Absent "information battlefield"

(Baonghean) - Bringing information to the grassroots is one of the important tasks contributing to propaganda and raising awareness for people to develop the economy, culture, society, ensure national defense and security... However, in Tan Ky, many places are still taking this issue lightly.

When we entered the office, Mr. Le Van Son, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Nghia Hanh Commune (Tan Ky), was holding a copy of Nghe An Newspaper in his hand. Taking the opportunity, I asked about the information that the cadres and farmers in the commune follow on the Party newspaper, the Deputy Secretary said as if explaining: "Honestly, nowadays people mainly watch TV. As for newspapers, very few people pay attention."

He said that Nghia Hanh has 18 party cells, including 14 hamlet party cells, 4 school and health station party cells with nearly 250 party members and about 2,000 households. However, the number of newspapers is very "modest". The party newspaper alone has only 7 issues of Nghe An newspaper, 1 issue of Communist Magazine, 1 issue of Internal Information Bulletin of the province and district. As for Nhan Dan newspaper, there is... no issue (!). We know that the Central, the province and Tan Ky district all have directives on the management and use of party newspapers and it is not that the commune does not care, but it is very "strict". Especially the "budget" section! When we mentioned that in the regulations on using party fees, there is a part for purchasing newspapers, Mr. Son said that he knew that but this amount of money in the hamlet party cells was very little, they had to take money from the commune party budget to buy newspapers, while the commune also had many expenses.

Mr. Thai Quang Huy (postman of Ky Tan commune) prepares to deliver the party newspaper to the commune.

In Tan Ky, not only Nghia Hanh, some communes have low levels of purchasing party newspapers such as Giai Xuan commune has only 3 issues of Nghe An newspaper, no Nhan Dan newspaper; Nghia Hop commune has 9 issues of Nghe An newspaper, and Nhan Dan and Communist Magazine newspapers are non-existent or very few... If we blame it on lack of budget like the leaders of Nghia Hanh commune, it is not entirely correct. The evidence is that in Tan Ky, there are localities that order Nghe An newspaper in much larger quantities than Nghia Hanh such as Nghia Binh commune with 17 issues, Nghia Dong commune with 21 issues, Ky Son commune with 23 issues, Nghia Phuc commune with 21 issues. It is known that in terms of economy, there are rich communes and poor communes, but the amount of money deducted from party fees is not much different.

However, according to comrade Bui Thanh Bao, Deputy Secretary of Tan Ky District Party Committee: "The difficulty for the grassroots is that when allocating the budget, the competent authority does not specify what percentage is for purchasing party newspapers, leading to commune leaders taking this task lightly". It is thought that solving this problem is completely within the reach of the district level and the grassroots party committee. Because the amount of money deducted from party fees is left for the management of the party cell and party committee, while, according to regulations, the budget for purchasing party newspapers of grassroots party organizations is allowed to be taken from this source.

Responding to our question, an expert from the District Party Committee's Propaganda Department affirmed that since the beginning of 2013, Tan Ky has paid close attention to the directives of the Central Government as well as the province on the management and use of party newspapers. Tan Ky District Party Committee alone issued Directive 16 on July 27, 2013 to urge grassroots party committees and branches to subscribe to party newspapers. Up to now, 100% of grassroots party committees and branches have subscribed to Nghe An newspaper, and Nhan Dan newspaper is 84.7%. Compared to the period before Directive 16 of the District Party Committee, the number of party newspapers published in Tan Ky has increased 1.5 times.

If we compare the issues we mentioned above with the comments of the district post office, there is clearly a difference in data. 100% of commune party committees subscribe to Nghe An newspaper, which is correct, but the rate of hamlet party committees and school party committees is clearly different from reality, and there is still a large gap. However, leaders of some communes such as Ky Son, Nghia Binh, and Nghia Hoan all said that Directive 16 of the District Party Committee has had a significant impact on the awareness of grassroots party committees on the management and use of party newspapers. According to Mr. Tran Dinh Huong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghia Dong commune, "Compared to some other communes in the area, our commune is better off economically, each party committee subscribes to a few issues of party newspapers, which is not a big deal. In Nghia Dong alone, each party committee has a copy of Nghe An newspaper, not to mention the Standing Party Committee. The problem is whether the Party Committee cares or not."

While the management and use of party newspapers have not received due attention from the Party Committee, Party cells of communes and hamlets, the grassroots radio system in Tan Ky is in a more dire situation. On "paper", 22/22 communes and towns in the district have grassroots radio stations, but through research in some localities, over 80% of the communes have this system almost paralyzed. The rest mostly operate erratically, sometimes on and sometimes off. According to a specialized officer at the district's Department of Culture, there are many reasons for this situation such as damage caused by lightning, long-term use and countless other unspeakable reasons.

Whatever the reason, the lack of funds is still the main reason. Unlike ordering newspapers, repairing or buying new equipment to install a broadcasting system is not simple. A few years ago, Nghia Dong commune boldly spent 370 million VND to reinstall the entire broadcasting system, and at the same time arranged 2 specialized staff to undertake this task. Currently, Nghia Dong commune's broadcasting system has 17 loudspeaker clusters installed in 15 hamlets, with the commune's broadcasting program and some related news from the newspapers being read every week. The rest is relayed to the district and provincial radio stations every morning. If ordering party newspapers and still lacking funds, it is not surprising that 80% of the grassroots broadcasting system in Tan Ky is paralyzed!

In Nghia Hanh commune, we met Mr. Nguyen Van Tan, a veteran who is the Head of the Farmers' Association of Hamlet 7. He is a person who likes to collect articles about farming and livestock raising techniques to disseminate to farmers in the hamlet for them to learn and apply. Currently, Mr. Tan is a typical economic worker in the commune. He believes that if the press has rich, diverse content and is suitable for the psychological needs, the rural people will still like to read.

Through the study of the actual work of providing information to the grassroots, including the management and use of party newspapers in recent times, it can be seen that Tan Ky has taken many measures to implement this issue. Typically, in July 2013, the District Party Committee issued Directive 16 to urge the management and use of party newspapers, successfully building the topic "Management and use of party newspapers and internal information". At the same time, training was organized for grassroots leaders to apply the topic in the locality. Comrade Bui Thanh Bao, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, said that recently, Tan Ky has implemented many solutions to improve the effectiveness of the work of providing information to the grassroots, including the management and use of party newspapers and internal magazines. However, the effectiveness has not been as expected. In the coming time, the district will use this work to evaluate the results in the emulation review at the end of 2013.

Viet Long