Journalism must win, surpass social networks

Excerpt from the speech of Journalist Ho Quang Loi - Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association at the Workshop "North Central Journalism - Improving Professionalism and Skills in the 4.0 Industrial Revolution" held in Vinh City on December 8.

Revolution 4.0 and its impacts on journalism(*)

Recently, the concept of “Industrial Revolution 4.0” has been mentioned a lot in the media and social networks with expectations of great changes. So how should this revolution be understood? - Industrial Revolution 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution.

The first industrial revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The second revolution took place by applying electricity to mass production. The third revolution used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now, the 4.0 industrial revolution will take place in 3 main areas: Biotechnology, digital and physics. In this revolution, the role of intelligent systems is an essential and most important part.

History of the 4 industrial revolutions.

The 4.0 industrial revolution opens up enormous new opportunities but also poses many challenges for humanity to face. First of all, it can cause inequality. In particular, it can disrupt the labor market, hundreds of millions of people will lose their jobs. After the economic instability arising from the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, it will lead to instability in social life. Its consequences will be political instability. If governments do not fully understand and prepare for the 4.0 industrial wave, the risk of global instability is very high.

In addition, changes in the way people communicate on the internet and in cyberspace also pose many challenges and dangers. Personal information, if not securely protected, will lead to unpredictable consequences.

The 4.0 revolution has taken place in all fields, and journalism is no exception.

It must be affirmed that: The 4.0 industrial revolution has a strong impact on the press and media of each country with opportunities and challenges. The 4.0 industrial revolution creates a public class compatible with the digital media era. Touch technology, the development of telecommunications infrastructure, 3G, 4G, 5G technology is developing. Along with it is the popular, user-friendly social network, dramatically increasing the number of the public accessing information through smart devices. Currently, there are 60 million Vietnamese people participating in social networks.

Journalists are still the core and decisive factor (*)

Therefore, press agencies and participants in the information production process are forced to change their processes, improve their competitiveness, innovate production and business methods... In the coming time, the press and media need to focus on the following key issues:

Nghe An Newspaper reporters are present in remote areas to work. Photo: documents

In any institution, in any era, people are still the core and decisive factor. Therefore, strengthening the training and fostering of human resources in the media industry with strong political will, clear professional ethics and high professional capacity is the first and most important issue to create journalistic works that have a widespread influence in social life. The training and fostering of journalists is based on three major aspects: political will; professional expertise, especially smart technology serving operations and publishing; professional ethics.

It is necessary to build a legal environment for the press and media in the digital age. – In the context of the development of the information society, in addition to the mainstream press, there are many other “flows” of information, especially information on social networks. It is necessary to research and seek scientific solutions to advise on policies for press and media management in the digital media environment in a timely and effective manner.

Nghe An Newspaper built a converged editorial office in 2015. Photo: document

Leaders of press agencies regularly grasp the changes in the journalism process in the context of social network development, take advantage of social networks to organize the content of works, create links and information dissemination effects, contributing to transforming the current state of press and media to adapt to the digital media environment. The problem is that press agencies need to build a convergent newsroom...

Nowadays, social media is a big challenge for the press. The press must not follow social media but must win and surpass it in accuracy. The press must answer the questions raised by social media. The responsibility of the press is to establish the reliability of information. Journalists must be standard and responsible when participating in social media.

Nowadays, fake information is rampant on social networks.

In other words, every press and media agency needs to have a correct understanding of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution and the inevitability of innovation, in order to build a way to manage press and media in the face of challenges and the development of social networks and social media.

Finally, continue to improve the role, quality and effectiveness of the Vietnam Journalists Association. The Vietnam Journalists Association is a professional socio-political organization of journalists. In addition to training and fostering a team of journalists to meet the requirements of the new situation, the Association protects the legitimate rights and interests of its members in the process of working, creating trust and a solid support for writers..../.

(*) Title given by the editorial board