Press Law also needs to change as media technology changes

(Illustration photo: Trong Duc/VNA)

The workshop is a forum for National Assembly deputies, drafting agencies, review agencies, domestic and international experts to discuss and share difficulties and shortcomings related to the provisions in the draft Press Law (amended), and at the same time propose opinions, recommendations and contributions to the draft.

Speaking at the workshop, Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Xuan Thao, Member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Director of the Institute for Legislative Studies, emphasized that press freedom is a fundamental human right in a developed society and has been recognized in many important international documents such as the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Freedom of the press or more broadly freedom of speech has been discussed a lot in recent years, especially after Vietnam passed the 2013 Constitution and is currently amending the Press Law.

The press has made great and important contributions to the revolutionary struggle, national liberation as well as in the period of national construction and development.

And in today's era of information technology and communication explosion, the role of the press is further strengthened and becomes more prominent.

However, besides important contributions such as being a bridge between the people and the government, bringing Vietnam closer to international friends... Vietnamese press still has phenomena that need to be adjusted such as providing shocking information, content that is not suitable for Vietnamese customs and traditions.

Therefore, the review of the provisions in the draft Press Law (amended) on freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the press needs to be carried out very carefully to ensure that the spirit of freedom of the press is expressed throughout the entire draft law, but at the same time, not create loopholes for bad guys to take advantage of, causing damage to the reputation and honor of individuals, organizations, agencies, harming security, national defense, and the legitimate rights and interests of citizens.

During the workshop, delegates focused on giving their opinions on 6 contents including how freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the press should be understood, especially in the current context of Vietnam; what types of media information need to be regulated to ensure conformity with development trends; what regulations should be made on state management of press work to ensure autonomy and self-responsibility of press agencies; what regulations should be made on journalists, on the issuance of press cards and on collaborators to ensure freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the press; regulations on protecting press operations and ensuring the safety of journalists; regulations on rights related to journalists and the press such as the right to access information, intellectual property rights for press products.

Mr. Le Quoc Minh, Editor-in-Chief of VietnamPlus e-newspaper, Vietnam News Agency, pointed out the development trends of modern journalism for legislators to take into account, thereby providing effective and transparent legal frameworks to be able to manage and monitor the types that are and may be popular in the near future.

According to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, in the present and future, new types of media and journalism have been and will be born, new ways of doing journalism such as mobile and applications, social media, 360-degree videos...

Communication technology is changing, the way readers access information is changing, so journalism and media are also changing dramatically. Laws and legal regulations, therefore, also need to anticipate those changes.

The workshop also mentioned many contents contributing to perfecting regulations on freedom of the press and freedom of speech on press forums of citizens; regulations on journalists, granting press cards and collaborators to ensure freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the press; regulations on protecting intellectual property rights for press products./.

According to vietnamplus