'If the press doesn't keep up, it will fall behind social media'

Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan shared about the challenges of the press and journalists in the current context at the 55th Anniversary of the Faculty of Journalism (Academy of Journalism and Communication) on the morning of June 10.

Mr. Tuan said that currently, Vietnam has 18,900 licensed journalists. Of the 92 million Vietnamese people, 48 million are journalists.

Explaining the number of 48 million journalists, Mr. Tuan said that they are social media users. In citizen journalism, every social media user can be a journalist.

“Each social media account is a “newsroom” and each user becomes a citizen journalist,” Mr. Tuan said. These citizen journalists can freely write and comment… on their “newsroom”.

Minister Tuan expressed his concern about how the mainstream press can orient itself properly when there are 48 million journalists.

Besides, an existing risk for the press today is that if it does not keep up, it will fall behind and lag behind social networks when the new era is closely linked to digital media.

Minister Truong Minh Tuan presents gifts to the Faculty of Journalism, Academy of Journalism and Communication. Photo: Quynh Trang.

According to Mr. Tuan, besides the decline of printed newspapers, radio, television and online newspapers are facing the attack of social networks. In the near future, journalism will change greatly, perhaps readers will no longer read newspapers or listen to the radio like they do now.

In particular, when artificial intelligence develops and can replace human thinking, the use of machines in journalism will develop differently from today.

However, machines cannot replace humans. Because human thinking and creativity are associated with emotions and responsibilities, which machines cannot have.

Mr. Tuan commented that besides the new challenges of the times, the press today also faces the reality of many keyboard journalists or journalists working in air-conditioned rooms. They lack and are far from reality.

The Minister confided: “Journalism must be linked to reality and responsibility. Journalists must be active, create journalistic works in reality and bring practical value through their works.”

“I hope that today's generation of journalists can promote tradition, connect with the reception of the 4th Industrial Revolution to create and turn Vietnam's revolutionary journalism into a modern, revolutionary journalism while still maintaining national identity,” said Mr. Tuan.

According to Zing.vn