The Press Law needs to specifically stipulate the responsibilities of press agency leaders.

The 41st session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on September 17 gave opinions on issues related to the Press Law and the revised Press Law. Many delegates said that the Law should add some clearer provisions on the responsibilities of press agency leaders.

According to Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son, press activities in recent times have revealed worrying issues such as: press agencies do not properly implement their principles and purposes; false information tends to increase; the trend of "commercialization" is slowly being overcome; information that violates good customs and traditions still occurs. Much information in the press is not selective, focusing on reflecting the negative aspects of society; many news articles are sensational and attract attention; the honesty of the press has declined.

Reality also shows that regulations on the rights and obligations of journalists, responsibilities of heads of press agencies, prohibited acts, providing information to the press, the role of state management, the role of press management agencies... have not promptly adjusted the arising issues in the practice of press activities, have not promoted the effectiveness and improved the efficiency of state management of the press in the current period; regulations on freedom of the press, freedom of speech in the press but the mechanism to ensure this right is not specific. In practice, many issues have gone beyond the provisions of the law such as: press agencies implementing many types of activities, issues of association in press activities, issues of press economics, names and responsibilities of heads of press agencies... Moreover, press regulations are stipulated in many documents, scattered, overlapping and need to be codified into law to improve legality and facilitate implementation.

Journalism has changed a lot (Illustration photo)

Because of the above limitations, amending the Press Law is necessary. The draft new Press Law includes 60 articles, of which 31 are new and 29 are amended.

Commenting on the draft Press Law submitted by the Ministry of Information and Communications, Mr. Nguyen Hanh Phuc - Head of the National Assembly Office said that, regarding the management model of press agencies, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between the governing body and the Editor-in-Chief of the press agencies.

Commenting on the Report on the revised Press Law, Ms. Truong Thi Mai - Chairwoman of the Committee on Social Affairs said that she highly appreciated the report. In particular, on page 3, she frankly assessed the emerging issues of the press today. However, in Ms. Mai's opinion, if only mentioning these aspects is not fair, the report should mention the positive aspects of the press's contribution to the development of society.

Ms. Mai commented that journalists must take the highest responsibility before the newspaper and the governing body. It is necessary to stipulate that the highest responsibility belongs to the Editor-in-Chief, the head of the press agency because they are the ones who approve and decide to publish in the press.

The delegates all agreed with the need to amend the Press Law. However, many delegates said that the draft Law needs to provide clearer regulations on the powers and obligations of the press agency leadership positions.

Ms. Tong Thi Phong - Vice President of the National Assembly - chaired the meeting and concluded: The Press Law is an important Law that the National Assembly decided to pass in two sessions. Ms. Phong highly appreciated the efforts of the drafting committee who carefully listened to the assessments when compiling the draft Press Law. At today's meeting, it was shown that the delegates all agreed that amending the Press Law is necessary to contribute to creating a healthy press, promoting the role of the press and journalists in contributing to creating a happy society.

However, Ms. Phong said that there are still some provisions in the draft Law that are general and not specific. The Law needs to stipulate more clearly the subjects that are allowed to establish press agencies and the responsibilities of the leaders of press agencies./.

According to Infonet