Press planning: Improving quality, reducing sources

At the 10th Central Conference taking place in Hanoi, the Project on Press Planning and Management until 2025 will be reviewed and discussed.

In his opening speech at the Conference, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized: Based on the special significance and importance of revolutionary journalism in the cause of national construction and defense, we hope that the Central Committee will pay attention to giving opinions on each issue, especially the issue of improving quality, reducing focal points, adjusting governing agencies and strengthening press management in the new situation.

The proliferation of newspapers in recent years, on the one hand, has met the diverse information needs of all groups in society, but on the other hand, it has also put the public in front of difficult choices. Difficulties in choosing the type of newspaper, the content of information and even the accuracy of the information.

The latest figures released at the National Press Conference show that the country currently has 845 print and magazine agencies, 1 national news agency, 98 electronic newspapers and magazines, and 67 radio and television stations. In 2014 alone, 7 new print agencies were established, 6 electronic newspapers and magazines, and 2 television channels were newly licensed and their purposes were changed.

Assessing the current state of journalism in our country, Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Van Dung, Head of the Faculty of Journalism, Academy of Journalism and Communication, said that this field is both redundant and lacking and has manifestations that go against the world.

“Going against the world is that while print newspapers are facing difficulties, the world is dissolving and merging, our print newspaper agency increases every year. This sounds very happy but in reality it is not like that. The birth of that print newspaper agency may not come from demand but from the subjective demand of some people, the consequence of the mechanism of asking for and giving and being born like that,” Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Dung analyzed.

Assessing the current press picture in our country, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said: many press agencies have been proactive, innovative, and adapted to the socialist-oriented market mechanism. Press activities and social networking sites have brought a lot of good information to the people. However, the activities of press agencies have also revealed many limitations. That is the waste of resources, leading to the phenomenon of many newspapers being similar to each other, including content, principles, and purposes, reducing the unique identity of each newspaper. At the same time, in the strong development of the number of press agencies like that, it is also inevitable to avoid competition for information, leading to unverified, false, offensive, sensational, and clickbait information, causing resentment in society, reducing the orientation and educational nature of the country's press.

In the column “People ask, Ministers answer” in June 2014, Minister Nguyen Bac Son affirmed that press planning is necessary at this time. “Planning is not only to consider reducing the number of newspapers, but more importantly, we must provide a legal framework and policies to build a press that is reasonable in quantity, especially improving quality. I believe that the Press Planning Project, once approved by competent authorities, will certainly be the basis for us to build a revolutionary press that is constantly strong, modern, and highly professional in the current period of industrialization, modernization, and integration. This is also a condition for us to better fulfill the obligations and rights of citizens in exercising the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press as stated in the 2013 Constitution,” Minister Nguyen Bac Son emphasized.

Also because of the importance of the press in the context of integration and information explosion as today, the 10th Central Conference will consider and discuss to overcome existing problems of the domestic press, orienting the building of a more professional, higher quality, and more effective press.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong asked Central Committee members to give their opinions on each issue, especially on improving quality, reducing focal points, adjusting governing agencies and strengthening press management in the new situation./.

According to VOV