Party newspapers must strive to raise themselves to the level of the mission assigned by the times.

Conference scene. Photo: Duc Anh

Continuing the program of the National Conference on Improving the Quality of Party Newspapers, on the afternoon of November 12, the Conference held its closing session. Comrade Vo Van Thuong - Member of the Politburo, Standing member of the Party Central Committee Secretariat delivered an important speech.

Innovation and creativity are urgent requirements and inherent needs of each Party press agency.

Speaking at the conference, comrade Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, President of the Vietnam Journalists Association said that, being held for the first time on a national scale, the Conference on Improving the Quality of Party Newspapers is an event of special significance, contributing to solving many problems that are currently posed by reality.

Comrade Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, President of the Vietnam Journalists Association delivered a speech summarizing the closing session. Photo: Duc Anh

The conference held 6 discussion sessions including: Innovation in Party-building journalism; Removing difficulties in mechanisms and policies for Party newspapers; Improving content quality to maintain the position of Party newspapers; Digital transformation and modern journalism technology; Diversifying revenue sources for press agencies; Developing multi-channel, multi-platform journalism to develop the public.

The results of the 6 discussion sessions analyzed in depth the limitations and difficulties, and at the same time, proposed solutions from the practical experience of the Party press agencies themselves, or from research by experts and policy makers on the hottest issues of the current national Party press system.

The Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper affirmed that innovation and creativity are urgent requirements, and also the inherent needs of each Party newspaper agency. To adapt and develop, in addition to keeping up with the development of communication technology, Party newspapers need to strongly innovate in content according to modern journalism trends. A survey at the Conference showed that 95% of local Party newspapers are very interested in innovation and creativity. In fact, innovation and creativity at Party newspapers are currently facing a number of difficulties: Lack of human resources, while still having to cut down according to requirements; Uneven human resource qualifications, lack of sharp writers, lack of mechanisms to retain good journalists; Limited resources, depending on different interests, mechanisms and policies of localities; Investment in technology is not commensurate.

Comrade Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Propaganda Department of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee attended the Conference. Photo: Duc Anh

The common limitations of Party newspapers today are the lack of two-way interaction between “Party’s will and People’s will”. Information in many Party newspapers is quite monotonous, dry, and in many cases slower than other press agencies due to the organization of the editorial office and the requirement for absolute accuracy and orientation.

According to comrade Le Quoc Minh, innovation, creativity, and improvement of the quality of Party newspapers require many solutions. Among them, there are solutions that can be implemented right at the editorial offices. That is, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp the guidelines, policies, laws of the Party and the State and accurately and vividly express them in propaganda. There is a flexible method of organizing the editorial office, so that reporters can more closely grasp the reality. There is priority for articles with a combative nature, vividly reflecting the process of implementing and bringing the Party's resolutions into life, both conveying the "Party's will" and reflecting the "people's heart". Party newspapers need to proactively seek new ways of expression, increase images, figures, data, graphics, and invest more in journalistic genres that attract readers such as reportage and investigative reports.

Digital transformation of the press has been mentioned a lot in recent times. Delegates have proposed many suggestions so that local Party newspapers can start building strategies and solutions for digital transformation suitable to their unit's conditions. Along with digital transformation, the need to develop multi-channel, multi-platform journalism to reach the public is a reality that is forcing Party newspaper editorial offices...

According to the Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, innovation and creativity of Party press agencies need the companionship, sharing and support of functional agencies. That is, to remove difficulties in the staffing of Party press agencies.

Local Party newspapers recommended that the Central Committee promptly review and amend Regulation 338 and Decree 160 on relevant mechanisms for Party newspapers. There should be a consensus on financial management mechanisms, as well as a unified organizational model for Party newspapers. Many delegates said that a common staffing framework should be determined for Party newspapers according to the size of the newspaper; at the same time, staffing should not be streamlined for Party newspapers as is being done in the Education and Health sectors. There should be priority in mechanisms and policies for Party press agencies in mountainous and border provinces.

Propose that ministries, branches and localities urgently approve the autonomy project of public service units under their management, clearly define the autonomy roadmap in accordance with the roadmap for calculating full service prices and the autonomy requirements in accordance with the roadmap for calculating full service prices and the financial autonomy requirements as prescribed in Decree No. 60/2021/ND-CP...

Party newspapers must continue to innovate in the direction of professionalism, humanity and modernity.

Speaking at the conference, Comrade Vo Van Thuong - Politburo member, Standing member of the Secretariat acknowledged the results achieved by Party press agencies in the past time. The Standing member of the Secretariat also raised a number of issues for Party press agencies to study and implement.

Comrade Vo Van Thuong - Politburo member, Standing member of the Secretariat gave a speech at the conference. Photo: Duc Anh

Assessing the performance of the Party newspaper system in recent times, comrade Vo Van Thuong emphasized: The Party newspaper has a long history, tradition, and glorious achievements, and is a pioneering and core force in the revolutionary press system. Over the years, the Party newspaper has always adhered to its principles and goals, actively innovated, and been a vanguard force on the Party's ideological and cultural front, an important means of propagating and implementing the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws; vividly reflecting the great and historic achievements of the renovation process, orienting and encouraging the entire Party, the entire people, and the entire Army in building and defending the Fatherland; and being an important information channel for the people to participate in building the Party and the political system. The Party newspaper closely follows life, discovers positive factors; reflects the legitimate thoughts and aspirations of the people and issues of public concern; the limitations and inadequacies of Party committees and organizations; perform well the function of social supervision and criticism, actively participate in protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fight against erroneous and hostile viewpoints...

Pointing out some limitations and shortcomings of the Party's newspapers today, comrade Vo Van Thuong said: The scale and development of some press agencies have not met the requirements of the task. Information in the Party's newspapers is not diverse, presented in a routine way, not attractive to readers, focusing on reflecting the situation, lacking sharp political articles, reports, and investigations; the forecasting quality in press works is not high. Some press agencies are slow to innovate, not performing well the function of orienting ideology, culture and public opinion. There are still press products that lack political sensitivity; not paying due attention to discovering, encouraging, and promoting new factors, advanced models; not proactively building series of articles on protecting the Party's ideological foundation.

Reporters working at the conference. Photo: Duc Anh

Information is still one-sided, lacking in combativeness and criticality, not daring or being resolute in reflecting and fighting against violations, pressing issues, and public concerns, focusing on information about the leaders' reception, beautifying and praising one-sidedly. Some press agencies have not paid attention to applying modern journalism technology, not keeping up with the development of the information flow; some newspapers have invested heavily in facilities and technology, but the propaganda effectiveness is low, not spreading and influencing deeply in society. Some cadres and reporters have not grasped and understood fully and deeply the Party's policies and guidelines, and lack basic knowledge of ideological work. Some Party committees, Party organizations, cadres and Party members take lightly the matter of buying and reading Party newspapers...

The Standing Secretariat requires Party newspapers to thoroughly grasp and fully understand the role and position of Party newspapers in ideological work, building and rectifying the Party and the political system; serving the leadership and direction of Party committees and organizations at all levels in implementing the Party's policies and guidelines on socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security, and being worthy of being the voice of the Party, government and people.

Party newspapers must continue to innovate, becoming more "professional, humane, and modern", not only fully and vividly reflecting the real situation, but also striving to contribute to promoting the development of society; not only meeting the public's increasing need for information, but also orienting the public, motivating and encouraging millions of people to unite to build and protect the homeland and country.

Focus on improving the quality of propaganda on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, educating on the glorious revolutionary tradition of the Party and the nation; widely propagating the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws in conjunction with patriotic emulation movements; resolutely fight to prevent and repel moral and lifestyle degradation, manifestations of "self-evolution", "self-transformation", corruption and negative behavior; fight and refute erroneous and hostile viewpoints; strive to follow Uncle Ho's teachings: "The Party newspaper is like a simple, practical and widespread training course. It teaches us what we need to know about propaganda, organization, leadership and work. Every day it helps to improve our political level and work productivity."

As the Party's ideological weapon, Party newspapers must grasp, correctly forecast, accurately orient, properly and promptly handle ideological issues in the Party and society, improve the quality of information, propaganda, agitation, promote Party spirit, people's spirit, ideology, fighting spirit, and persuasiveness in journalistic works. Carrying the mission of building trust for cadres, Party members, and people in the noble cause of the Party and the nation, Party newspapers must therefore always uphold honesty, dare to look straight at the truth, speak the truth, and not avoid; must have a strong, constructive voice of criticism, limit flattery and follow-up; not because they are the governing body or the superior body, exaggerate, not dare to reflect and fight against violations, shortcomings, limitations, and weaknesses in the management work of local Party committees and authorities; handle well, harmonize between implementing information and propaganda of political tasks and meeting the needs of readers and audiences.

Party newspapers must strive to raise themselves to the level of the mission assigned by the times; must firmly grasp Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, the Party's policies and guidelines; be sensitive to social issues, dare to confront the bad, enthusiastically promote the good, the decent things...