they are doing. According to Mr. Lam, Vietnamese people spend a lot of time reading, but most of them only read on their phones. Therefore, the trend that the Ministry of Information and Communications believes will develop is compact books. Speaking at the conference, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department Phan Xuan Thuy suggested that the publishing industry in the coming time focus on evaluating and summarizing 20 years of implementing Directive No. 42-CT/TW of the Secretariat on improving the overall quality of publishing activities in order to promptly advise the Politburo and the Secretariat to issue new replacement documents, meeting the requirements and tasks of publishing activities in the new situation. "This is the key political task of the industry from now until the end of the year. It is recommended that agencies and the entire industry closely coordinate, organize assessments and summaries according to the plan issued by the Central Propaganda Department," Mr. Phan Xuan Thuy emphasized. In addition, the Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department requested that publishers need to perform well their political tasks, focus on implementing plans and topics, ensuring focus and key points; be creative and innovate in the forms of publications to create strong influence to serve the propaganda of Party Congresses at all levels, towards the 14th National Congress of the Party. Continue to pay attention to investing, improving the operational capacity of publishers, improving the quality of publications, focusing on training, fostering and perfecting staff, especially the team of leaders and managers; actively implement national book programs, especially the organization of the 7th National Book Award; Create international links to expand the publishing market and spread Vietnamese culture to the world. Mr. Phan Xuan Thuy emphasized that the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Vietnam Publishing Association will continue to strengthen coordination in leading and managing publishing activities; managing publication content, perfecting the specialized legal system; building and implementing publishing house development strategies, publishing digital transformation strategies, etc.

Photo: Minh The - Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thu-truong-bo-tt-tt-nguyen-thanh-lam-sach-tinh-gon-se-phat-trien-2307293.html