Building a sustainable culture in press agencies

On the afternoon of March 15, in Ho Chi Minh City, within the framework of the 2024 National Press Festival, the Journalists Association held a discussion on the topic "Building a cultural environment for journalism".

Speakers discuss at the seminar Building a cultural environment for journalism. (Photo: THE ANH)

Comrade Le Quoc Minh, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association attended.

The speakers include journalists Nguyen Duc Loi, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association; Phan Thanh Phong, Head of the Monthly People's Committee, Nhan Dan Newspaper; Doan Minh Long, President of the Khanh Hoa Provincial Journalists Association; Nguyen Xuan Hai, President of the Ha Tinh Provincial Journalists Association; Pham Van Bau, Director of Thanh Hoa Radio and Television Station; Nguyen Tien Thanh, Editor-in-Chief of Life and Law Magazine; Dao Xuan Hung, Editor-in-Chief of Natural Resources and Environment Magazine.

Light and dark tones in journalistic culture

Speaking at the discussion session, journalist Nguyen Duc Loi, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association, said that the discussion session on building a cultural journalism environment within the framework of the 2024 National Press Festival is extremely meaningful for comrades and colleagues.

Journalism is a special component of culture, journalistic works are the most popular spiritual cultural products in today's society. Journalism is also a mirror reflecting community culture, actively promoting and contributing to the development of other forms of culture.

In recent years, along with the country's innovation and advancement, the Vietnamese revolutionary press has always been worthy of being the vanguard force on the ideological and cultural front, contributing to preserving and promoting fine traditional cultural values, improving people's production, compensating for the social spiritual foundation, major changes in the socio-economic environment, creating motivation and favorable conditions for the press to develop in a more open and progressive direction.

Delegates attended the discussion session with the topic "Building a cultural environment for journalism".

However, along with the strong rise, the Vietnamese revolutionary press is also facing challenges and negative consequences of development, including the emergence of a part of the press that is far from its principles and purposes, indifferent to the public and its readers, seeking trivial tastes, producing content mainly to increase the number of visits; the situation of journalists violating work ethics, harassing agencies and businesses, even threatening, demanding money, and violating the law is on the rise.

To contribute to realizing the goal of building a professional and humane press, the preservation and promotion of press culture must continue to be spread and widely replicated. On the occasion of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, June 21, 2022, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Vietnam Journalists Association and Nhan Dan Newspaper jointly organized a ceremony to launch the emulation movement to build a cultural environment in press agencies, and at the same time announced the set of criteria for implementing cultural press agencies and culture of Vietnamese journalists, including six points for press agencies and six points for journalists.

Up to now, it can be affirmed that the emulation movement to build a cultural environment in press agencies has received positive direction and strong participation from most press agencies at all levels and the Journalists Association nationwide, meeting the practical needs of journalistic life in general and the working activities of journalists in particular, initially creating new and positive changes, creating awareness and action in daily professional activities. In particular, the cultural content in press works has been significantly raised.

However, in 2023, one of the things that made journalists the most worried was that there were many cases of journalists and collaborators at press agencies and magazines; press agencies and magazines were prosecuted for the crime of stealing a series of digital assets in 2023, there were still many phenomena of many journalists disregarding the regulations on ethics, career protection, disregarding all consequences to report and take pictures of many characters and events just to attract views.

But besides that, it is undeniable that many journalists lack political and cultural courage, and have degraded ethics and lifestyle, showing that a group of journalists simply use journalism as a means of making a living.

To have a truly modern and humane Vietnamese press, press agencies must fulfill well the role and mission of revolutionary journalism in preserving, building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity, truly being the spiritual foundation, the driving force for development, promoting the cultural values of the mission of the Vietnamese people. Each journalist and each press agency must have strategies and plans to build a press environment.

Exemplary leadership

At the discussion session, speakers proposed solutions and methods to make the emulation movement to build a cultural environment for journalism more practical and effective.

Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh, Editor-in-Chief of Life and Law Magazine, said, why is it necessary to build culture in the press environment? There are many reasons, but the root of the problem is that the press today has changed according to changes in society and the times. The press products themselves have changed a lot compared to before. Therefore, building a press culture environment needs to correspond to the market and the times in order to be suitable for the times and meet the information needs of readers.

In the process of reporting to meet readers' needs, how is culture building at the agency carried out?

If we only make general appeals, it will be very difficult, while many press agencies currently lack the mechanisms and resources to build a cultural environment, in which it is necessary to focus on practical issues related to the editorial office's publishing work, processes, and support for the lives of journalists, reporters, and collaborators.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh said that if you pay attention, you will see that if the newsroom's information is good, they will also build a stable cultural environment there. Each agency needs to have a different way and strategy to build culture.

Mr. Doan Minh Long, Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial Journalists Association spoke at the seminar.

In response to the question of whether there are regulations on the use of social networks, rules, and ethics of journalists, but many journalists still do not comply, Mr. Pham Van Bau, Director of Thanh Hoa Radio and Television Station, said that there is a situation of linking to articles in one way but expressing opinions in another way to lead public opinion. There is also a situation of "illusion of power" by some journalists to steer public opinion. This is a worrying situation when placed next to the standards of journalistic ethics and colleagues working in a legitimate profession.

Participating in the discussion session, journalist Thanh Trang, Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper, said: The newspaper currently has more than 170 staff and reporters, with 4 representative offices in provinces and cities across the country. When there were criteria for a cultural press agency, in 2019, the newspaper launched the construction of culture, by: Building an agency that complies with regulations; Building an environment of solidarity, for the common cause; ... to thoroughly understand and educate all staff and reporters in the agency.

Journalist Ho Quang Loi, former Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association, believes that building a cultural environment for journalism is very important. For many years, the Journalists Association has made efforts to build this criterion to clean up the journalism environment. Ethical and cultural factors are intertwined, complementary, and create a foundation for each other to improve the quality of journalism culture.

Through this discussion, we hope to continue to find more factors to build better and better ethics and culture for journalists.

Mr. Ho Quang Loi emphasized: The leader is very important to build a culture for colleagues. No matter how you build it, if the leader is not exemplary, all efforts will fail.

Building a cultural environment for journalism needs to be done long-term and regularly to achieve real results for Vietnamese journalism.

Journalist culture plays a very important role.

At the discussion session, Mr. Dao Xuan Hung, Editor-in-Chief of Natural Resources and Environment Magazine, gave a speech on the topic: "Responsibility and obligations of journalists in the movement to build a cultural environment in press agencies". Emphasizing the cultural factor in journalism, Mr. Hung shared that the culture of journalists, the responsibility and obligations of each journalist in a press agency are very important.

"I think that a true journalist must possess all the elements, including general education and specialized knowledge, along with a correct understanding of culture.

Because we must have culture to orient and form a way of working and acting in accordance with the principles, purposes, functions and tasks of the collective and individuals, exploiting information to write journalistic works with political quality, humanistic values, and profound educational orientation," Mr. Hung informed.

According to the Editor-in-Chief of the Natural Resources and Environment Magazine, the responsibility of journalists is to first and foremost put the interests of the nation and people above all else to examine issues, phenomena and events honestly and humanely. Each press agency needs to create conditions for journalists to live with their profession, work responsibly and wholeheartedly, to build prestige and brand through journalistic works that the public receives.

The current situation shows that there is still a tendency among journalists to commercialize journalism, engage in group interests, and self-transform, affecting the reputation of the press agency and the overall development of the editorial office.

The responsibility and obligation of journalists in the movement to build a cultural environment in press agencies is demonstrated through valuable journalistic works, which are likened to a source of cool water in the flow of information in society, where there needs to be regular enrichment of culture, ethics, and expertise to contribute to building a modern and humane press.

Journalistic works must have high cultural content.

Journalist Phan Thanh Phong, Head of the Monthly People's Committee (sitting in the middle), Nhan Dan Newspaper and journalist Nguyen Xuan Hai, Chairman of the Ha Tinh Provincial Journalists Association (right) in the discussion session.

Discussing the topic of cultural content in press agencies, Journalist Phan Thanh Phong, Head of the Monthly People's Committee, Nhan Dan Newspaper, said that in the context of modern journalism today, journalistic works with high cultural content are a necessary need.

Over the years, Nhan Dan Newspaper has always maintained a healthy press environment with reputable journalists who are responsible to readers. To achieve this result, the organization of the editorial office must be very systematic and very serious. I believe that the cultural content in an editorial office and in each press environment creates an environment for journalists to learn, practice, and cultivate their own moral qualities.

Regarding digital transformation, journalist Nguyen Xuan Hai, Chairman of the Ha Tinh Provincial Journalists Association, said that digital transformation is inevitable and if the press wants to reach professional and humanistic values, digital transformation is also mandatory. Because digital transformation will help press agencies meet the needs of readers. With the strong development of information technology, digital society requires us to transform digitally for the quality of the newspaper.

However, with the negative aspects of social networks and technology today, the mission of journalists is even more important in each of their works to guide and lead readers to useful information.

Responding to the chairman's question about the impact of economic factors on cultural issues in press agencies, journalist Phan Thanh Phong said that this is an issue of great concern to many press agencies because in the current context, many press agencies are facing financial difficulties to maintain publishing activities.

When journalists themselves have to take on the additional task of newspaper economics, it will be very difficult to harmonize the quality of their work due to many influencing factors.

Many journalists have chosen to leave out of self-respect, but there are also journalists who have chosen to compromise to harmonize the economic benefits of the newsroom and their work. It is indeed a very difficult choice for many journalists.

According to Nhan Dan Newspaper

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