Confiding in Nghe An Newspaper

After several decades, it was not until 1981 that I had another chance to work with the newspaper, which from then on became Nghe Tinh newspaper, then Nghe An newspaper, and for a time also Nghe An police newspaper, Nghe An labor newspaper. Because of this chance, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first issue of Nghe An newspaper, I would like to take a moment to confide and share.

From the beginning, Nghe An Newspaper was published 8 times/month, now it is published daily, with Nghe An Weekend added, from 4 pages to 8 pages, from black and white printing to color printing, from 9 newspaper staff to 75 staff, reporters, technicians; from publishing 2,000 copies/issue to 16,000 copies/issue.

Every month, every year, Nghe An Newspaper grows, matures, innovates both in quantity and quality, both in content and form, and joins the press of the whole country in integrating into the modern press trend. Nghe An Newspaper deserves to be the organ of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Nghe An province and the voice of the Party, government and people of Nghe An.

Author with Nghe An newspaper. Photo: Thanh Le

Very special is that Nghe An Newspaper has been awarded the title “Labor Hero of the Renovation Period” by the Party and State. The Party, government and people of Nghe An have a “child” who has grown up, innovated and created on the ideological and cultural fronts, which is very proud.

During my working time, I had the opportunity to visit different provinces. Wherever I went, I asked my friends to show me and let me read their local newspaper. I was very happy and pleased to see that the "home" newspaper was not inferior to the "friends" newspaper, if not to say that the "home" newspaper was a real "big brother". I sincerely hope that Nghe An Newspaper will inherit and promote the lessons and achievements that many generations of fathers and brothers have left behind. Absolutely do not be satisfied and stop.

Today's proud achievements are first and foremost thanks to the wholehearted attention of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee in terms of politics, ideology, organization, spirit and material for Nghe An Newspaper. From that wholehearted attention, generations of cadres, reporters, editors,... especially the first generations have worked and fought selflessly, overcoming all hardships and sacrifices to build a solid foundation for Nghe An Newspaper.

It is impossible not to acknowledge the full contribution of thousands of collaborators and informants from all bases, levels and sectors to the achievements of Nghe An Newspaper. And especially the protection, shelter, love and care of the ethnic people in the province for Nghe An Newspaper, especially during the years of resistance against the US. All of the above are the source, the root for Nghe An Newspaper to have "many branches, many leaves and heavy fruits" today.

The above sentiments are to share joy with Nghe An Newspaper. And the sentiments told here are to share worries to make the "home" newspaper more attractive and contribute more effectively, contributing to making Nghe An a well-off province in the region by 2025 as determined by the Resolution of the 19th Provincial Party Congress.

“The voice of the Party Committee and the government of Nghe An” is quite strong and quite good. But the voice of the people of Nghe An needs to continue to increase. Should Nghe An Newspaper have a column called “People’s opinions”. The people mentioned here are all those who are working every hour and every day in the fields, in businesses, in agencies, grassroots units, etc. Through this column, there will be more channels for dialogue between the people and the Party organizations and the government at all levels. How to have this column, I would like to discuss directly with the Editorial Board.

Nghe An Newspaper meets collaborators in 2018. Photo: Duc Anh

The newspaper and the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department monitor and remind at least 100% of cadres and departments at all levels from the grassroots to the province to know and read Nghe An newspaper, know how to exploit and use all information on Nghe An newspaper and practice their work. Reading newspapers in general, and Nghe An newspaper in particular, is also learning. Learning to gain more knowledge, learning to practice more effectively. Making a number of newspapers is necessary, but knowing how to use those newspapers correctly and well is even more necessary.

In recent years, Nghe An Newspaper has not transcribed into Vietnamese the nouns (names of places, people, events, etc.) but has written mainly in English. Many readers cannot read it, so you should consider this. Don’t be afraid that someone will say Nghe An Newspaper doesn’t know English.

We all know that “reviving the West” is a big and extremely difficult problem for Nghe An. For many years, the West has been a concern. Perhaps on the Economic page of Nghe An newspaper, there should be a column “Advice for the West”. With the spirit of “Three leather workers are equal to one man”, through this column, we can mobilize the knowledge contributions of many knowledgeable people, helping the districts and the province to have appropriate policies, mechanisms and strategies for the West to make a breakthrough.

Every week in the Nghe An weekend issue, there is a special page called Mountainous Region - Ethnic Groups. However, it is necessary to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of this special page. Do the people, directly the cadres from the village, hamlet to commune, district, like this special page, how much do they like it, is it useful, does it help them change their way of thinking and doing? Nghe An Newspaper should conduct a thorough survey to get the answer. From there, improve, if necessary, innovate both the content and form of the special page with the goal of improving the actual effectiveness that the special page brings to readers.

I remember, from 1962 to 1967 our province had the newspaper "Western Nghe An", what the newspaper "Western Nghe An" did was a valuable asset for us to think, we can make the Mountainous - Ethnic special page better, more useful, more effective.

Feelings are for sharing. Feelings are to hope that fate will become more beautiful like the poem by poetess Ho Xuan Huong "If it is fate, then it will become beautiful again".