When journalists are "interviewed" in reverse

Difficult questions

As one of the provinces that suffered heavy damage from the marine environmental incident, in Quang Binh, starting from April 2016, information about dead fish washing ashore has been spreading more and more, causing confusion among the public. Many reasons have been speculated, making the situation more and more complicated. I and reporter Xuan Hoang, who was then in charge of the Video Clip section of the Quang Binh Electronic Newspaper, were directed by the Editorial Board to go to the coastal countryside to learn and grasp the people's thoughts.

In the coastal villages, fishermen, traders, young and old, men and women all sit idly, staring out at the sea as if trying to find an answer. However, the sea answers them with dead seafood still washing ashore.

Dong Hoi market is heating up because traders are upset that their livelihood is being threatened. A group of traders are gathering and preparing to go to Dong Hoi City People's Committee. The daily lives of people in all professions are being disrupted and devastated.

Unlike many previous times when working, when seeing the camera lens, many people were afraid and refused to answer, at this time, many people took the right to speak out their grievances and frustrations. We had to consider and choose the appropriate news to avoid "adding fuel to the fire", while everything was still in chaos.

Because, the truth is only one, but if the way to tell the truth is not clever and flexible, the danger will be unpredictable. The thoughts and wishes of the people were recorded in the report "Unusual fish deaths, people's lives are disrupted", published on Quang Binh Electronic Newspaper on April 29, 2016. The work was well received, and was the television report with the largest number of views on Quang Binh Electronic Newspaper up to that time.

Reporters of Quang Binh Electronic Newspaper working at the time of unusual fish deaths of unknown cause, 2016.

I still remember, when working at Dong Hoi market, after filming and interviewing, we still could not leave the area to go home because many people were still surrounding us with counter-questions: "Do you know the cause of the fish deaths yet?", "When can we eat sea fish?", "When will the government announce the cause to us?"... The questions were piled up with expectant eyes, making us confused. After 3 months of waiting, the official answer reached the people about the cause of the fish deaths, but then there were many other questions when people's lives were facing countless difficulties, unable to find answers...

Journalists are not only information gatherers, but also expected by the public to answer their questions, especially at sensitive times. Faced with such “reverse interviews”, journalists like me feel the need to constantly improve ourselves, both in terms of capacity and professional ethics, to be more worthy of the trust of the public and the profession we have chosen.

Stories that "I know, it's hard, I've been telling them forever"

In 2007, when I was working at Ha Tinh Radio and Television Station, I was in charge of the column "Urban Development". At that time, Ha Tinh City was actively preparing to be recognized as a type 3 urban area. Realizing that in the process of development, many problems arose, directly affecting the lives of the people and the appearance of the city; the column was formed with the desire to contribute to the development of the city, anticipating the birth of Ha Tinh City.

The work “Nguyen Cong Tru Street - Just Look!” reflects the state of “hanging” planning on Nguyen Cong Tru Street, from Phan Dinh Phung Street to Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street with a length of 600m. At that time, 18 years had passed since the planning date, the main road, the urban center, had not been constructed, had seriously degraded, affecting traffic, urban aesthetics and people's lives. The consequences of the “hanging” planning made people extremely upset. Every time they saw journalists coming to work, they were filled with hope, asking questions about when the “hanging” would end, when the “just looking” situation would end. Lack of funding, problems in site clearance… were the answers from the authorities and many years later, many other journalists still had to work hard and persistently fight when this road was still in a state of “hanging” planning. It was not until 2018, after nearly 30 years of "hanging", that Nguyen Cong Tru Street was constructed and completed in early 2020, meeting the people's expectations.

“Planning for Aging-Sickness-Death” is the name of a short reportage broadcast in the Urban Development program, mentioning the shortcomings when the Ha Tinh Center for Nursing for Meritorious People and Social Protection was located next to the Ha Tinh Tuberculosis and Lung Hospital (later renamed Ha Tinh Lung Hospital) and a cemetery. The work won a number of small awards, such as: A Prize of the Provincial PT-TH Festival, Certificate of Merit of the National Television Festival, B Prize of the Tran Phu Journalism Award; however, what the author and the public expected most at that time, for many reasons, did not come true. Journalists at that time only hoped that the story mentioned through the voice of public opinion would be a lesson for future planning work.

In my more than 20 years of journalism, it is not the award-winning works but the unfinished works with unfinished missions and social responsibilities that I remember the most. The stories mentioned in journalistic works are sometimes still “known, very hard, talked about forever”. A little sad because the “fourth power” that readers, listeners and even journalists themselves expect, often cannot be implemented. And journalists still “owe” an answer to the public who always trust and expect the power of journalism.

Huong Le

Source: https://baoquangbinh.vn/xa-hoi/202506/khi-nha-bao-bi-phong-van-nguoc-2226893/