The journalism team is steadily developing.

It has been 60 years since its establishment (April 16, 1964 - April 16, 2024), Lai Chau Newspaper is proud to have overcome difficulties and challenges, making many contributions to the common revolutionary cause as well as the construction and development of Lai Chau province. Especially in more than 20 years since Lai Chau province was divided into Lai Chau and Dien Bien provinces (January 2004), Lai Chau Newspaper staff have worked tirelessly and steadily on the path of development.

Remembering the days of separation, Lai Chau Newspaper only had 6 people from Dien Bien Phu Newspaper; of which 4 were in charge of the profession and were also the core of the Newspaper. They were Ms. Ha Kim Chi - Deputy Editor-in-Chief in charge of general affairs, Tran Thi Hue - Head of the Editorial Department, Tran Bao Khue - Deputy Editorial Department and me - Head of the Reporter Department. There were no staff, so at that time we were able to contract Phan Ngoc Lam to do mock-ups, Bui Thanh Tung to do reporters, also from Dien Bien. The people were like that, the office was temporarily borrowed from a local house, and the equipment for press activities was still lacking. At that time, printing the newspaper was also a difficult process (Lai Chau did not have a printing factory and no internet connection), at 4 - 5 am, the editors brought mock-ups and sent them by bus to Dien Bien or Lao Cai, hundreds of kilometers away, to print and the next day the newspaper was sent back. At that time, the newspaper published 1 issue/week. However, with the efforts to rise up, closely following the events and tasks of the province, the first issue of Lai Chau Newspaper was published on January 1, 2004, publishing many events and activities of the new province, such as the ceremony to announce the organization of Lai Chau provincial cadres, many articles reflecting the potential and strengths of localities in the province. Especially the article by comrade Pham Ngoc Thiem - Lai Chau provisional Provincial Party Secretary with the title "Determination to build Lai Chau province with stable economy ; developed society; strong national defense and security" and the article "Lai Chau before new opportunities and fortunes" by comrade Nguyen Minh Quang - Lai Chau provisional Provincial People's Committee Chairman were published in this issue. This is the viewpoint, orientation and determination of the Party Committee, government and people of all ethnic groups in Lai Chau to unite, overcome difficulties, take advantage of opportunities to build and develop their province. With the attention of the province, especially the regular and close direction of the Provincial Party Committee, Lai Chau Newspaper has promoted its internal strength, taken advantage of the province's investment resources, and received support in terms of working facilities from a number of domestic press agencies to perform its tasks well. During the difficult days, Thai Nguyen Newspaper and Bac Ninh Newspaper sent many reporters, editors, and technicians to help Lai Chau Newspaper, and that sentiment is truly appreciated.

Comrade Khoang Van Thanh - Former Editor-in-Chief of Lai Chau Newspaper, former Chairman of the Provincial Journalists Association awarded certificates to authors with high-quality journalistic works.

Right from the early years, Lai Chau Newspaper has paid attention to recruiting reporters, editors, and technicians. I still remember that it was very difficult to recruit a reporter with a journalism degree, mainly graduates from pedagogical colleges, teachers who switched to journalism, and many who could not stand the hardship withdrew. Recruitment and training, over the years, many reporters and editors were sent by the Editorial Board to attend journalism university classes (part-time) in Yen Bai and Lao Cai provinces opened by the Academy of Journalism and Propaganda, some went to study for a master's degree in journalism at the Academy, to study intermediate and advanced political theory, and state management. Professional skills were improved in both expertise and political theory, the team of journalists grew in number, loved the job, and was trained at the grassroots level, making progress in all aspects. Many young reporters have grown up, many high-quality articles, filled with the breath of life, were written from trips to highlands, border areas, and especially difficult areas in the districts: Muong Te, Nam Nhun, Phong Tho, Sin Ho... Crossing rivers and streams, climbing mountains and passes, not afraid of danger, immersing themselves in the real life of ethnic minorities to have beautiful photos, films, articles with high discovery, in-depth analysis and proposing many creative solutions.

The reality of all aspects of social life is promptly reflected from the people in the highlands helping each other to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, build new rural areas, raise livestock and poultry, grow high-quality corn and rice, medicinal plants, fruit trees, protect forests to get rich, to exemplary cadres and party members taking the lead in all work. The fields of Party building, border protection, national defense, security, building cultural life, tourism development, etc. are regularly written and reported by reporters and editors. Hot incidents, urgent and complicated social issues occurring in the province are also reflected by Lai Chau Newspaper, suggesting solutions, bringing confidence to the people, helping Party committees and authorities at all levels to propose solutions for implementation.
Every year, many reporters with excellent, high-quality works are commended by the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department and the Provincial Journalists Association. There are reporters and editors who have won regional and national journalism awards for writing about Party building, traffic safety, and the armed forces. In 2023, the group of authors Khanh Kien and Ha Dung were awarded the A prize by the Central Executive Committee of the Steering Committee for the Award for Composing and Promoting Literary, Artistic, and Journalistic Works on the Theme of "Studying and Following Ho Chi Minh's Thought, Morality, and Style" for the 2021-2023 period, with the work "The Oath of Stone" written about Mr. Chu Xe Lu, a Party member and leader of Thu Lum commune (Muong Te district). He is a cornerstone, a living landmark of the border mountains and forests, bringing prosperity to the people, helping Thu Lum become a new rural commune.
To provide complete, accurate, objective and useful information to readers, the articles contain the wise guidance of the Editorial Board, the efforts and care of the writers, editors, technical staff and the efforts of the entire editorial office. The Editorial Board always innovates, struggles to find its own way and learns modern journalism methods. Lai Chau Newspaper always upholds the principles and purposes of the local Party newspaper, closely follows the events and political tasks of the province, the propaganda orientation of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, proactively builds plans for each issue. Opens and maintains many special pages and columns such as: Bringing the Party's Resolution into life, economy-life, current affairs-politics, good people and good deeds, studying and following Uncle Ho, protecting the Party's ideological foundation... focusing on propagating and promoting the image of the country, culture and people of Lai Chau.
Lai Chau Newspaper, from the initial stage of publishing a regular issue a week, has now published 4 issues/week and a weekend issue, and a newspaper for ethnic minorities in the highlands published 3 issues/month. Another strong change was when Lai Chau Electronic Newspaper came into operation and was upgraded to phase 2 with internet television, video... The office is spacious, equipment and machinery are invested, and there is Lai Chau Newspaper Printing Factory, convenient for publishing newspapers. The staff, reporters and editors are numerous, 100% of whom have a university degree or higher. Nowadays, in the digital age, reporters are more versatile, working in remote areas and can also send news and articles to the editorial office. Reporters film, design, and edit television works on cameras, and create multimedia works.
It can be affirmed that Lai Chau Newspaper has made great strides in terms of scale, type, technology, content and form. I feel proud to have 37 years of journalism and 12 years as Editor-in-Chief, today seeing that my generation of reporters and editors have matured politically and professionally. Some have become Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Head, Deputy Head of Lai Chau Newspaper's professional department, some have transferred to become the representative of the Central Newspaper and Radio in Lai Chau. I believe that in the coming time, Lai Chau Newspaper will develop more and more, successfully build a modern multimedia convergence newsroom, affirming its indispensable position in the hearts of readers, contributing to the development of Lai Chau.

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