The shared home of journalists in President Ho Chi Minh's hometown.

PV:Could you please tell us about the achievements of Nghe An's press during the past term?

Comrade Tran Duy Ngoan:During the past term, the Executive Committee of the Provincial Journalists Association and the leaders of press agencies have received the attention, assistance, leadership, and direct guidance of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee, as well as the close and effective coordination of provincial and local departments and agencies. The coordination between the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, the Department of Information and Communications, and the Provincial Journalists Association in press management has created a favorable environment for Nghe An's press agencies to continue innovating and improving the effectiveness of their propaganda work; carrying out propaganda in accordance with the information orientation of the Party and the State, and fulfilling assigned political tasks. Information is ensured to be timely, sensitive, complete, and comprehensive on political, economic, and social life in the country, the province, and internationally, serving as a reliable forum for the people. Nghe An's press has also discovered and promoted exemplary individuals and achievements in the reform process; and proposed many practical solutions and directions for the province, departments, agencies, and localities. We have resolutely fought against corruption, waste, bureaucracy, and social evils. We have participated in social supervision and criticism, promoting the people's right to self-governance in all fields. Many cases uncovered by the press have been investigated, concluded, and strictly handled by the relevant authorities. In particular, the press has prominently and effectively publicized major events of the country and the province. Press agencies have actively fought to affirm the sacred sovereignty of the Fatherland's sea and islands, combat "peaceful evolution," and refute false and fabricated information and arguments of hostile forces and political opportunists.

Reporters and members of the Nghe An Journalists Association at work. Photo: Nguyen Son

Through their operational methods and journalistic styles, the reporters and members of the press agencies in Nghe An province have actively promoted the province's socio-economic management solutions during the past term. These solutions include land management, resource and environmental protection, market management, poverty reduction, and improving people's lives. A highlight of Nghe An's press over the past five years has been its extensive, focused, and effective dissemination of information on attracting investment, economic restructuring, revenue collection, poverty reduction, and cultural, educational, and national defense and security activities. Key highlights include land clearance for the expansion of National Highway 1A and social welfare projects, which contributed to accelerating construction progress. The press continues to promote investment attraction in Nghe An, mobilizing resources to implement the national program for building new rural areas. The media has been promoting policies and solutions to overcome difficulties for businesses, creating conditions for stable production, encouraging people to go out to sea, engage in fishing, and protect the sacred sovereignty of the nation's seas and islands. It has also been promoting the enhancement and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the province, particularly dedicating significant time and weekly coverage to promoting and affirming the value of Nghe An's folk songs. Furthermore, it has fostered and encouraged new exemplary individuals in various fields, strengthened the social critique function of the press, created consensus among all segments of the population, and enthusiastically promoted production and practiced thrift. The quality and effectiveness of media work have steadily improved, building the prestige and brand of Nghe An's press in the hearts of audiences and readers both within and outside the province. In particular, an indispensable recognition of Nghe An's press over the past five years, despite the many difficulties of the national and provincial economy, is that Nghe An's press agencies have strived to rise up, being dynamic and creative to assert themselves, namely: innovating content and format, increasing pages, increasing circulation, increasing publications, increasing program duration, expanding coverage... actively generating revenue to improve quality, contributing to improving and stabilizing the lives of journalists.

PV:How do you assess the social responsibility and civic duty of the members of the Nghe An Journalists Association?

Comrade Tran Duy Ngoan: Along with the development of the press nationwide, the press in Nghe An has made remarkable progress in both quantity and quality, with 7 press agencies and over 500 reporters, including nearly 300 members of the Provincial Journalists Association. The political and professional quality of the members is constantly improving; 88.3% are Party members; 96.3% have university or postgraduate degrees (of which 54.6% are in journalism); and 58.8% are under 40 years old. This is an important human resource in the Party's ideological work.

Evaluating the social responsibility and civic duty of members of the Provincial Journalists Association is essentially evaluating the professional ethics of journalists and assessing the fulfillment of the principles and objectives of media organizations. From the perspective of the Journalists Association, we highly appreciate the role of Nghe An's media organizations in the reform process, having faithfully adhered to their principles and objectives. Fundamentally, members of the Nghe An Journalists Association possess good political qualities, strong political resolve, exemplary lifestyles, and are enthusiastic, dedicated, and creative in their professional work. With their responsibilities, journalists are always present in difficult, challenging, complex, and critical areas to accurately and truthfully reflect events and issues occurring in the province; they are passionate about researching and discovering new topics to report on; they delve deeply into the grassroots and daily life, always sharing the difficulties of the people, organizations, and businesses, and upholding the professional ethics of journalists. Many journalists have achieved high rankings in provincial, sectoral, and national journalism awards, earning the respect of their colleagues and the public. Members have clearly defined their responsibilities as writers and journalists, reflecting and expressing their opinions to the public, ensuring the interests of the country and their homeland. They do not exploit their profession for personal gain or harm the interests of the nation. They respect, cherish, collaborate with, help, and honor their colleagues. They consistently maintain the image of dedicated journalists and good citizens, earning the respect of society. These are the valuable qualities of the members of the Nghe An Journalists Association. Therefore, during the past term, no journalist member in Nghe An violated discipline or professional ethics, a significant strength. However, there are still some (although very small) journalist members who have not clearly defined their position, lack passion and love for their profession, and do not cherish their colleagues, resulting in some violations and limitations in their work regarding professional standards and the style of revolutionary journalism.

Readers at the Spring Newspaper Fair 2015. Photo: Nguyen Khoa

PV:During the 2015-2020 term, the Nghe An Journalists Association introduced many innovations in its activities. Could you please tell us what those innovations were?

Comrade Tran Duy Ngoan:The general direction for the 2015-2020 term, presented at the 7th Congress of the Vietnam Journalists Association of Nghe An province, is: "Continuing to enhance the role, quality, and effectiveness of the Journalists Association's activities, worthy of being a political, social, and professional organization of Vietnamese journalists, gathering and uniting a wide range of member journalists, loyal to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, and actively contributing to the industrialization and modernization of the homeland. Building and developing journalism and the team of journalists in the homeland of President Ho Chi Minh to meet the requirements and new tasks." Based on this direction, the Association focuses on leading and directing the implementation of several key tasks and solutions, namely:

1.Effectively implement the action program to carry out the Resolution of the 10th Congress of the Vietnam Journalists Association; and the conclusions of the Prime Minister at the working session with the leaders of the Vietnam Journalists Association on July 23, 2013. Proactively fulfill the role of advising, providing feedback, and evaluating the press through specific programs, projects, and plans on issues related to journalistic activities and the team of journalists, contributing to the building and development of the provincial press and the activities of the Journalists Association to effectively serve the socio-economic development of the province in the new era.

2.Study and thoroughly understand the contents of the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress, the Resolution of the 18th Provincial Party Congress, and Resolution No. 9 (11th Central Committee) on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development, and building and developing a healthy press. Encourage and promptly commend new factors, new people, and exemplary individuals and good deeds, while continuing to strongly combat negative phenomena.

3.To foster a spirit of self-directed learning to improve theoretical understanding of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, and new directives and resolutions from the Central Committee and the province, so that journalists and members can quickly grasp new policies and apply them creatively to their journalistic works.

4.Actively coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications and the Training Center of the Vietnam Journalists Association to organize 2-3 professional training courses each year, helping journalists and members to innovate in modern journalistic methods. Each branch and sub-branch organizes 5-6 professional thematic exchange sessions annually. Select 35-30 journalist members to attend professional training courses organized by the Vietnam Journalists Association, striving for 100% of members to participate in professional training during the term.

5.Directing branches and sub-branches to incorporate the "9 Regulations on Professional Ethics" for Vietnamese journalists into their association meetings. This should be combined with evaluating the quality and effectiveness of members' professional work and ethical conduct.

6.Continue to innovate and improve the quality of branch activities, and strengthen the branches to become increasingly robust. Strive to recruit 65-70 new members during the term.

7.Effectively coordinate press management. Provide timely advice and recommendations on issues related to press management. Resolutely combat deviations from the principles and objectives, and the trend of commercialization in journalism. Successfully implement the provincial press development plan until 2025.

8.Continue to effectively implement President Ho Chi Minh's journalistic style, while also doing a good job of publicizing the results of implementing the Politburo's Directive 03.

9.Improving the quality of the "Journalist" magazine.

10.Continue to improve the quality of the Nghe An Journalism Award. Improve the process of producing high-quality journalistic works according to the project to support high-quality journalistic works in the period 2016 - 2020.

11.Continue to innovate in terms of content and format for the Spring Newspaper Fair.

12.Protecting the legal rights of members, encouraging and visiting members when they are sick, facing difficulties or misfortunes; organizing cultural and sports activities effectively.

PV:Thank you, comrade!

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ComradeTran Duy Ngoan,Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Journalists Association,

The Chairman of the Provincial Journalists Association gives an interview to Nghe An Newspaper.