Many newspapers do not have enough resources to "feed" investigative reporters!

Journalist Le Anh Dat, Permanent Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Dai Doan Ket Newspaper, shares his experience in doing investigative reporting.

On March 16, within the framework of the 2024 National Press Forum, the discussion session with the theme: "Reportage, investigative reporting and the journey to do useful things" attracted a large number of readers, journalism students, journalists and leaders of press agencies to participate.

Opening the discussion, journalist Phung Cong Suong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong newspaper, who has participated in many investigative report series, shared: It can be said that investigative reports have been the pillar and the backbone of revolutionary journalism for many years. This is a difficult and thorny genre, requiring a lot of skills from journalists and reporters when performing. Reportage works often "live longer" than other genres, and can even be published as books.

Journalist Ho Quang Loi, former Editor-in-Chief of Hanoi Moi Newspaper, former Permanent Vice President of Vietnam Journalists Association shared at the discussion.

However, journalist Phung Cong Suong also acknowledged that from 2010 until now, the investigative journalism genre has gradually become sparse, with few attractive works and has been overshadowed by other journalism genres.

Sharing more about this concern, journalist Phung Cong Suong said that many press agencies themselves do not pay due attention to the investigative reporting genre. Because it is difficult to work with, takes a lot of time, effort, money, and risks, press agencies do not have enough resources to "feed" a team of reporters participating in this genre.

Sharing at the discussion session, journalist Le Anh Dat, Permanent Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Dai Doan Ket Newspaper, shared his experience in conducting investigative reports as well as the lessons learned behind the pages. At the same time, he presented “bloody” lessons in his journey of dedication and work; the process of securing topics and the implementation process; how to protect sources of information and archive documents…

Meanwhile, journalist Ho Tri (Vietnam Television), who has won many major journalism awards for his investigative reports, expressed that after making investigative reports, journalists will have to face many risks that they cannot foresee. After making an investigative report on deforestation, he was accused of staging the footage and that the reporter had given money to people to cut down trees and destroy forests before filming. However, the actual footage, documents, and the support and trust of the leadership of Vietnam Television helped him overcome the negative information above.

Similarly, journalist Vo Manh Hung (VietnamPlus e-newspaper), who has won many awards for investigative reporting, also said: Journalists have to "pay a high price" when deciding to participate in a series of investigative reports. Specifically, when participating in an investigation of deforestation, he spent many days rolling around the scene, even being sick for dozens of days but still determined to carry it out to the end. Another time, when participating in an investigation into the illegal trading of wild animals, including animals listed in the Red Book, he was opposed by subjects who tried to disperse the evidence...

A large number of readers, students, journalists, and press agency leaders attended the discussion session.

As a famous writer of investigative reports, journalist Do Doan Hoang (Dan Viet Newspaper) emphasized that dangers, difficulties, hardships and loneliness are the "companions" of investigative reporters, so very few journalists engage in this genre.

Journalist Do Doan Hoang shared: This is the genre that most requires the courage and dedication of a true journalist. The purpose of the investigative report series is nothing other than to spread good things to the community and society and to fight and eliminate bad things.

Journalist Nguyen Hong Vinh, former member of the Party Central Committee and former Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, concluded that over the years, he has participated in many journalism awards and has always enjoyed works in the investigative journalism genre. In addition, Mr. Nguyen Hong Vinh shared with students and young journalists that three qualities are needed when participating in investigative reporting. These are qualifications, dedication and working methods. From there, he hopes that generations of journalists will continue to dedicate themselves, diversify the investigative reporting genre, and create positive effects for the community and society.

Journalist Ho Quang Loi, former Editor-in-Chief of Hanoi Moi Newspaper and former Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association, expressed his sympathy for the huge risks that journalists face when carrying out their investigative reporting duties, as they often have to fight against evil. Therefore, journalists doing investigative reporting need to be equipped with sufficient courage, knowledge and working skills.

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