Over the 81 years, the press has performed well its function as the voice of the Party, State and social organisations, as well as forums of the people. The press has disseminated and encouraged production emulation movements, and the implementation of socio-economic tasks. Also, it has encouraged the Vietnamese people to overcome difficulties and challenges to achieve set targets and plans. Furthermore, the press has made significant contributions to disseminating policies and approaches of the Party and State, performing as an information channel for the Party and Government to lead the country. The press has introduced role models in production and helped find measures to overcome difficulties and develop economy effectively.
One of the features of the press is to depict what is new, which is not easy for everybody to get access to. Therefore, debates from different points of view are unavoidable. Journalists and reporters sometimes lack confidence and fail to protect new factors. So, only those who write press articles on firm basis of knowledge and opinion can win love from readers.
During the market mechanism, who is enemy? Who is enemy of journalists and reporters? The answer is the temptation of money, power and the factionalist spirit, the backwardness, irresponsibility and negligence, as well as poor knowledge. With such a rapid development of information and the number of press publications, it is a great of a newspaper or magazine to look at its own weaknesses to settle them, thus increasing its effectiveness.
As readers have had a higher educational and cultural level and the quality of press publications has become equal, the strength of a newspaper or a magazine is not in its ‘exclusive’ features, and news. Instead, it is in the knowledge depth of the newspaper or magazine. This should be the strength of the group of responsible journalists, reporters and editors with unique development orientations. The newspaper or magazine should become a reliable address for readers in terms of the quality of information it has, instead of quick reactions.
The press has become an indispensable part of the present life, producing impacts on the formation of personal quality of young readers and the public’s opinion, creating new moral and intellectual standard. Therefore, responsibility of journalists and reporters has become heavier, requiring them a solid spirit.
Thanks to the renovation process initiated and led by the Party, the Vietnamese press has experienced a great leap in both quality and quantity. The number of press agencies has increased from several tens in the early days of the Vietnamese revolution to over 500 with over 700 publications, two national television and radio and over ten of regional radio and televisions, let alone radio and television broadcasting in 64 provinces and cities. Online newspapers have seen a strong development alongside Internet service providers, creating a busy online press network, which attract millions of visitors per day.
The number of journalists, reporters and editors has increased from 300 during the anti-French resistance war to over 13,000, let alone those have yet to qualify for become members of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association.
K.T
Vietnamese
