Veteran journalist Nguyen Thanh Tien: A life of dedication

A LIFETIME OF DEDICATION TO JOURNALISM

Last May, during the Party Badge awarding ceremony on May 19, 2023, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien - former Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper, former Chairman of Nghe An Journalists Association was awarded the 60-year Party membership badge by the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee. This is an honor, affirming the recognition and gratitude of the Party and State for his contributions, his whole life following the Party, for the revolutionary cause; it is also an opportunity for him to look back on his efforts and training throughout his journey following the Party.

After participating in the Party's information and propaganda work in many different positions, in 1987, due to the requirements of the organization of cadres, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien was transferred by the Provincial Party Committee to hold the position of Party Secretary, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nghe Tinh Newspaper - officially entering the "path" of professional journalism. According to Mr. Tien, moving from a propaganda officer - a "speaking" profession to a "writing" profession was a turning point in his life, setting very high requirements, requiring himself to be truly receptive, humble and constantly learn from his friends and colleagues.

In 1991, Nghe Tinh province was divided into Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. He continued to hold the position of Party Secretary and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper. And from 1993, he was appointed Editor-in-Chief (1993 to 2000), and Chairman of Nghe An Provincial Journalists Association (1994 - 2004). With 13 years of experience in press agency management and 10 years of working for the Association, his "unprecedented" ideas and decisions and those of the Editorial Board of Nghe Tinh Newspaper, Nghe An Newspaper, and the Executive Board of Nghe An Journalists Association laid the foundation for Nghe An Newspaper in particular and Nghe An journalism to develop, especially in taking care of training, fostering, and building a team of journalists.

Recalling the time of the province's separation, in order to ensure a team of good managers, reporters, and journalistic collaborators, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien and the Editorial Board of Nghe An Newspaper discussed with the leaders of the Central Propaganda School (now the Academy of Journalism and Communication) the issue of bringing the first part-time university training course to the province. That was the first part-time university journalism course (1992 - 1995) with 48 students; then opened another course from 1996 - 2000 and this activity has been maintained until now. The part-time journalism course in Nghe An was organized to meet the requirements of improving the professional qualifications and journalism skills of the team of reporters and "amateur" managers, who were not in the same field or profession, and Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien himself also participated in the first course. Mr. Tien shared that the press agency is a political agency, an ideological tool of the Party Committee and the People of the province; the press agency is a cultural agency; is a diplomatic agency, a place to approach readers, officials at all levels and friends and colleagues throughout the country. Therefore, as the newspaper's leader, he always focuses on training cadres and reporters to properly implement the journalism style of doing politics, doing culture, and doing diplomacy.

He himself also set 3 criteria to practice and strive to become a politician, a manager, and a journalist. That is why, until today, in many provinces, many friends still mention veteran journalist Nguyen Thanh Tien, a generous, responsible, and loyal person.

In the preface to the book of articles collected by Mr. Ha Van Tai as a gift to journalist Nguyen Thanh Tien, he wrote: "Comrade Nguyen Thanh Tien - former Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper, was both a close friend and a colleague, and above all, a cadre who was extremely loyal to the revolution, especially loyal to his friends."

And in the stories of the "management" profession, he was always the one who was very close: going, eating, sleeping, working with reporters in difficult, complicated, and sensitive areas. At that time, with the viewpoint that the press must proactively go first and lead the way, Nghe An Newspaper carried out articles to raise awareness for cadres, party members and people, not to follow behind in many new policies of the province. For example, when preparing to build Hoang Mai Cement Factory, he personally went with journalists To Quoc Bao and Le Quy Ky to Bim Son Cement Factory to learn and write about the experience of making cement there. Or when there was a policy to build Quy Hop Sugarcane Factory of the province, he and the journalists continued to go to Lam Son Sugar Factory (Thanh Hoa) to learn about the process of building the factory, making raw material areas, and policies for farmers in raw material areas to propagate. Or go to Thai Binh province - the locality with the best rural power grid to propagate, orient and suggest to the province... This way of doing things affirms the accompanying role of Nghe An Newspaper with the province in planning and implementing effective socio-economic development policies. Through that, it also contributed to making the names of two journalists To Quoc Bao, Le Quy Ky and some journalists in the hearts of readers during his management period.

As Chairman of the Nghe An Journalists Association, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien is the founder of the Nghe An Journalists Association's Press Award and has been upgraded to the current Nghe An Journalists Award. He is also proactive and creative in coordinating with a number of provincial-level sectors to organize writing contests on specific topics, both "training troops" and promoting propaganda according to topics and themes, creating positive spreading effects. For example, coordinating with the Provincial Youth Union to organize the writing contest: "Nghe An Youth follow Uncle Ho's words"; coordinating with the Department of Transport to write about "Traffic Safety"; coordinating with the Department of Population to write about "Population and Family Planning"... In addition, every year, the Nghe An Journalists Association organizes training courses for informants and collaborators on specific topics to invite experienced central journalists in communication, such as journalist Huu Tho, journalist Hong Phuong, journalist Ho Quang Loi, journalist Nguyen Uyen, journalist Duc Luong...

In particular, 27 years ago, in 1996, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien, together with Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thu, then Director of the Department of Physical Education and Sports, and a number of officials of Nghe An Newspaper, founded the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth and Children's Football Tournament. The tournament has just entered its 25th season (the tournament had to stop for 2 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic), becoming the longest-standing youth football tournament in Vietnam, a place to nurture hundreds of SLNA players and discover many talents for Vietnamese football.

It can be said that Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien has been involved in journalism his whole life, because before becoming a professional journalist in the period 1987 - 2004, he had 22 years as an active contributor to Nghe Tinh Newspaper.

At over 80 years old, veteran journalist Nguyen Thanh Tien has been awarded by the Party and State the Second Class Resistance Medal, Third Class Labor Medal, 60-year Party Age Badge; Commemorative Medal for the Cause of Vietnam Journalism and many certificates of merit from various levels.

"A SON IS GOOD THAN HIS FATHER, THE FAMILY IS BLESSED"

In June, towards the 98th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, we visited journalist Nguyen Thanh Tien to hear his life stories and his journalism career. Although he has been retired for 19 years, he is still interested in and follows the development of Vietnam Revolutionary Press in general, Nghe An press and Nghe An Newspaper in particular.

Journalist Nguyen Thanh Tien expressed his joy that Nghe An Newspaper has been continuously innovating, especially strongly applying information technology, digital transformation, and using artificial intelligence to diversify methods and forms of conveying information to many listeners, viewers, and readers. He compared and likened the development of Nghe An Newspaper today: "A son is better than his father, the family is blessed."

He also said: Nghe An Newspaper currently has a team of young journalists who are well-trained, enthusiastic, dedicated and devoted to their profession. Nghe An is the "cradle" of revolutionary journalism, with a tradition of studiousness and a constantly improving level of education. Therefore, journalists must always make tireless efforts to produce journalistic works with high social effectiveness, both multiplying the positive and good aspects of society, resolutely criticizing and fighting against negative and evil aspects; using righteousness to overcome evil.

When asked what he had to say to today's journalists, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tien expressed his appreciation when reading some verses of the writer and journalist Nguyen Van Dinh (Quang Binh Newspaper): "Farmers plow on the field/ We plow on the paper every night/ Farmers are afraid of the scorching sun, storms and floods/ We are afraid of shallowness and not deepness". Then he shared: Journalists, first of all, must have a heart, praise and criticize responsibly; must have a discerning eye, have "tricks of the trade", because otherwise, what is not praiseworthy is praised, what is criticismworthy is not criticized, not to mention the influence of the market mechanism of "envelopes and envelopes" that makes journalists "bend" their pens.

Journalist Nguyen Thanh Tien also shared: President Ho Chi Minh's journalism ideology: "Write for whom? Write for what? Write how?". That is a big question that the social responsibility and civic duty of every journalist must find the answer for themselves. To do so, we must stick closely to real life, listen to the voice of the people, deeply grasp the Party's policies and guidelines, to create journalistic products that spread throughout social life, fulfilling the responsibility and duty of a revolutionary journalist.