Vietnamese press and media face the need for policy innovation, digital transformation and multimedia platform development

According to the General Director of VOV, the press must be sensitive to changing its methods to adapt to new requirements in communication work, especially regarding new policies and guidelines.

The 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925 - June 21, 2025) is a historic milestone, full of pride for revolutionary journalists.

During a century of fighting for independence and freedom, and then building and defending the socialist Fatherland, integrating internationally under the leadership of the Party, the Vietnamese revolutionary press has always served the country for the benefit of the nation and people, for the prosperity and happiness of the people, constantly growing strong in all aspects, being the core force, pioneering on the ideological and cultural front, protecting the ideological foundation of the Party.

Today, the national press, including the Voice of Vietnam (VOV), is facing great opportunities and challenges to fulfill the mission and tasks assigned by the Party and the State, maintain its role in guiding public opinion and modernize and professionalize. In particular, in this historical period, what changes do Vietnamese press and media need to make in response to the requirements of policy innovation, digital transformation and multimedia platform development?

We recall that when founding Thanh Nien newspaper, the origin of Vietnam's revolutionary press, beloved President Ho Chi Minh , who was also a great journalist, understood that the press was an effective and sharp tool for propagating the revolution and mobilizing the masses. And in fact, over the past century, Vietnam's revolutionary press has been proud to have done this task very well.

Today, as we enter an era of wealth, prosperity and development, our country's press needs to continue to best fulfill its mission, especially and first of all, policy communication.

Press agencies, including VTV, are the information channel and the basic method to communicate about the country's development aspirations, the implementation of 100-year goals; about the Party's Resolutions; about the National Assembly 's policies and laws; about the Government's direction and administration and about the participation of the whole society towards the future.

At this time and in the future, the task of policy communication is extremely heavy with very high requirements when we see that policy is always the most important issue in socio-economic development, maintaining national defense and security of each country. Policy communication is a two-way interaction.

The press must truly be a bridge between the Party, the State, the National Assembly, the Government and the administration to the People; explaining policies and laws, but at the same time being a democratic forum, honestly reflecting the thoughts and legitimate aspirations of the People to the Party and the State and, more importantly, a place to reflect the effectiveness of policies.

The change is placing very high and new demands on the press in communicating policies. If they cannot keep up, each press agency will lose its role and influence in the public eye. Therefore, in recent times, the press in general and VTV in particular have been struggling to innovate and promote, create, and promptly produce appropriate products to inform and propagate hot issues that the whole society is interested in.

Stories about contributing opinions to the draft Resolution of the National Assembly amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2013 Constitution; implementing Resolutions 57, 59, 66, 68 of the Politburo, also known as the "FOUR PILLARS" referring to the development of science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, foreign affairs and international integration, developing the private economy to become the most important driving force..., or the process of organizing two-level local governments have been widely reported in the press.

Thus, in just 4 sessions, 67 laws were discussed and passed, accounting for 31.4% of the total 213 laws passed by the National Assembly and still in effect. This is a very large number.

Therefore, the press and media need to proactively grasp and inform the public about the innovation and determination of the National Assembly in removing institutional "bottlenecks", serving the country's development, institutionalizing the Party's Resolutions and the strategic vision of the country's leaders. An entire system that is moving strongly and rapidly in all aspects requires journalists to be sensitive, responsible, and adaptive to grasp "the breath of life and the country's transformation".

The press must always be sensitive to changing its methods to adapt to new requirements in information and communication work, especially regarding new policies and guidelines. At the same time, press agencies must also best implement new policies and guidelines, including policies for the press.

The Government is paying great attention and the National Assembly is also directing the amendment of the 2016 Press Law, which is receiving deep attention from the press nationwide, with the expectation that there will be regulations institutionalizing the Party's policies, creating a legal basis for press agencies to develop smoothly in the context of strong changes in journalism technology, reorganization of press agency models, fierce information competition and the need to invest in equipment, meet new requirements, and open up a new development space for revolutionary journalism in the journey with the nation to build a rich, civilized country and build a professional, modern, and humane press.

Press agencies are currently facing many opportunities and challenges in the digital transformation process. On the one hand, technology platforms are developing rapidly, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, digital content distribution platforms. On the other hand, the information needs of the public, especially the young public, are both diverse and personalized. We are also facing the risk of losing information sovereignty and digital content due to foreign platforms.

At VTV, in order to effectively carry out the task of information and propaganda, in recent years we have operated according to the multimedia communication complex model; proactively implementing digital transformation in conditions lacking equipment, technology, and experience. However, VTV has seen initial successes and will have to continue to implement the motto "transform to adapt".

In the coming time, it is necessary to continue to encourage communication initiatives based on "Made in Vietnam" platform technology; Issue the "National Strategy on Digital Communication to 2035", integrate communication in the national digital transformation program, to share technology, data standards, and respond quickly to information crises; prioritize resources to train a team of "digital journalists", combining reporters, technology engineers, data experts - thereby improving the capacity to produce content in a multimedia environment.

During this process, VTV continues to promote existing experiences, together with press agencies to innovate, digitally transform, innovate governance and management models, and continue to develop to maintain its pioneering role in the field of national media.

Nguyen Hang - Bich Ngoc (VOV1)

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/bao-chi-va-truyen-thong-viet-nam-truoc-yeu-cau-doi-moi-chinh-sach-chuyen-doi-so-va-phat-trien-nen-tang-da-phuong-tien-ar950225.html