Affirming the role of a sharp weapon

Reporters of Thanh Hoa Newspaper (now Thanh Hoa Newspaper and Radio - Television Station) working in the highlands. Photo: LD

In particular, in the current context, taking advantage of the strong development of the internet, the advantages of social networks and digital media, hostile forces, political opportunists, discontented elements and reactionary organizations are stepping up propaganda activities with distorted, fabricated arguments, bad, toxic and untrue information to sabotage our Party and State. This situation requires the press to become a sharp weapon to fight against erroneous and hostile views, acts of corruption, waste, negativity, acts of moral and cultural degradation, bad habits that go against good customs and traditions... At the same time, spreading the moral and cultural values, good lifestyles of Vietnamese people, good examples of good people, good deeds, typical advances in all areas of social life with the spirit of "using beauty to eliminate ugliness"...

In particular, in response to the new requirements of Party building and rectification, our Party has clearly identified that firmly protecting the Party's ideological foundation and actively fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints is an important and urgent task. On this difficult and complicated front, the press plays a pivotal role. This has been stated in Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW dated October 22, 2018 of the Politburo on "Strengthening the protection of the Party's ideological foundation and fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints in the new situation", which clearly states: "Promoting the combined strength of press, publishing and media agencies to contribute to firmly protecting the Party's ideological foundation and effectively fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints".

Grasping the front of the struggle, press agencies at the central and local levels have invested systematically with specialized pages, columns, programs, and articles with in-depth content and rich forms of expression. In particular, they focus on widely propagating Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State's policies and laws. At the same time, they focus on clarifying many theoretical and practical issues on ethnicity, religion, democracy, and human rights; affirming humane, reasonable, and emotional policies that respect freedom of belief and religion, and ensure human rights in Vietnam. Thereby, they clearly expose the tricks and schemes of hostile forces that take advantage of social networks and foreign press to disrupt information, negatively affecting the reputation of the Party and State of Vietnam. With rich content and convincing evidence, many journalistic works on protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fighting and refuting false and hostile information and viewpoints have created good effects and have spread widely.

The strong development of modern communication technology, along with the rapid changes in the situation at home, in the region and in the world, has made the struggle on the ideological and cultural front more complicated and unpredictable. Therefore, to fight effectively, it is necessary to clearly identify the enemy's plot. Many studies have shown that hostile and reactionary forces are relying on four tricks to sabotage our Party and State. That is "creating counter-revolutionary public opinion" by making the most of the media to conduct propaganda and distortion. That is "ideological infiltration" by conducting a series of activities to increase contact with the people in order to spread the political ideology, value concepts and lifestyles of capitalist countries. That is “economic containment” by combining many tricks such as economic and technical aid with conditions to infiltrate, transform, control and when necessary, force debt repayment or impose “economic sanctions” to make demands on political issues. That is nurturing “democratic forces” to “plant seeds of freedom” to destroy the “steel wall” of socialism.

Faced with the above sophisticated and complex tricks, for the press to firmly grasp the flag of struggle, the core condition or consistent principle is that press activities are under the leadership of the Party, managed by the State and within the framework of Vietnamese law. The Vietnamese revolutionary press, founded by President Ho Chi Minh, is a press that is deeply people-oriented, combative and diverse. With these characteristics, the Vietnamese revolutionary press is responsible for forming healthy public opinion, contributing to strengthening solidarity and consensus in ideology, politics and spirit among the people.

To do so, press agencies must absolutely adhere to the principles and purposes of the newspaper in particular, and of the Vietnamese revolutionary press in general. At the same time, it requires those working in the press to have a strong political stance, pure moral qualities, and a high sense of responsibility. As President Ho Chi Minh concluded: “Our press must serve the working people, serve socialism, serve the struggle to unify the country, and for world peace. Therefore, all journalists (writers, printers, editors, publishers, etc.) must have a firm political stance. Politics must be in charge. Only when the political line is correct can other things be correct. Therefore, all our newspapers must have a correct political line. Our press is not for a small number of readers, but to serve the people, to propagate and explain the Party and Government's lines and policies, so it must have a mass character and fighting spirit”. Only then can the press contribute to maintaining the ideological front and fostering people's trust in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland under the leadership of the Party.

Le Phuong

(The article uses materials from the book "The role of the press and publishing in protecting the Party's ideological foundation")

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/khang-dinh-vai-tro-la-vu-khi-sac-ben-252775.htm