Promoting modern media, spreading the culture, land and people of Ha Giang

Ha Giang Media Festival 2023 is held for the first time at the provincial level with the theme "Digital media spreads the image of Ha Giang".

Joining the flow of digital transformation, Ha Giang has quickly caught up with the trend, actively implementing digital communication in information, propaganda, promotion, and dissemination of local images. The results achieved in communication work, especially digital communication, were clearly depicted at the Ha Giang Communication Festival 2023 - one of the "digital marks" of the Ha Giang Information and Communication sector last year.

Ha Giang Media Festival 2023 is held for the first time with the theme "Digital media spreads the image of Ha Giang" as a forum to meet and share good and creative ways in communication work; demonstrate the connection and coordination between state media and community media; advise on building new mechanisms, policies and ways of doing things. On this occasion, for the first time, Ha Giang province recognizes, honors and encourages individuals and community information channels that have made positive contributions to communication activities, promotion and dissemination of Ha Giang in the digital environment.

The story of “media - digital” in a difficult mountainous province

At the Ha Giang Media Festival 2023, Mr. Dang Khac Loi, Deputy Director of the Press Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) gave very impressive figures: Since the beginning of the year, the number of electronic newspapers reporting on Ha Giang has far surpassed that of other localities with over 28,000 news and articles, of which more than 80% of news and articles have positive content; at peak times, there were up to 486 news and articles promoting Ha Giang on the digital environment... In the field of radio and television, many major news agencies and newspapers have also increased information and devoted time to Ha Giang. This is a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of Ha Giang's digital communication work, thereby showing the attraction of Ha Giang to media agencies, in which the main content of interest is the natural landscape, geological and geomorphological heritage of Ha Giang, traditional festivals, cultural identity of ethnic communities in the rocky plateau...

Mr. Do Thai Hoa, Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Ha Giang province, said that digital communication (communication on the Internet environment, based on information technology platform) is still a fairly new concept, especially for mountainous, border, remote and disadvantaged provinces like Ha Giang. Therefore, it will be very difficult to promote the image of Ha Giang if only communicating in the traditional way as before.

However, Ha Giang is considered one of the provinces that has promoted the promotion of local images in the digital environment very early. This is thanks to the province's policies, orientations and determination in digital transformation. Right from the previous term, Ha Giang province determined to focus on applying information technology, promoting digital transformation, focusing on information and propaganda in the digital environment, thereby promoting clear effectiveness in a difficult and specific area like Ha Giang.

With the motto of "leaving no one behind", the province has had many policies and high political determination in digital transformation, with clear directions, which are to strengthen the application of information technology, promote comprehensive digital transformation, especially prioritizing investment, development, strongly promoting and spreading the image of Ha Giang in the digital environment. Accordingly, taking advantage of technology to develop the locality, creating equal access opportunities for ethnic minorities, at the same time mobilizing the active, regular and effective participation of the political system and encouraging and motivating state media forces and community media to join hands and accompany the development of the province.

Thanks to digital media, now everyone from the city to the remote villages of Ha Giang province can do media, bringing the image, culture and products of Ha Giang to all regions of the country.

According to Mr. Tran Duc Quy, Vice Chairman of Ha Giang Provincial People's Committee, the contribution to the development of Ha Giang in recent times has been the active participation of communication work in general, and digital communication work in particular, in information, propaganda, promotion, and dissemination of Ha Giang's image to localities across the country and the world. Communication work has been gradually invested in by the province to develop synchronously and modernly from facilities, technical infrastructure to human resources, especially creating conditions for accessing, establishing and exploiting, using modern communication methods, in the direction of promoting the application of information technology, keeping up with digital transformation. Thanks to digital communication, now, everyone from the city to the remote villages and hamlets of Ha Giang province can do communication, bringing the image, culture, and products of Ha Giang to all regions of the country, thereby creating a strong spread.

In addition to the effective communication and promotion of state press and media agencies, the communication and promotion of Ha Giang's image on digital platforms in recent times has also had the participation and active and effective contributions of media forces in the community.

Singer and musician Quach Beem, who composed and performed the song "Ha Giang oi" successfully, attracting 180 million views on social networking platforms, said: This place seems to have become the homeland of those who love Ha Giang. In 2018, when he set foot on the land at the northernmost border of the Fatherland, he felt that Ha Giang was very beautiful and realized the need to communicate and promote his homeland on digital platforms. He did not expect the song "Ha Giang oi" to create such a special media effect and be welcomed by so many people. From this motivation, Quach Beem plans to translate the song into foreign languages and cooperate with foreign singers to continue to spread and bring the image of Ha Giang to the world.

Or like Mr. Hoang Nam, owner of the Youtube channel "Challenge me - Let's Challenge Me" with nearly 4.1 million subscribers and many promotional videos about Ha Giang, shared: The success of the clips about Ha Giang on Youtube channels is to convey the true image of Ha Giang with the special feelings of Hoang Nam after each time coming to this land. Those are completely new experiences and unforgettable emotions about the beautiful scenery, the life of ethnic minorities with very unique and attractive customs and cultural identities. That is the motivation for him to continue to explore and spread about his homeland at the headland of the Fatherland.

Ha Giang Media Festival 2023 honored and rewarded 20 information channels and 24 individuals with outstanding achievements in communication, promotion, and active application of digital technology to spread the province's image both in state agencies and in the community.

Advice on developing digital media in Ha Giang

Many opinions, suggestions and advice from managers, experts and digital content creators were openly exchanged at the Discussion Program with the theme "Digital media spreads the image of Ha Giang" - the main event taking place within the framework of the Media Festival.

In addition to the achievements, Ha Giang's digital communication still faces many difficulties in terms of skills, human resources, conditions, and especially information infrastructure. To effectively communicate in the digital environment, according to Mr. Le Van Nghiem, Vice President of the Vietnam Digital Communication Association (VDCA), Ha Giang needs to have a number of mechanisms and policies such as: increasing the attractiveness of digital content; organizing annual contests to select attractive communication products in the digital environment; increasing communication about Ha Giang's potential and advantages in the digital environment...

"In particular, Ha Giang needs to promote the state's role as a "conductor" in connecting state media and community media, focusing on the policy mechanism for ordering information for the media network; connecting, training, and rewarding the community media team; having specialized staff in communications... to create further breakthroughs in communications work, spreading the local image" - Mr. Le Van Nghiem further emphasized.

From the perspective of the Culture sector, Ms. Trieu Thi Tinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the province affirmed that it is clear that there needs to be a connection, cooperation and support between agencies, units and individuals to create effectiveness in propaganda and promotion work. In recent times, Ha Giang province has been actively connecting, cooperating and supporting communication on digital platforms in promoting culture and tourism.

In particular, during the epidemic, the province is determined to bring Ha Giang to tourists through the media, promoting annual festivals, bearing the brand of Ha Giang on digital platforms, social networks Zalo, Facebook of the district and province such as the Buckwheat Flower Festival, the Festival Through the Hoang Su Phi terraced heritage sites, the tourism program "Through the Viet Bac heritage sites"; some unique festivals of ethnic minorities. Along with that, organizing online experiential tours with many video clips promoting famous landscapes, heritages, attractive destinations, regional cuisine as well as typical local products... In the coming time, the Department of Culture will continue to promote digital transformation in the tourism sector, at the same time, advising the province to coordinate and accompany the community media team in informing about attractive destinations, annual events, traditional festivals of the province; advising mechanisms and policies for the digital content creation team to help the media spread the image of Ha Giang.

In order to promote the image of Ha Giang more widely and effectively not only to the domestic public but also to the international community, Mr. Nguyen Van Thuat, Deputy Director of the Department of External Information (Ministry of Information and Communications) suggested: Ha Giang needs to continue to promote the achievements in digital transformation with 3 main pillars: digital economy, digital society and digital government. Of these, digital communication is an irreversible trend, so it is necessary to carry out digital communication decisively, thoroughly and comprehensively. To communicate well, it is necessary to innovate communication methods on the basis of developing a digital platform with a good digital data system to serve sustainable and long-term communication; apply smart, modern technologies (such as Blockchain, Big Data, Cloud ...) to replace traditional methods that are limited in space and economy.

Digital media brings Ha Giang closer to tourists. (Photo: DP).

Good initiative, model needs to be referenced and replicated

The Ha Giang Media Festival 2023 ended not long ago, but the good echoes still lingered for many people who directly attended the event and for those who love Ha Giang who followed the program live on digital platforms. According to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam, Ha Giang has had a new and creative way of doing things, demonstrating sophistication, agility, daring to think, daring to do in policy communication work and spreading the local image to the community and people at home and abroad. This is considered a good initiative, a model that needs to be referenced and replicated for provinces and cities across the country.

Along with the achieved results, the leaders of the Ministry of Information and Communications said that Ha Giang needs to have a more complete assessment of the effectiveness of communication work, promoting the image of Ha Giang, the feelings and impressions of people, domestic and foreign tourists in order to adjust, supplement, exploit, and highlight the strengths of the locality. The most important issue for communication is changing perceptions, so there needs to be a mechanism and assessment tools to solve the problem of resources in the digital space. Ha Giang should soon issue a list of staff working on policy communication in all departments, branches, and localities in the province, thereby creating connections and becoming a channel to provide official information to the press in a systematic and orderly manner in communicating and spreading the image of the locality.

Dong Van Stone Plateau - an attractive tourist destination that cannot be missed by every tourist on their journey to explore Ha Giang. (Photo: DP).

It can be seen that the organization of the Media Festival has clearly depicted the results of Ha Giang's media work; facilities, technical infrastructure, human resources, and funding to ensure media work have been gradually invested in and developed synchronously by the province. In particular, Ha Giang has initially boldly created a mechanism to expand modern media methods; attract and recognize the contributions of digital content creators. Through the organization of the Media Festival, prestigious individuals and community channel owners have emerged, representing media activities, spreading the image of Ha Giang, providing reliable information in the digital environment. From there, a community media network has been formed and established, connecting and accompanying state media, especially strongly promoting local promotion work.

Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Ha Giang province - Mr. Do Thai Hoa acknowledged that the important thing to gain from the Festival is the dedicated suggestions of managers, experts, and digital content creators, helping Ha Giang gain new awareness and valuable experience to continue promoting and improving the effectiveness of digital communication work, spreading the image of Ha Giang.

In the coming time, the Ha Giang Information and Communications sector will actively consult with professional agencies and the experience and methods of provinces and cities, proactively advise the province to select appropriate topics and content to build and organize communication programs, promote and expand on international media channels, state media and community media; continue to focus resources on promoting infrastructure development and human resources for communication work to better perform information and propaganda work in all fields. In addition, continue to affirm the important role in connecting and bringing state media, international media and community media closer together; effectively coordinate with all levels, sectors and local policy communication teams to form a strong communication network, providing fast and widespread information with orientation, working together to create a good communication environment, contributing to the development of Ha Giang.