Press management: Must promote the responsibility of the governing body

“We must emphasize the responsibility of the newspaper's governing body. In reality, there are governing bodies that, after establishing a newspaper, are unable to manage it and even financially depend on that newspaper.”

The Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children held its 7th meeting (Photo: ND)

After a period of monitoring in the press sector, the Commission's monitoring team pointed out some remaining shortcomings, such as the situation of copying news and articles between newspapers without permission, and from one wrong newspaper, leading to a series of mistakes, especially in the field of electronic newspapers.

The correction and reporting of false information was not carried out seriously afterwards, because when the article was published, it was given a big headline and placed in a prominent position, but when it was corrected, it was placed in a hidden corner, with few people paying attention. In addition, although there was a regulation on speaking, the implementation of the task of providing information to the press was still formal and not binding...

Through the monitoring process, historian Duong Trung Quoc was pleased that the monitoring team's opinions were very close to those of the state management agency - the Ministry of Information and Communications. According to the historian, the implementation of the monitoring will have a positive impact on the upcoming completion of the amendment of the Press Law, with very big changes, closely linked to our management capacity.

National Assembly Deputy Duong Trung Quoc said that a number of issues need to be resolved, especially press planning, the general orientation must be consistent with the Constitution, ensuring the people's freedom of speech, if the planning is good it will be effective. To ensure the people's freedom, according to Mr. Quoc, the Law on Access to Information must be promulgated soon.

Besides, the management of the press sector also raises the issue of saving social resources. Mr. Duong Trung Quoc cited the field of radio and television, although it has been mentioned many times, the infrastructure is still wasteful.

“Is it necessary for the central station to have branches in the locality? In the same area, having both the central and local stations will only compete in advertising without bringing much benefit to the people. Is it necessary to build a TV tower when we are about to replace the technology? If building a tower is to ensure tourism and sightseeing, that is not the job of television, it will only cause waste.”

National Assembly Deputy Duong Trung Quoc raised and suggested that when amending the Press Law, we need to look straight at this truth to overcome it according to the roadmap.

Referring to financial issues, a leader of a province shared with the press that he is facing many difficulties. Through contact with a resident reporter, this leader said that in addition to the task of reporting news and content as requested, reporters are also assigned to distribute and advertise locally.

“Some reporters say their salaries and incomes depend on the newspaper circulation in the area. Even on special occasions, local leaders constantly receive phone calls asking about advertising, and even have threatening attitudes. If we please all reporters, it will be very difficult for the locality.”

To reduce this situation, he suggested that the National Assembly and the Government rearrange and reduce local magazines and newspapers and pay more attention to investing in funding to reduce pressure on the press.

Although the survey results have fully stated the limitations and weaknesses, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan also said that when evaluating, it is necessary to distinguish between official newspapers and non-newspaper electronic information pages. In fact, with 838 newspapers and magazines, the number of newspapers that receive the most complaints is only about ten.

According to Deputy Minister Tuan, we often talk about the responsibility of the press agency, of the directing agency, but few people talk about the responsibility of the managing agency: "We must emphasize the responsibility of the managing agency. In reality, there are managing agencies that, after establishing a newspaper, cannot manage it, and even depend financially on that newspaper" - Deputy Minister Tuan stated the current situation.

The Deputy Minister of Information and Communications also said that many contents of the press law are no longer suitable and need to be amended, such as the management between radio and television and the local print press still overlaps. Then there are cases of appointing managers who do not have journalism experience. Therefore, the press law needs to clearly stipulate how many years of working in the industry one must have before becoming a leader of a press agency...

According to infonet