Domestic journalists today celebrate their day, the Vietnamese Revolutionary Press Day, marking the process of 96 years of sharing the nation with all the ups and downs in building a Vietnam of peace, independence, and freedom.

Reporters from various press agencies at work at the 13th National Assembly Congress held in January this year. Photo: Duy Linh

Journalists across the country, every day, every hour, are making their best efforts to step in the front to cover hot issues of every aspect of life, including society, economy, culture, and tourism of Vietnam as well as changes in the world.

During the process, from June 21, 1925-2021, Vietnam's revolutionary press has continuously grown. Newspapers and journalists have affirmed their important positions in social life. In such a constant movement and development, the convergence of media and multimedia has set an important milestone, opening up breakthrough opportunities to promote digital transformation for local journalism.

The number of publications, radio, and television programs has increased dramatically, meeting the demand for information of people. The advent of electronic newspapers has created a multimedia communication channel as a new “wind” that altered the journalism industry, renewing the face of media journalism, changing the mindset of journalists as well as the public's view and approach to information.

Journalism in digital transformation

Vietnam’s journalism and reporters can’t stand on the sidelines of the 4.0 industrial revolution era, in which digital transformation is the goal of today’s newsrooms. This is both a challenge and a key for press agencies to assert their bravery, prepare a necessary attitude, thereby innovating and improving the quality of journalistic products.

Nguyen Ha, a reporter of Lao Dong (Labour) Newspaper told The Hanoi Times that almost all young reporters are well-trained in operational skills of writing, filming, editing, and designing.

“We are turning towards the form of emagazine. An article is not simply a long text with one or two photos attached but integrated with the text, audio, and video, helping readers “live” with what the article shows,” Ha said.

Reporter Hoang Manh Thang of the Tien Phong Newspaper, who has spent nearly 10 years for photos and videos, said the existence of smartphones, videos, live videos, and livestreams has become a hub of utilities that people cannot refuse.

“With smartphones, the work of reporters is much faster. It is more interesting when readers can access information and events at that time through livestream. When doing livestream, there is good interaction with readers, attracting viewers to the end of the event,” Thang said.

Journalism now and in the future will still face the challenge of innovation day by day. But regardless of the technology platform, and no matter how developed the technology, there are core values ​​​​of journalism that cannot be lost and certainly must not be lost.

Reporter Nguyen Thang from the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in the Hanoi office said it is very important to have access to various sources and verify the information.

“We understand very well the importance of the scientific and technological revolution to innovate thinking and journalism as well as mastering technology. Reporting, exploiting, and processing the information as quickly as possible is not enough, the most important thing is to ensure accuracy and verify the information before giving it to the public.”

“Quickness, timeliness, and accuracy are important requirements for us VNA reporters in the press operation in the 4.0 era.”

Editor-in-Chief must take the lead

Technology opens up many opportunities for the journalism industry. Photo: kinhtedothi

Ho Quang Loi, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Journalists' Association, told The Hanoi Times that as a profession that always reacts quickly to all social changes, traditional journalism using old-school methods and mediums is directly affected by the digital transformation.

“Therefore, the press must be leading in this area. Even to be able to continue survival, develop, and attract readers, they must see digital transformation as the inevitable trend of today's newspapers,” Loi said.

“The digital transformation is a matter of changing habits and awareness, not just a financial or technological issue but the mindset of the Editor-in-Chief, whether he/she is willing to make a change,” Loi emphasized.

In the past few years, Vietnam’s journalism industry has seen an increasing number of digital media products such as long-form, e-magazine, mega-story, and infographics. In the digital transformation campaign, press agencies are currently focusing on developing online newspapers, fanpages on Facebook, and setting up Youtube channels to help readers get information quickly, correctly, and effectively. In addition, the prevailing journalistic trends in the world are partly or completely associated with digital transformation such as multi-platform journalism, mobile journalism, social journalism, data journalism, and creative journalism.

Digital transformation has been set as a key driving the country’s socio-economic development. The prime ministerial Decision No. 749/QD-TTg approving the national digital transformation program to 2025 with an orientation to 2030, issued on June 3, 2020, is a legal basis for press agencies to promote digital transformation.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has built platforms to support the press, in which, the electronic newsroom management platform allows the building of a converged newsroom that offers more opportunities for the public to be informed and involved in a story while providing reporters and editors with more integrated tools to tell their story, platform for analyzing public opinion information on social networks, attack prevention and response platform for information systems to protect press agencies in the digital environment.

According to Loi, out of more than 45,000 employees in the field of journalism, over 21,000 people have been granted press cards. “It is a good sign that the majority of professional journalists are willing to participate in the digital transformation process.”

However, he said investment funding is a big concern for press agencies, especially in the context that revenue from advertising and media has decreased due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The collection of fees for reading journalistic works on electronic newspapers needs to be taken into account. It is not new because, in fact, the form of selling news has been implemented by some press agencies such as Vietnam News Agency and its Vietnamplus online newspaper,” Loi said.

Therefore, the quality of the newspaper's content needs to be more important than ever.”

Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong on June 18 visited and congratulated the Economic & Urban Newspaper on the occasion of the 96th anniversary of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925-2021).  Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong, third from right, and leaders of the Economic & Urban Newspaper in Hanoi. Photo: The Hanoi Times In the context of serious progress of the Covid-19 outbreak, Phong expected the leaders, reporters, editors, and staff to continue developing the newspaper, coming up with new solutions to adapting to the development trend of modern journalism. “Being a newspaper of the Hanoi People’s Committee, the newspaper needs to further spread information about the city's guidelines and policies to the public and articles with high quality, and continue making a contribution to the development of Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general,” Phong said. Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Minh Duc said the newspaper has defined digital transformation as a key to making a change toward modern journalism. The newspaper is expected to receive support from the city to soon complete its set goals. “We will continue to improve the quality of the newspaper and uphold professionalism, building it to be worthy of a newspaper of the Hanoi People's Committee," Duc said