75th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vietnam Journalists Association (April 21, 1950 - April 21, 2025): April Comes to Roong Khoa

Delegation of Vietnam Journalists Association and leaders of Thai Nguyen province offered incense at the National Historical Site where the Vietnam Journalists Association was founded, Roong Khoa hamlet, Diem Mac commune (Dinh Hoa), April 20, 2025.

I returned to the small hamlet of Roong Khoa (Diem Mac commune, Dinh Hoa) in early April 2025. Mr. Ma Khac Phi, Party Secretary, Chairman of the People's Council of the commune, excitedly informed: During the resistance war against French colonialism, there were 28 military agencies stationed in Diem Mac commune, now there are 28 revolutionary and resistance relics. Roong Khoa hamlet alone has nearly ten units, all of which now have relic steles. In particular, after many times of renovation and embellishment, the historical relic where the Vietnam Journalists Association was born is now spacious and spacious, with an altar to worship Uncle Ho - the founder of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism; there is an exhibition house commensurate with the location, significance, and historical role of the relic. Diem Mac is now an advanced new rural commune, with new electricity works, roads, schools, medical stations, and houses. The 452 Party members of the commune Party Committee are always the core responsible for their homeland...

Going back in time. I still remember one day, the Editor-in-Chief of Bac Thai Newspaper, Pham Hong Duong (now deceased - PV) called me to his office and said: I know you are passionate about history, then journalism. Tomorrow, Mr. Le Binh, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper; Tran Cong Man, Permanent Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Journalists Association will go to Bac Thai on a journey to find the places where press agencies were established during the French resistance. Please join the working group of those agencies. Our newspaper makes an important and fundamental contribution to affirming and honoring the historical values ​​of journalism in this ATK land...

At first, I joined working groups of Nhan Dan Newspaper, People's Army Newspaper, Vietnam Journalists Association, Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations ... groping and searching.

Along with the available documents of each agency, there are many living witnesses. Khau Goai Hill, Roong Khoa village - where the 8-roofed hall of the Viet Minh Headquarters was used as a meeting place for nearly 300 journalists to unify the establishment of the Association of Vietnamese Journalists on April 21, 1950 is an address that is easy to find...

Starting from the stele, after 4 upgrades thanks to the attention of Thai Nguyen province and the Vietnam Journalists Association, now the Relic of the birthplace of the Vietnam Journalists Association is very spacious, a place to come and go for not only journalists.

Remember: The Vietnamese press had been around for nearly a hundred years by the time the August Revolution of 1945 succeeded. But the press of the young Democratic Republic of Vietnam had not yet formed in that hundred years. When going to the war zone to participate in the long-term resistance against French colonialism, did the journalists have their own professional associations? How many press agencies were there operating in the war zone?

We asked veteran journalist Hoang Tung, a former senior leader of the Party and the press industry in 2005, when the journalist returned to Roong Khoa to attend the 55th Anniversary of the Vietnam Journalists Association. He said: “In 1947, a professional association was established in Diem Mac commune, ATK Dinh Hoa, called the Resistance Press Group, led by comrade Xuan Thuy, but its activities were very difficult. It was not yet a well-organized organization, just a trial activity.”

On that occasion, veteran journalist Hoang Tung also told us a story about journalism in general, about resistance journalism, very touching and interesting!...

Delegates visited the Exhibition House of the Vietnam Journalists Association, at the National Historical Site where the Vietnam Journalists Association was founded, Roong Khoa hamlet, Diem Mac commune (Dinh Hoa) - where souvenirs and photos of important activities of the Association's leaders from its founding to the present are kept, on April 20, 2025.

The newspaper founded and edited by leader Nguyen Ai Quoc was called Le Paria (The Poverty), published its first issue in Paris (France) on February 1, 1922. On June 21, 1925 in Guangzhou (China), leader Nguyen Ai Quoc continued to found Thanh Nien, the mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Youth organization... By June 1936, there were 120 Party newspapers published secretly and publicly. Newspapers such as Dan chung, Viet Nam doc lap, Cuu quoc, Co giai phong... had important roles and positions in the Party.

In 1949, after the opening of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School in Tan Thai commune (Dai Tu), our resistance press developed a lot, not only in Viet Bac but throughout the country.

Khau Goai - a low hill in the middle of Roong Khoa hamlet is home to many agencies, with an 8-hall with thatched roofs, bamboo, reeds, and leaves of the Viet Minh General Department used to hold meetings and congresses. Comrade Xuan Thuy, Standing Member of the Viet Minh General Department and Editor-in-Chief of the National Salvation Newspaper, lived there and in 1949 established the Provisional Executive Committee of the Association of Vietnamese Journalists. The Provisional Executive Committee was actually the people who prepared for the organization of the first congress to establish the Association.

Born during the resistance war, the steps in the process of establishing the Association were methodical, democratic, and highly principled; at the same time, it also affirmed the attention of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh to the organization of those working in the press...

On the afternoon of April 21, 1950, representatives of the Party, Government, Front newspapers, organizations, armed forces... gathered at the 8-roofed hall in Roong Khoa to attend the first Congress. Comrade Xuan Thuy was assigned by the Party Central Committee to chair it.

The discussion on the name and the Association's Charter took place enthusiastically. The delegates said that: The Association is a political and professional organization, so the role of uniting journalists nationwide for independence is of utmost importance. Not only that, it also has a long-term goal of building the country after peace. Therefore, the name of the Association of Vietnamese Journalists is appropriate.

The elected Executive Committee consisted of 10 members, Comrade Xuan Thuy as Chairman; members: Do Duc Duc (Independent Newspaper), Hoang Tung (Internal Activities Magazine), Nguyen Thanh Le (Cuu Quoc Newspaper) as General Secretary, Do Trong Giang (Lao Dong Newspaper), Hoang Tuan (Vietnam News Agency), Tran Lam (Voice of Vietnam Radio), Quang Dam (Su That Newspaper), Nhu Quynh (Phu Nu Newspaper). Comrade Pham Van Hoa (Cuu Quoc Newspaper) was elected to hold the position of Deputy General Secretary.

The Association's Charter was approved, emphasizing: The Association's purpose is to contribute to building people's democracy through the profession, defending the rights of journalists, and enhancing the status of the profession...

The Association was established, and less than 5 months later, in September 1950, at the Third Congress, the International Organization of Journalists (OIJ) held in Helsinki, the capital of the Republic of Finland, admitted the Association of Vietnamese Journalists as an official member...

Decades ago, when I learned about this event, veteran journalists shared many interesting details with me. For example, every month the Standing Committee of the Association organized professional activities, usually at the headquarters of the Cuu Quoc Newspaper in Roong Khoa. The Association had 300 members, and reporters from Zones 3, 4, 5, and the South went to Viet Bac for work, and on occasion, they also participated in the lively discussions.

The workshops were debates on proletarian and bourgeois journalism; the distinction between journalism and literature; the mass nature and authenticity of journalism; including how to exploit foreign sources and report on the front line... In that first class of members, many people heroically sacrificed themselves, such as: Thoi Huu, Nam Cao, Tran Dang...

On the land of the war zone, once the center of revolutionary journalism, also witnessed the birth of Nhan Dan Newspaper, the first issue was published on March 11, 1951 in Khuon Nha village, Quy Ky commune; Quan Doi Nhan Dan Newspaper was born on October 20, 1950 in Khau Dieu village, Dinh Bien commune. Many generations of leaders of the above major newspapers were also leaders of the Association. The contributions of veteran journalists to the press and the Association were enormous, recorded in history...

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Mr. Pham Van Hoan, a hardworking and thoughtful farmer family, who takes care of the relic all day and night, boasts: “Journalists come and go regularly. My family has the honor of taking care of the birthplace of Vietnamese journalists, so we always keep this place clean and beautiful. The people of Diem Mac in the past are still the same today”…

In the notebook of impressions at the Relic Site, a guest signed Vinh Danh, wrote: "Coming here, offering incense in memory of Uncle Ho, reading and understanding more deeply about our Association, I realized that there was a time like that - Roong Khoa". I really like this sentence.

Journalism, living in a hectic work, vast space, today I write down what I have done, what I have been through, I do not have the conditions to tell in detail, but believe that Roong Khoa will forever be a "red address" in the history of our country's press.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/chinh-tri/202504/ky-niem-75-nam-ngay-thanh-lap-hoi-nha-bao-viet-nam-2141950-2142025-thang-tu-ve-voi-roong-khoa-ff910cb/