Minister of Information and Communications explains the name 'general director' of the press

One of the provisions considered to be new in the draft press law that has many National Assembly deputies concerned is the provision on general directors and editors-in-chief (CEOs, TBTs) of press agencies.

Delegate Nguyen Van Minh (HCMC) said that the regulation "a press agency has a General Director and Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief is responsible to the General Director, the General Director is responsible to the governing body" is unreasonable, and the responsibility of the person in charge is unclear. "If that is done, the Enterprise Law must be reviewed," said Mr. Minh.

Delegate Doan Nguyen Thuy Trang, photo by Hoang Long.

Delegate Nguyen Pham Y Nhi (Hanoi) reflected on the comments received from the press agency that "this regulation seems to have no basis" and suggested that the regulation be based on the characteristics of each press agency.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thanh (Hanoi) suggested that only multimedia agencies need both a General Director and an Editor-in-Chief.

Hanoi Party Secretary Pham Quang Nghi argued that the Editor-in-Chief is the "chief editor", responsible for content and is often applied to print and written newspapers. The General Director is responsible for content, technology, finance, and personnel.

"In reality, only radio and television have a General Director. For example, VTV has Mr. Tran Binh Minh as General Director, but as for the Hanoi Moi newspaper, there is no General Director, only Editor-in-Chief. The word Editor-in-Chief is very clear, it only edits content," said Mr. Nghi.

Delegate Doan Nguyen Thuy Trang (HCMC) is also worried about the "messy" regulation but believes that this will be appropriate when merging press agencies in the future. A press agency can have many newspapers and the head is called the General Director, while the Editor-in-Chief will only be in charge of content. If the agency has few newspapers, the General Director can also be the Editor-in-Chief.

Avoid bulkiness

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said that the draft law stipulates that a press agency has a General Director, Deputy General Directors, Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief. In which, the Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief are responsible for content management, while the General Director and Deputy Director General are the leaders of the press agency.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son. Photo: Pham Hai

But according to the Minister, there are some opinions that it is necessary to distinguish multimedia press agencies such as Voice of Vietnam and Vietnam Television from many other press agencies.

Large stations and press agencies should have a General Director and Deputy General Directors, and below that are the Editors-in-Chiefs of the channels and small newspapers within. As for small newspapers, which are not multimedia newspapers, they should only have a General Director and Deputy General Director as they do now, to save costs and make the leadership apparatus less cumbersome.

"For example, a small magazine with a General Director, Deputy General Director, and below them an Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief is too cumbersome and cannot implement the directive on streamlining the staff," said Mr. Nguyen Bac Son.

The Minister said that the drafting agency had received feedback from press officials, the Journalists Association, and shared it with National Assembly delegates.

According to Vietnamnet