The "golden" generation of Revolutionary Journalism

Every August, young journalists today remember a generation of revolutionary journalists, the “golden” writers who left them with a fire of enthusiasm, passion, and responsibility for their work. They are…

Former General Secretary Truong Chinh commented: “…Mr. Xuan Thuy was assigned by the Party to be in charge of the National Salvation Newspaper from the period of secret activities and throughout the period of resistance against the French. We had the Central National Salvation Newspaper, and also the local National Salvation Newspaper in all the resistance zones. That was the only daily newspaper of the Party and our people during this period. Just the fact that the newspaper was published regularly for 3,000 days in extremely fierce, arduous, and deprived war conditions can be said to be a miracle of our people. National Salvation Newspaper is the pride of the Great Unity Newspaper today and also the common pride of our country's revolutionary press.”

Coming out of that autumn, continuing to contribute to the country's journalism career in the early days of independence, journalist Xuan Thuy is also mentioned as one of the pioneers in laying the foundation for the construction of the Vietnam Journalists Association. In early 1947, the Resistance Press Group was established, with Xuan Thuy directly in charge. More than three years later, on the basis of the Resistance Press Group, the Vietnam Journalists Association was born. For the first time in our country, there was a professional socio-political organization of journalists. Journalist Xuan Thuy was the President of the Vietnam Journalists Association during two Congresses (1950-1962), was the first Vietnamese journalist to join the Executive Committee of the International Organization of Journalists (OIJ) and received an award from the OIJ.

2.When talking about the “golden” generation of revolutionary journalism, we cannot fail to mention journalist Ha Van Loc with the pen name Thep Moi. He participated in revolutionary activities before 1945, writing for the Autonomous newspaper of the patriotic student movement during the Japanese fascist occupation of our country. After the August Revolution, he worked at the editorial offices of newspapers of the Indochinese Communist Party such as: Co Giai Phong (1945 - 1946), Su That (1946 - 1951), Nhan Dan (from 1951).

Thep Moi (left) and Truong Chinh (right) in the Viet Bac forest in March 1951

During his career as a journalist, Thep Moi went to many battlefields, to places of fierce fighting, fought alongside his compatriots and comrades, both reporting and fighting. He wrote a series of reports such as: The first hot days of December, Hanoi fought with guns... describing the heroic fighting atmosphere with the spirit of "Determination to die for the survival of the Fatherland" of the army and people of the Capital. Reading Thep Moi's works, one can imagine the spirit of the revolutionary years of our people at that time. From there, one can better understand the battle on the propaganda front of sharp writers, bearing the mark of a journalist - soldier. When he was a reporter for the Liberation Flag Newspaper, the Central organ of the Party, many of his sharp articles fanned the flames of revolution in the public such as: A look at the banners (Liberation Flag September 12, 1945), The first independent Mid-Autumn Festival (September 20, 1945), Chinese banknotes and Indochina banknotes (Liberation Flag September 20, 1945), The British Mission rereads the Atlantic Charter and the former Kim Son (Liberation Flag September 27, 1945), Not to be provoked (Liberation Flag October 4, 1945), They “cut” the “revolution” (Liberation Flag October 7, 1945), Hatred (Liberation Flag October 21, 1945), Immortal Fire (Liberation Flag October 25, 1945)... It can be said that journalist Thep Moi with the vision and vitality of a writer with patriotism and love for the revolution, Burning ideals have left for today's generation the flame of love for the profession and passion for dedication.

3.In the golden generation of revolutionary journalists, there is also the name of a journalist who founded the Vietnam Radio and Television industry - journalist Tran Lam. Going through the two resistance wars against France and America, he led the Vietnam Radio and Television industry to overcome all difficulties to become a close, intimate, and trustworthy friend of all classes of people. In the urgent period of the revolution, the young man Tran Lam, along with Tran Kim Xuyen and Chu Van Tich, were assigned to establish the National Radio Station under the direction of President Ho. And on the National Day, journalist Tran Lam and his colleagues decided to test broadcast live, on the spot, the ceremony from Ba Dinh on September 2, 1945. The test broadcast motivated the implementation team headed by Tran Lam to then speed up the preparation for the establishment of the National Radio Station, which officially launched not long after, on September 7, 1945...

And throughout the journey from then until his retirement, he remained loyal to journalism and radio. Journalist Tran Lam's thinking, intelligence, and creativity have created a unique position for radio for half a century. And reality has proven that radio waves played an extremely important role in the two resistance wars against foreign invaders, contributing significantly to the liberation and unification of the country. And today, he is mentioned as a typical example of revolutionary enthusiasm, love for the profession, creativity, practicality, integrity, and the source of development for the radio and television team nationwide.

According to NB&CL