REVOLUTIONARY JOURNALISM IN VIETNAM IN THE DIGITAL AGE

• June 18, 2026, 2:00 PM

Nghe An Newspaper and Radio & Television respectfully presents the article "Vietnamese Revolutionary Journalism in the Digital Age" by Comrade To Lam - General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

After more than a century of accompanying the nation, the revolutionary press of Vietnam is entering a very new and different period of development in almost all aspects. The digital space has become an essential element of daily life. Digital technology, big data, artificial intelligence, social networks, and cross-border communication platforms have fundamentally changed how information is created, distributed, received, and verified.

Today, people learn, work, communicate, shop, entertain, express their opinions, and participate in social issues through online platforms. This rapid and diverse flow of information provides significant opportunities for knowledge dissemination, social democracy, and innovation. Major Party guidelines, new State policies, and positive information can reach tens of millions of people simultaneously through various forms and means. Technology helps bring journalism closer to the people and receive feedback more quickly.

However, the online environment also makes information life more complex, easily influenced by fleeting emotions, misinformation, algorithmic manipulation, and deliberate information dissemination. Fake news, half-true and half-false information, ambiguity, fake images and sounds, AI-generated content, copyright infringement, cyberattacks, and data theft are becoming increasingly sophisticated. False information can spread far before the truth can be verified. The manipulation of speech can damage the reputation of individuals and organizations, and even affect the people's trust in the policies of the Party and the State.

In the new media landscape, the press no longer holds a near-monopoly on news dissemination. By the end of 2025, Vietnam is expected to have approximately 85.6 million internet users, equivalent to 84.2% of the population, and around 79 million social media user identities. According to the latest statistics, the total number of Vietnamese social media accounts within the country is approximately 110 million, while accounts on foreign social media platforms number around 203 million. This digital environment gives the press both the opportunity to reach a wider audience than ever before, and the need to compete directly with the enormous volume of content created by platforms and users every hour and every minute. In the digital space, almost anyone can report news. Social media accounts can exert influence within a given community.

However, this change did not diminish the role of revolutionary journalism. On the contrary, with an abundance of information, society increasingly needs reliable sources to determine what is true, what needs verification, what is merely mob mentality or deliberate manipulation. This requires professionalism, a serious work ethic, and resilience in the face of all pressures. Journalism must be a place people turn to when they need reliable confirmation, not a place that blindly follows trends. Society needs a trustworthy place to understand the truth. People need to know what happened, why it happened, who was affected, who is responsible, and what solutions are well-founded.

The digital space also needs journalistic works that are rich in data, diverse in content, varied in expression, and in-depth in policy analysis. Many current issues, from digital transformation, green transformation, administrative reform, social welfare policies to international economic fluctuations, are difficult to grasp if only fragmented news items are read. Therefore, the responsibility of journalism is not only to be faster, but first and foremost to be more accurate, more insightful, and more useful.

Given this requirement, digital transformation in journalism cannot be simply understood as creating more websites, opening social media accounts, or equipping with modern devices. It must be a comprehensive innovation in leadership thinking, newsroom models, production processes, data management, content distribution, audience measurement, journalism economics, and professional culture. Digital journalism is not old journalism placed on a new platform, but rather a new way of organizing in a new context.

In the newsroom, each piece of work should be viewed as an informational product with a clear objective. All forms of expression must adhere to a common standard: accuracy, humanity, verifiability, and responsibility. We must avoid a situation where the main page is serious but the secondary platforms are lax. The more multi-platform journalism becomes, the more consistent the standards must be.

In the digital age, data is a cornerstone of journalism. Data is not just numbers; it's the foundation of verification and the means to build and convey journalistic works more persuasively and comprehensively. Major, reputable news agencies and media outlets worldwide are now investing heavily in data management and dedicating significant human resources to data-related work. When data is well-developed and managed, journalism gains greater persuasiveness and the ability to detect problems early.

Another major issue is maintaining control over cross-border platforms. Journalism needs access to its audience across all platforms, but it cannot be dependent on external algorithms. Simply chasing views and recommendation mechanisms risks losing reader data, distribution rights, identity, and facing algorithmic changes. Mastering the digital space means knowing how to leverage global platforms while simultaneously building its own channel, readership, data, and trusted brand.

Therefore, national information sovereignty needs to be more fully understood. Revolutionary journalism must be the main force in protecting that sovereignty. Protecting information sovereignty does not mean isolation. Vietnam needs a strong, multilingual, multi-media digital foreign press capable of conveying Vietnam's message to the world in modern language and with Vietnamese identity. The achievements of reform, national culture, and the independent, self-reliant, self-strengthening, peaceful, friendly, cooperative, and developmental foreign policy need to be presented through engaging products and persuasive data.

To fulfill that mission, journalism needs sustainable development resources. The digital journalism economy is not opposed to the goals and directions of revolutionary journalism. A journalism lacking resources will struggle to invest in technology, protect copyrights, train personnel, and retain talent. However, the journalism economy must serve the mission of journalism, not lead it towards sensationalism, clickbait, exploiting private lives, or commercializing political and social information. Journalism needs new revenue streams from digital subscriptions, copyrights, data, and specialized products. Without building a healthy digital journalism economic model, journalism will struggle to maintain its capacity to invest in high-quality content, investigation, analysis, verification, and copyright protection.

Copyright in journalism, both in the digital and AI environments, must be seriously protected. Journalistic content is the result of creative work, professional practice, verification, editing, financial investment, and legal responsibility. Copying, splicing, exploiting, synthesizing, and commercializing content will undermine the economic foundation of journalism. Protecting copyright means protecting genuine labor and the quality of information in society.

Ultimately, the issue is people. All directions and strategies depend on people. Journalists in the digital age must know how to work with data, digital tools, social media, open sources, and information security standards. The more tools available, the more courage journalists need. They must avoid publishing something first and then verifying it later, or letting social media dictate their actions. Journalists must not compromise their credibility for the sake of increased views. Before publishing a piece of journalism, journalists need to answer three questions: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it beneficial to society?

Media leaders must also adapt. The editor-in-chief in a digital newsroom is not just someone who approves content, but also someone who must create strategies for products, data, audiences, technology, and human resources. Media organizations need a new work culture: professional, disciplined in verification, responsive, open to innovation, willing to experiment but not easily swayed by standards. Retraining staff must become a regular task, focusing on digital verification, data security, multi-platform journalism, AI ethics, and compliance with intellectual property laws.

With the Law on Press No. 126/2025/QH15 set to take effect on July 1, 2026, perfecting the institutional framework for digital journalism is absolutely essential. This framework must protect the right to operate legally, encourage innovation, create a foundation for digital newsrooms, the digital journalism economy, data journalism, protect copyright, and ensure responsible use of AI. At the same time, journalistic discipline must be strictly maintained; violations of information, professional ethics, and the exploitation of journalism for personal gain must be dealt with promptly.

A pressing task is to develop national-level information verification capabilities. A strong connection is needed between regulatory agencies, major media outlets, technology experts, training institutions, platform businesses, and the community to detect, verify, warn against, and refute fake news, fabricated statements, fake images of government agencies, and other activities that spread misinformation. This network must operate quickly, with clear procedures, using data and evidence to convince the public.

Throughout the entire process of journalistic reform, the public must be placed at the center. Today's digital audience not only receives information but also frequently responds, asks questions, verifies facts, provides feedback, offers data, and demands greater transparency in journalism. Journalism must listen but not chase after fleeting emotions, respect debate but absolutely not condone harmful information. For young people, journalism can innovate to better reach them through appropriate language, formats, and platforms, but it must not lower standards.

Therefore, revolutionary Vietnamese journalism in the digital age must harmoniously combine political acumen and technological capability, revolutionary ideals and innovative thinking, combativeness and humanism, national responsibility and the ability to integrate. Mastering the digital space cannot be achieved merely through slogans; it must begin at each newsroom, each verification process, each data repository, each journalistic product, each training course, and each journalist's conduct in front of the public.

On the occasion of the anniversary of Vietnam's Revolutionary Press Day, I hope that press agencies and every journalist will transform revolutionary traditions into a driving force for innovation. Press agencies need to become modern digital newsrooms, data and knowledge centers, and reliable sources of information for the people. Journalists should continue to be fighters on the ideological, cultural, and digital information front, possessing strong character, impeccable ethics, profound humanism, and technological expertise. With this orientation, I am confident that Vietnam's revolutionary press will continue to make worthy contributions to serving the Fatherland and the people in the digital age.