Remember a hard time…

In the proud atmosphere of journalists celebrating the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, I recall my journey as a journalist and the 29-year process of formation and development of the Co To district journalism team.

Remember, Co To Radio and Television Station was established in 1996, in the context of Co To island district still facing many difficulties, no electricity, lack of fresh water, isolated transportation, poor infrastructure, and outdated technical equipment. The district Radio and Television Station almost started from scratch. In the early days of its establishment, the Station only had one radio and television broadcasting station, mainly relaying programs of Voice of Vietnam , Vietnam Television and Quang Ninh Radio and Television, not yet capable of producing local programs.

Another major difficulty is the lack of staff and reporters. None of those present have journalism experience. Therefore, one of the first tasks the station is concerned with is stabilizing the organization, focusing on training staff, reporters, technicians and investing in equipment. The first radio and television programs produced by the Co To District Radio and Television Station were born, marking a new step in the development of propaganda work in the island district.

Technical staff of the Co To District Cultural and Communication Center maintain the loudspeaker cluster in Co To town to ensure smooth information transmission.

In August 2005 , when I was assigned to be the Head of the District Radio and Television Station, the organizational structure was still very rudimentary, with only 4 officers and employees who had not received any professional training in journalism, radio and television. The facilities were lacking, there was no synchronized broadcasting system throughout the district, no recording and editing equipment, only a single radio and television relay station consisting of 1 radio, 2 television receivers, 1 Chinese generator, 1 radio, 1 M9000 camera; the broadcasting system consisting of 4 loudspeaker clusters in the town center was degraded. The staff had not received any professional training in journalism, radio and television.

Amidst all the difficulties, I determined that if I didn’t start by reorganizing the organization, training and developing the team, nothing could be done. Therefore, the first thing I did was to establish working regulations , clearly assign tasks to each member and gradually put training and professional development into order.

Unlike other units on the mainland, in Co To at that time, access to documents and specialized lecturers was extremely limited. We had to proactively seek short-term training programs, take advantage of provincial and industry training courses, and also seek help from experienced journalists and technicians from Quang Ninh Newspaper, Quang Ninh Radio and Television Station, and mainly self-study.

I chose Quang Ninh Newspaper for my colleagues to learn from and encourage them to write news and articles to send to Quang Ninh Newspaper. As you know, Co To was in a very difficult period at that time. The agency did not have a computer or a photocopier, so the news and articles sent to the newspaper were mainly handwritten and then copied to compare with the article published in the newspaper. From there, they could compare their manuscripts to see how the newspaper edited their articles, and then learn from their experiences. This method proved to be very effective. Every time reporters received a free newspaper or royalties, I could clearly see their faces beaming with pride and honor.

Reporter Thu Bau during a filming assignment.

The memories I will never forget are the many evenings when the reporters were hungry but no one went home. Instead, they all sat at the computer together to edit each word and each frame, hoping to have the best product to serve the Party Committee, the government and the people.

I remember one time when I heard that journalist Uong Ngoc Dau, Director and VOV1 News Department went to Co To for tourism , I went to invite the group to the station, asking for guidance on how to do live radio. The group discussed and guided us in a hands-on way so that our reporters, editors, and technicians could grasp the methods and skills of producing live radio programs. That very day, VOV produced a live radio program about "Vietnam's Sea and Islands" for our staff and reporters to directly participate.

With the spirit of “learning while doing”, at the end of 2005, we started producing the first radio programs, imbued with the spirit of Co To. From having 2 news bulletins then 3 news bulletins/week to producing daily news bulletins with a duration of 20-25 minutes. In addition to the station’s small team of reporters, we invited capable cadres and officers to join as collaborators. The program content is increasingly rich, in addition to daily news of district leaders’ activities, to articles reflecting people’s lives, we also built columns such as “Party Building”, “Good People - Good Deeds”, “Law and Life”…

Reporters from the Co To District Cultural and Media Center work as typhoon Yagi prepares to make landfall on the island (September 2024).

In 2006, I proposed to the district leaders and took advantage of the target program from the Provincial Radio and Television Station to invest in equipment, such as: Camera, computer, recorder, tables and chairs, office, solar power system, and at the same time upgrade the capacity of the FM radio transmitter to 300W, UHF and VHF transceivers with a capacity of 500W to increase the coverage, the above equipment compared to the district-level station at that time was very modern.

We officially produced our first TV show on New Year's Eve 2006, then produced one TV show per month, and by 2007 increased to two TV shows per month. This is an important milestone, affirming the maturity of the team of reporters, editors, and technicians of the Station. The district's TV shows have reached a large audience both inside and outside the district.

Not only stopping at self-production, since 2006, the team of reporters and technicians of the Station has also made efforts to collaborate with many newspapers, many reporters have been awarded certificates of merit by the newspapers. The Station's reporters have also actively participated in provincial and central radio and television festivals with all types of spoken and visual newspapers such as short reports, long reports, radio stories, live radio programs... and have won many gold and silver prizes. One year, when participating in the provincial radio and television festival, Co To Station won the first prize for the entire delegation, thereby gradually affirming the level of reporters, affirming the position and quality of propaganda of Co To Station in the press, radio and television system of Quang Ninh province. During that period, there were names that were known and admired by friends and colleagues inside and outside the province, such as: The Cuong, Cong Quy, Thu Hang, now there are reporters Thu Bau, Hue Phuong and a number of other reporters.

Leaders of Co To district congratulated and encouraged officers and employees of Co To district's Media - Culture Center on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, June 21 (1925-2025).

In particular, during major local and national political events, the technical team overcame difficulties in equipment, terrain, and weather to organize live broadcasting of major political events in the district. A memorable memory was the first time the station conducted live coverage of the 2007-2011 National Assembly election in the context of a lack of working equipment. The program was broadcast on the district's radio system, leaving a deep impression on voters and people, surprising the district leaders at that time.

A particularly admirable point is that although 100% of the reporter team is female, they are not afraid of difficulties and hardships. On the contrary, they are very "combat-ready", rushing into and devoting themselves to events, in search and rescue operations, national defense and security exercises and developing sea and island tourism... The image of female reporters carrying cameras, recorders, notebooks, pens, sticking to the area in storms to report has become a beautiful symbol of journalists at the forefront. Some people are sick but still volunteer to go to work, some have small children with no one to look after them but still bring them to the office to work until 11-12 pm. With passion and responsibility, they are still absorbed in not leaving their positions to have good articles and films to serve political tasks and serve the people.

Looking back at the 29-year development process of Co To Radio and Television Station, the period 2005-2010 was the period that laid an important foundation for the development of Co To District Radio and Television Station. (now Co To Media and Culture Center). From zero, we have built a team of professional staff, gradually modernized facilities, established professional working processes and produced quality programs. That is the foundation for the next generations to continue to inherit, innovate and keep up with the development of journalism and media in the digital age.

Dang Quang Ngan (Contributor)

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/nho-mot-thoi-gian-kho-3363296.html