Teacher - Journalist Tran Ba Lan: Three Books

In my career as a journalist, I received 5 years of formal university-level journalism training at the Faculty of Journalism - Central Propaganda School (now the Academy of Journalism and Propaganda). The teacher who left the most impression on me not only during my years of studying journalism but up to now is teacher - journalist Tran Ba Lan. He was the first person to lay the foundation for the Faculty of Journalism, held the position of Head of the Faculty of Journalism for many years and made great contributions, contributing to the training of thousands of Vietnamese journalists, many of whom became famous and famous...

teacher house newspaper Tran three times three books a life picture 1 — Three books by Mr. Tran Ba Lan

This year, Mr. Tran Ba Lan turned 94. Yet he has just introduced the book "Heavy Duty, Deep Love" (Literature Publishing House 2023) with nearly 250 pages at the Vietnam Press Museum. This is the third book that summarizes his life and career as a journalist and a journalism teacher after his two previous autobiographies, "Feelings from Number 7" (Ho Chi Minh City Culture - Literature Publishing House 2017) and "Gunshots and the Turning Point of Life" (Labor Publishing House 2019).

We deeply admire your hard work! This trilogy of books has created a complete portrait of Mr. Tran Ba Lan - a revolutionary journalist, an exemplary journalism teacher, as long as he has strength, he will continue to contribute.

Mr. Tran Ba Lan was born in the year of the Horse 1930 and grew up in an intellectual family of good lineage and education in Hanoi . His father, Mr. Tran Ba Giam, was good at Chinese characters, knew Western characters, had a talent for painting, was a painter of the Department of Geography of Indochina, author of 28 maps in the book "Geography of the Northern Provinces" published in 1925 and some postage stamps from the years 1920-1930.

Because his father died early, his childhood was taken care of by his mother and sister, but due to the war and chaos, he had to work hard in many ways. He had to work early to support himself, such as as a craftsman, a worker to maintain Long Bien bridge... In 1946, the national resistance war broke out, the family left Hanoi to evacuate to Thai Nguyen, he went to work at Hoang Van Thu paper factory, then the factory was moved to ATK to serve the resistance. From here, the young man from Hanoi was sent to study at the Inter-Zone IV Technical School and had to walk for many days to Thanh Chuong ( Nghe An ) to enroll. Like his father, Mr. Tran Ba Lan had a talent for painting, and was famous for his good drawing at school. From the Inter-Zone IV Technical School, he participated in a training session and in November 1953, was assigned to Tien Phong Newspaper in the Viet Bac resistance zone and from here, he turned his life around and became a journalist. Some time later, journalist Tran Ba Lan was sent by the Central Youth Union to study at the University of Journalism for 4 years in Beijing, China. The delegation had 13 people from many different press agencies, including those who later became famous journalists such as Pham Khac Lam - General Director of Vietnam Television; Pham Phu Bang - famous reporter and essayist of the People's Army Newspaper; Tran Huu Nang, who later became the Head of the Press Department, Central Propaganda Department... During his four years of studying journalism in China, international student Tran Ba Lan achieved excellent results in both theory and practice of writing. Among them, his article "Spring is also warm here" was prominently published in the Thanh Nien China Newspaper, issue dated April 10, 1957, with the comment of the Editor-in-Chief of this newspaper: "The context is deeply imbued with the spirit of internationalism, worth our study".

teacher, reporter, three books, one life, picture 2 — Mr. Tran Ba Lan introduces and gives new books to students

After graduating and returning to Vietnam, Mr. Tran Ba Lan left Tien Phong Newspaper, took on a new assignment at Lao Dong Newspaper for a while, then was transferred to the Press Department, Central Propaganda Department - under the command of famous writer and journalist Luu Quy Ky, to monitor propaganda about workers and industry on newspapers and radio.

On January 16, 1962, another turning point came to Mr. Tran Ba Lan. That was after a period of teaching journalism for short-term professional training classes at the People's University and then the Central Propaganda School, Mr. Tran Ba Lan was assigned to establish the Faculty of Journalism and was then appointed as the Head of the Faculty until his retirement - in 1991.

It can be said that the milestones in the life of author - journalist, teacher Tran Ba Lan are closely linked to the historical events of the nation as well as the growth of the "cradle of training revolutionary journalism in Vietnam" - the Faculty of Journalism, Academy of Journalism and Propaganda. Because no one else, Mr. Tran Ba Lan was the first person to lay the foundation for building the Faculty of Journalism; the person who made great contributions, contributing to the training of thousands of Vietnamese journalists, many of whom later became famous journalists, qualified and dedicated journalism lecturers, and talented journalism managers.

Through three autobiographies, readers and especially generations of students who studied, trained and matured from the Faculty of Journalism - Academy of Journalism and Communication, understand more about the early days of the country's first journalism training institution with many difficulties and shortages. But above all, with determination, love for the profession, passion and will, Mr. Tran Ba Lan contributed to building a young journalism training institution worthy of the aspirations and expectations of the Party, State and People. The three books of teacher - journalist Tran Ba Lan have helped readers find a new perspective on the face of Vietnamese journalism and a picture depicting the work of training generations of journalists in the country over the past half century.

teacher, reporter, three books, one life, picture 3 — The author (left cover) received a new book as a gift from Mr. Tran Ba Lan.

During his 30 years of teaching journalism, including many years as Head of the Faculty of Journalism, Professor Tran Ba Lan was truly a "bare-handed fighter" in the role of creator, organizer and editor of journalism curriculum; at the same time, he was instrumental in building a team of teaching staff, connecting foreign affairs activities, building the brand and reputation of the Faculty of Journalism (now the Institute of Journalism - Academy of Journalism and Communication).

There is one thing that many generations of students of Mr. Tran Ba Lan are confused about: with all his contributions and achievements, when he retired, he did not have the academic title of Associate Professor, Professor or Doctor even though he was very deserving? Once when I met him, I brought this up and asked him about it. He said: "Once, the Principal asked me to submit to him the journalism textbooks that I had compiled, but he didn't say why. Later, I found out that my superiors were preparing the procedures to propose conferring the title of Professor on me, but because at that time there was no Council of Professors in Journalism, there was no competent authority to confer the title of Professor. So that was it... It was also a disadvantage, but it wasn't just me. For example, writer and journalist Phan Quang is very intelligent, erudite, and famous. He not only writes very well for articles but is also a translator from French of the novel "A Thousand and One Nights", which has been reprinted more than 30 times. Journalist Phan Quang's journalism education is such that even a Professor of Journalism would have to bow in respect. However, he has been a journalist all his life."

As students of the 5th class of the University of Journalism, we were fortunate to be students of Mr. Tran Ba Lan for the longest time compared to other classes because our class was the only training class of the school that lasted 5 years (from 1983 to 1988). Therefore, we also have many profound memories with Mr. Tran Ba Lan. I still remember that Mr. Tran Ba Lan once confided to us: “Training journalists is training a class of “special intellectuals”. They are not better than other intellectuals, but they have the special characteristic of penetrating all social classes, from the lower to the upper class, from the east to the west, from rolling up their pants to wading in the fields to going into battle like soldiers… to see reality and its nature, to see the way of life…, to inspire and spread a humane way of life with their intelligence and writing”.

teacher, newspaper, three books, one life, picture 4 — The author (second from left) and representative of the Liaison Committee of the 5th class of the University of Journalism presented flowers to congratulate Mr. Tran Ba Lan (third from left) at the launching ceremony of his book "Heavy Duty, Deep Love" at the Vietnam Press Museum.

The further back in time, the more in our memory, Mr. Tran Ba Lan is truly a virtuous, disciplined, humane teacher, a model of living and working style. Later, during my work, through meetings, visits to him, reading his books and research works, I see Mr. Tran Ba Lan as a typical example of a learned person, with extensive knowledge, carefullyeducated by previous generations and continuing the tradition of his ancestors, the family line with Dr. Tran Trong Lieu whose name is recorded in the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam.

It can be said that teacher - journalist Tran Ba Lan is a typical, exemplary, intelligent, and professional teacher; a "Teacher of teachers" at the Faculty of Journalism in the past and the Institute of Journalism (Academy of Journalism and Communication) today!