End the situation of newspapers living 'parasitically' on businesses

'A group of incompetent and unqualified reporters mentioned above, along with a group of 'collaborators' from many representative offices, show signs of being linked together, considering themselves the 'fourth power', forming a force that harasses localities and businesses, but their activities are very sophisticated and very difficult to control...', Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan assessed.

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Recently, there have been many negative manifestations from many representative offices (ROs) and resident reporters (PRs) of press agencies, especially electronic newspapers of social and professional organizations in provinces and cities across the country, causing difficulties for many agencies and units, especially businesses, and causing resentment among the people.

Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan

In an interview with Thanh Nien Newspaper, Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan officially spoke out about this situation.

*Dear Minister, recently there have been some negative manifestations in the press originating from the representative offices and press agencies in the localities. According to the Minister, is this a coincidence or is there a problem with the operations of these offices?

- Press agencies, especially central press agencies (including press agencies of socio-political and professional organizations, socio-professional organizations), have the right to open representative offices in localities. Local press agencies can also open representative offices in other localities if there is a real need. The purpose of these offices is to help press agencies have conditions to access information quickly and accurately to better serve the needs of readers, and at the same time to expand their readership. The law does not prohibit this, the law even allows press agencies to open representative offices or permanent offices abroad if there are conditions to quickly and honestly access international information.

Many representative offices and reporters of central press agencies and many press agencies with large readerships have performed their duties very well, creating more prestige for their press agencies with the people and local authorities. The Ministry of Information and Communications welcomes and creates all favorable conditions for these positive activities. The problem is that many press agencies have opened representative offices and assigned reporters for the wrong purposes or have not controlled the staff and reporters at these offices to do the wrong things. And the wrong purposes of course lead to negativity. There are 3 most obvious manifestations.

The first, due to insufficient financial conditions, they opened representative offices, assigned reporters but did not invest but assigned advertising targets to these offices and reporters to "feed" themselves and contribute to "feeding" the entire press agency. With such vital pressure, the actual task of the staff and reporters here is not to quickly and honestly access information but to find every way to get advertising in many forms to generate revenue. To do this, many reporters write articles that "beautify" or "blacken" the business, directly or indirectly threatening the business and local agencies and units.

Monday,Because the main editorial office is not organized by professional editors and professional processes, the Editorial Board of these press agencies is not capable of controlling information from the representative offices and reporters. "Pink" and "black" news, sensational news, false or half-true news, and even rumors can all be turned into official news published in print or electronic newspapers. Of course, false news will be handled by the law, but the danger is that by the time it is handled, the false information has already caused harm to organizations, individuals and society.

What is more dangerous is that not all false information can be detected immediately. Sometimes, the "victims" are intimidated and afraid of affecting their reputation, honor and brand, so they do not complain. Sometimes, it takes time to find evidence.

TuesdayMany representative offices use reporters who are both incompetent and unethical, and at the same time indiscriminately use "collaborators" who have no journalistic expertise, are issued letters of introduction, and are issued press cards similar to those of journalists, to both report news and exploit advertising. A portion of the above-mentioned incompetent and unethical reporters, along with a portion of these "collaborators" of many representative offices, show signs of association with each other, considering themselves the "fourth power", forming a force that harasses localities and businesses, but their activities are very sophisticated and very difficult to control. Here, please note that not all collaborators are negative. We need to acknowledge the positive contributions of many collaborators who report, write articles, and participate in organizing events and social activities of newspapers. Many of them, although not yet granted press cards, work honestly and wholeheartedly, creating many valuable journalistic works, worthy of being true journalists.

The above are the most obvious manifestations of the situation of the press living as a “parasite” on businesses, causing trouble for agencies, organizations and individuals in localities. Although this situation is not widespread, it is not rare. If not promptly corrected, it will distort the revolutionary press, cause resentment among the people, cause insecurity for businesses and hinder the public service activities of state agencies.

*So, Minister, what solutions will the Ministry of Information and Communications have to rectify this situation?

- We are directing the inspection of all activities of some representative offices of press agencies to have a comprehensive assessment. After that, appropriate handling measures will be applied to the whole and to specific cases. The inspection and rectification will not affect the normal and legal activities of press agencies and honest journalists. I suggest that press agencies themselves review the activities of representative offices and reporters to self-rectify first.

*What principles will the rectification follow, Minister?

First of all, press agencies must properly implement their principles and purposes. Any activities that are contrary to the principles and purposes of that press agency must be eliminated, including representative offices and press offices that operate contrary to their principles and purposes. If there are negative signs in representative offices and press offices of press agencies, but they do not self-review and rectify, the Ministry of Information and Communications will coordinate with the competent authority to review, rectify and handle them depending on the level of violation.

Second, in addition to properly implementing the above-mentioned principles and purposes, the press agency must have minimal costs for the operation of the representative office and press office and must arrange for qualified and qualified staff and reporters. If these two conditions are not met, it must be dissolved.

Third, press agencies must strictly prohibit reporters from writing articles that praise or criticize untruthfully with the aim of pressuring businesses to get advertisements or writing disguised advertisements for businesses. There must be regulations separating the reporting activities of reporters from the activities of the advertising department. Press agencies must do this themselves; if they are found to be doing it incorrectly, the Ministry of Information and Communications will support them to do it right.

Fourth, organizations and individuals, especially businesses, need to consider the effectiveness of promoting their brands and products when advertising or sponsoring press activities. If they are harassed or threatened by the press to get advertisements, businesses can completely report to the Ministry of Information and Communications and relevant authorities for protection. To effectively implement this, of course, businesses must operate legally and be financially healthy. Businesses that are not transparent about their production and business activities will find it difficult to cope with harassment from corrupt reporters. This is also an opportunity for harassment to continue to exist. This issue requires coordination with many ministries, branches and localities to be able to handle it.

The rectification of the activities of representative offices and press agencies of the provinces and cities is part of the overall solutions to innovate the country's press activities according to the newly promulgated Press Law and in the spirit of Resolution 4 of the Central Committee (12th tenure) on "Strengthening Party building and rectification; preventing and repelling the degradation of political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, and manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party".

Thank you, Minister.

According to Thanh Nien