General Vo Nguyen Giap and General Nguyen Chi Thanh discussed the war situation in the South, July 5, 1967. Photo: Archive

In October 1950, comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was assigned by Uncle Ho to merge the two newspapers National Defense Army and Guerrilla Army into the People's Army Newspaper. As the Chief of the General Political Department, he always emphasized the role of revolutionary journalism.

According to him, for editors, the task is to correct and improve the quality of articles to make them more correct and better. There are editors who are afraid of offending authors, especially superiors; there are authors who are difficult and do not want anyone to correct their articles, which is not good. Editors must be bold in their work but also have to be careful with the sentences and words in resolutions and instructions from superiors. If there are any unclear points, they must ask, and they cannot edit arbitrarily, which can even be contrary to the leadership's policies.

Writing articles must be concise, clear, and attractive to readers. Many of our cadres speak very well and convince listeners, but when they write, they drag on and on, do not focus on the main content, and when they are bored, they just make a comma, when they are tired, they also break lines and write in capital letters haphazardly, and many sentences are not grammatically correct. According to the General's thinking, when writing articles, one does not need to write too much, but one must make each article read and follow by all division commanders.

Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh always reminded the cadres and staff of the Army Literature magazine: "When speaking, writing and working, we must remember that we are soldiers. Soldiers not only remember to wear uniforms and wear military ranks, but also remember that we are Uncle Ho's soldiers, forgetting ourselves for the people." In particular, he emphasized the role of artists: When the North builds a new life, literature and art should not stand outside this positive flow. When production relations have changed, literature and art have the ability to build new people, spread new ethics and new ideas. Now, a painting or a novel that cannot express something new means it is not timely. If literary and artistic work cannot express the struggle between the old and the new to build new people, then we have gone off topic.

Literature and art must go to the front, to the battlefield, must live with the soldiers, from there find examples, stories of fighting the Americans, portraits of soldiers to write about them for the whole people to see and follow. The most important thing for soldiers on the battlefield is to worry about the poverty of the rear, worry about the cooperative not having enough rice to distribute to members, worry about their children not being able to go to school. Therefore, writers and artists should write about the growth of the Northern rear to add spiritual strength to the soldiers, so that they have more courage, more intelligence, more determination before fierce battles with the enemy. That is also the sentiment and the things that comrades expect from the Army Literature and Art magazine.

In the first issue of the People's Army Newspaper, the General's article titled "Winning and protecting crops" stated that the army and people carry out two urgent and important tasks: fighting and protecting production. "If you are full, you will become Buddhas and fairies, if you are hungry, you will become ghosts and demons. Only when you win against the enemy will your life be full and warm, and your army will be strong and powerful. If you preserve the crops, the people will have enough to eat and be well-fed to fight the enemy and build a strong force." Especially in the article "Promoting revolutionary heroism to the highest degree, determined to fight and defeat the American invaders", he clearly stated: "We are poorer in weapons, rice, and money than the Americans. The Americans have a lot of money, but if the Americans are millionaires, meaning they have millions of dollars, then our people are millionaires in revolutionary heroism. The Americans are inferior to us in that aspect, that is, they are inferior in the courage of our people."

Learning from Uncle Ho's writing style, General Nguyen Chi Thanh's articles always present a simple writing style, rich in images, easy to understand, easy to absorb, but with strong words, a resolute attitude, tight and scientific arguments, both rich in practicality and strategic vision, demonstrating a strong revolutionary offensive spirit. General Nguyen Chi Thanh's use of journalistic words is flexible and creative. With the people, soldiers, and comrades, he uses the language of the masses - simple, easy to understand, and therefore easy to remember and follow. With the enemy, each word, each line is sometimes direct, strong, and fierce, sometimes profound and sharp, revealing the nature of the enemy's plots and actions.

According to journalist Phan Quang, “Mr. Thanh’s writing style is not only meticulous, carefully studies events, looks at phenomena and draws out their essence in a subtle and sensitive way, and criticizes them strictly but also uses educational and convincing words. Mr. Thanh’s words are simple, easy to understand and unique, never following the old, trite and useless ways”. Indeed, General Nguyen Chi Thanh is not a professional journalist, but he possesses all the qualities of a great journalist.

Le Thi Mai An

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/quan-diem-phong-cach-viet-bao-cua-dai-tuong-nguyen-chi-thanh-154729.html