Improving the effectiveness of oral propaganda in the new situation

(Baonghean.vn)-Oral propaganda is one of the most important information channels, directly and widely disseminating Party guidelines and policies and State laws into life.

In Nghe An, this work has received increasing attention from local Party committees and authorities. Thanks to that, oral propaganda work has always been innovated, consolidated and improved, contributing to meeting the requirements of the province's political and development tasks.

To effectively implement Directive No. 17-CT/TW, dated October 15, 2007 of the Central Party Secretariat (10th tenure) on "Continuing to innovate and improve the quality and effectiveness of oral propaganda work in the new situation", the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department has gradually improved the quality of reporters' conferences at all levels. In particular, there have been many innovations in planning, selecting the content of topics to ensure topicality, timely orienting thoughts, meeting urgent needs for information, and flexibility in choosing the form of organizing reporters' conferences in direct and online forms, which have been recognized by reporters at all levels.

Officials of the Propaganda Department of Quy Hop District Party Committee directly mobilize and propagate to the people of Chau Ly commune (Quy Hop). Photo: PV

At the same time, standardize the team of reporters at all levels to meet the requirements of the task. Every year, the team of reporters at all levels are trained in professional skills and study to improve their political theory. In the province, in addition to the regular monthly and ad hoc conferences of reporters, each year, the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department organizes training sessions for the team of reporters of the Provincial Party Committee, districts, cities, towns, affiliated Party Committees, the Fatherland Front and provincial-level organizations.

In districts, cities and towns, every year, most units organize training courses for reporters and propagandists at the grassroots level. Every month, after the reporters' conference at the provincial level, the propaganda departments of the district, city, town party committees and affiliated party committees organize reporters' conferences. At the grassroots level, after the district-level reporters' conference, most grassroots party organizations carry out propaganda and disseminate information in different forms depending on the situation and conditions at each base.

Reporter of Nghi Hoa commune (Nghi Loc) met to propagate and mobilize people to implement the policy of building new rural areas. Photo: PV

Provincial and district reporters are provided with monthly documents such as: Party newspapers, Reporter magazine of the Central Propaganda Department, internal announcement newsletter of the Provincial Party Committee, newsletters of district, city, town Party Committees, affiliated Party Committees, and sectors.

Scene of an online reporter conference, Nghe An bridge, chaired by the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department. Photo: PV

Central and provincial thematic propaganda documents on outstanding events and current affairs. Many means have been equipped and used effectively, such as: Laptops, projectors, recorders, digital cameras, sound systems, contributing to innovation in methods and forms of oral propaganda and improving the qualifications and skills of the reporting team.

In addition, the Party Committee and government have paid attention to creating financial conditions for reporters' activities, applying policies on regimes for reporters' conferences and remuneration for reporters.

In addition, when complicated cases arise that require information orientation, the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department organizes ad hoc conferences and some online conferences. This is considered the province's source information conference. The quality of information disseminated at the conference closely follows the propaganda orientation, serves the political tasks of the locality and the grassroots, and answers many issues that cadres, party members and people are interested in. The form of organization is innovated in the direction of enhancing dialogue and information exchange at the conference.

Along with that, the establishment of news clubs in districts, cities and towns has made an important contribution to strengthening oral propaganda work at the grassroots level. After 7 years of organizing and implementing news club activities, some units have maintained and implemented them well such as: Con Cuong, Anh Son, Tan Ky, Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, Cua Lo, Que Phong...

It can be affirmed that, implementing Directive No. 17 of the Central Party Secretariat (10th tenure), the oral propaganda work and reporting activities of Party committees at all levels in the province have become routine, closely following the grassroots, affirming their own advantages, truly becoming one of the important official information channels, helping cadres, Party members and people grasp the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's laws, promptly orienting ideology and public opinion on emerging issues of concern, creating unity within the Party and consensus in society, consolidating trust in the leadership of the Party, the administration and management of the State, the city and localities and units.

However, in addition to the achieved results, the oral propaganda work and the activities of the reporting team at all levels are still not really up to the task, not meeting the requirements in the new situation. Specifically, the communication capacity and the quality of the reporting team are generally not really high, especially at the grassroots level. The quality of oral propaganda work still has some limitations, some issues, information has not well met the needs and increasingly high level of cadres, party members and people.

The propaganda method is still heavily one-way from top to bottom, with little attention paid to direct exchanges and dialogues with cadres, party members and the people. Some party committees and leaders have not yet deeply recognized the role, position and importance of oral propaganda and reporter activities. The current mechanism, allowance policies and facilities and techniques serving the activities of reporters still have many shortcomings, failing to create motivation to attract and encourage those with passion and capacity to maximize their potential, etc.

Dong Kha Van Tam awarded certificates of merit to 8 groups of the District and Urban Political Training Center. Photo: Document

To improve the effectiveness of oral propaganda work and the activities of the reporting team in the coming time, it is necessary to focus on a number of tasks and solutions:

First, strengthen the leadership of party committees at all levels over oral propaganda work and reporter activities. In the context of information explosion and strong development of the mass media system, oral propaganda is still an irreplaceable form of propaganda.

Second, combine the implementation of Directive 17 and promote grassroots information work in the new situation in the spirit of Directive No. 07-CT/TW dated September 5, 2016 of the Secretariat (12th tenure); determine the role and responsibility of heads of party committees, heads of agencies and units in leading and directing grassroots information work.

Third, continuously build a team of reporters and propagandists. Propaganda Departments at all levels continue to advise Party committees on consolidating and building a team of reporters and propagandists with specific policies and solutions.

Fourth, continue to improve the quality and effectiveness of oral propaganda. Strongly innovate the method of oral propaganda in the direction of being fast, sensitive, and close to reality, contributing to answering the pressing issues in social life; increase exchanges and dialogues between reporters and cadres, party members and people; pay more attention to receiving multi-dimensional information, especially from the bottom up; increase the use of information technology advantages to serve oral propaganda...

Fifth, strengthen the dissemination of current information with orientation to cadres, party members and people in many appropriate forms. Continue to maintain the routine of reporters at the provincial and district levels in the direction of increasingly improving the quality of information content and the effectiveness of oral propaganda. At the same time, the grassroots Propaganda Department has guidance on appropriate forms of activities to disseminate current information to the masses, through group activities, block activities, hamlets, etc.

Sixth, combine oral propaganda with other forms of propaganda to improve the effectiveness of ideological work in the new situation. The Propaganda Department and reporters at all levels, on the one hand, need to innovate and promote the unique advantages of oral propaganda. On the other hand, it is necessary to combine oral propaganda with other forms of propaganda such as newspapers, publishing, internal newsletters, organizing events, celebrating major holidays, etc.

With the synchronous implementation of these solutions, we believe that oral propaganda and reporter activities in the province will have positive changes, creating unity within the Party and consensus among all classes of people, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the province in the coming time.

Kha Van Tam

(Deputy Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department)