The situation of press agencies not properly implementing their principles and purposes, and the trend of commercialization is slow to be overcome.

This workshop is within the framework of the ministerial-level scientific topic "The role of inspection agencies in managing press and publishing activities" chaired by MSc. Do Cong Dinh.

Responsibilities of governing bodies are unclear

MSc. Do Cong Dinh said that in recent years, the system of mechanisms, policies and laws for press agencies to operate and develop in a professional and modern direction, carrying out their revolutionary mission, has been increasingly improved.

The work of directing and orienting BC information is carried out according to the "one-stop" principle, especially on important, sensitive and complicated issues, ensuring that BC maintains its role in orienting and dominating information in society.

The situation where the press agency does not properly implement the commercial trend of the slow recovery 1 — Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Tra Newspaper, MSc. Do Cong Dinh presented research results at the workshop. Photo: TH

Inspection, examination and strict handling of violations have also been stepped up; technical measures have been deployed, active negotiations have been conducted, and cross-border service providers have been required to comply with Vietnamese law to prevent and remove bad, toxic, reactionary, untrue information and illegal advertisements.

In addition, the inspection, rectification and handling of the "newspaperization" of magazines and the "newspaperization" of general electronic news sites have also been implemented synchronously and systematically by specialized agencies of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) with solutions to drastically handle the situation of "newspaperization" of magazines.

Besides the advantages, there are still many limitations such as: Regulations and law enforcement have not met practical needs; The Law on Publication has many shortcomings, slow to be amended and supplemented; there is still "hesitation" in implementing the regulations in Decree No. 119-ND/CP on administrative sanctions for violations in publication and publishing activities.

The role of the BC management agency in supporting BC economic activities is not clear. In the revenue sources of the BC agency, advertising from enterprises/corporations accounts for the majority. However, the advertising market is shifting from traditional BC advertising to digital advertising, strongly affecting the revenue of newspapers and radio agencies. In this context, the role of the directing agency and the management agency has not shown clear leadership and support for other activities of the BC agency.

The responsibility of the BC management agencies is not clear. The BC management law has stipulated the responsibility of the BC management agency, but in reality, many management agencies "leave it to" the BC management agency to operate on its own, showing "vague" roles and responsibilities. Many BC management agencies have loosened their management role, not really paying attention to leadership, directing information orientation as well as investing in the activities of the BC management agency; there are no measures to inspect, supervise, rectify, and handle when the BC management agency commits serious and prolonged violations.

The appointment of heads of public security agencies, in some cases, is still not strict, and does not pay attention to the implementation of grassroots democracy regulations, leading to reactions, even complaints and denunciations to the competent authority. In particular, there are cases where the heads of public security agencies have seriously lost their leadership prestige, but the competent authority does not have a timely replacement plan.

In addition, many competent authorities have not paid attention to in-depth research on regulations and laws on public service work to direct and orient public service agencies; there are still situations where public service agencies do not properly implement their principles and purposes, and the trend of "commercialization" is slow to be overcome...

The situation where the press agency does not properly implement the objectives of the trade trend is slow and the situation is different from that of the other two. — Overview of the workshop. Photo: TH

Regarding the management of publishing activities, although there have been many innovations and initiatives, some regulations in the Publishing Law and sub-law documents are still lacking in specificity and consistency with some related laws. Some regulations are no longer suitable for the practical activities of publishing, printing and distributing publishing products, causing difficulties and obstacles in State management as well as compliance and enforcement of the law; the awareness of enterprises in complying with reporting is still low, the provision of data is not accurate, causing difficulties for management, especially in conditions where management agencies have limited staff.

Management agencies have to constantly urge but have not yet achieved the required results.

Some competent authorities have not really focused on monitoring the activities of publishing houses, leading to the untimely detection and handling of violations by publishing houses, especially violations of publication content...

Inspection and examination in the field of BCXB are increasingly strengthened.

Regarding the inspection and management of BCXB activities, the Board of Directors said that in recent years, inspection and examination activities in the field of BC have been increasingly strengthened, clearly demonstrating the role of inspection agencies in managing BC activities.

In the second phase of the complicated development of Covid-19, in order to serve the prevention of the epidemic, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Inspectorate of the Information and Communications Industry and related agencies have focused on solving "hot" issues of public concern such as clarifying difficulties and challenges in the process of implementing the BC planning, the situation of "newspaperization" of magazines, improper implementation of principles and purposes, problems in the work process of reporters, management of representative offices...

Through inspection, it was shown that the reporting agencies have seriously recognized the errors and shortcomings, complied with the penalty decision; made specific written commitments on measures and plans to rectify operations; reviewed and checked the information content, implemented the principles and purposes correctly; ensured control of information content, news and article production capacity, reporting economy, information safety and security; and complied with legal regulations on reporting.

Magazines displaying the phrase “magazine” or “electronic magazine” on their home page interface must comply with regulations and avoid confusion between magazines and newspapers. At the same time, thousands of news and articles with content that does not match the principles and purposes specified by the authorities must be removed; and they must commit to self-reviewing and proactively removing news and articles with content that does not match the principles and purposes.

The BC management agency also found that there were laxities and that the management agency's responsibilities in directing the BC management agency had not been fully implemented. It committed to directing the magazines to correct the violations and shortcomings pointed out and properly implement the regulations.

The BC management agency is lax in management, there is a phenomenon of outsourcing to the press agency (no operating regulations, no regular working regime), lack of inspection, and lack of propaganda orientation. When the BC agency violates, the management agency has not fulfilled its responsibilities.

Regarding inspection in the publishing sector, the quality of inspection, examination and handling of law violations has been raised to a new level, contributing significantly to the fight against and prevention of illegal printing, distribution of pirated books, copyright infringement, and protection of creative subjects and publishing units.

The inspection and examination of the activities of the Publishing House by the competent authority is fully and properly carried out.

However, according to the Board of Directors, the work of inspection, examination and handling of violations of the law in publishing activities is sometimes and in some places slow. Sanctions are not strong enough and do not have a deterrent effect. Some agencies responsible for inspection, examination and supervision have a small force, hold multiple positions and overlap functions, leading to limitations in the quality and effectiveness of work...

Giving opinions on the topic, delegates assessed that the topic described the current situation of the BCXB activities in a rich and complete manner, with specific and detailed figures; presented the concept of State management in the BCXB activities from the Ministry of Information and Communications, People's Committees of provinces and districts and the BCXB management agencies; and assessed many inspection contents in the management of BCXB activities.

However, with the topic "Current status of BCXB management and inspection in the management of BCXB activities", the Steering Committee needs to supplement the regulations of inspection on the field of BCXB management activities; further analyze the subjects of inspection in the management of BCXB activities; supplement the current status of laws on BCXB activities.

In addition, it is necessary to further evaluate the content of the inspection of the responsibility of the agency managing the activities of the press, including the competent agencies, highlighting the inappropriate management mechanisms in the law and the management of the press activities in the recent past; integrating the consideration of the responsibility of the management agency and the violations of the press agencies (how the responsibility and role of the inspection agency are demonstrated in the management of the press activities).

In addition, it is necessary to assess the current status of responsibility of the Party's agencies. At the same time, supplement the proactive work of the inspectorate in the activities of the BCXB.

To complete the topic, the Board of Directors needs to draw a general assessment of inspection in the management of activities of both BCXB fields.

According to thanhtra.com.vn

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