Bringing core values back

In the introductory words of the seminar, VietNamNet’s Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Van Ba said: "Social criticism is an objective need and one of the tools for people to carry out social criticism is the press."

However, it appears that the press recently has been driven to negative information. There is too much negative information in newspapers which creates a picture of society which is not bright and therefore doesn’t truly reflect real life. Many press agencies even consider the number of views as an important criterion to assess the capability of journalists.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, at a meeting with press agencies on the occasion of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day June 21, 2022, said that we need a journalism that fosters the whole society to think together and find solutions, not just press agencies which just report news and make unconstructive criticisms. 

If newspapers criticize, people will also criticize, and if newspapers seek solutions, people will also look for solutions.

Solution journalism and tectonic journalism are no longer unfamiliar in Vietnam. Many newspapers, with their operations, have made great contributions to help find solutions or collect solutions from other people to forward to agencies to solve problems.

“We can say that tectonic journalism means journalism that returns to its core values. However, as it is a new tendency, there are many worries and I hope the participants at the seminar will express their views to clarify the story,” Ba said.

Why is negative news hot?

Mai Huong Giang, Deputy Head of the Authority of Press under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), said the agency has a system that measures and scans information on newspapers daily. The system has found that articles with negative content are shared the most. Even negative information on social media is also sourced from the press.

Mentioning the tectonic press, Giang cited the example of reporting news during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Giang, there were three press stages during the pandemic, including reporting about the pandemic situation, and guiding people to protect themselves and solutions after Covid-19 was controlled. And the press in the third phase is the tectonic press.

Explaining why negative information catches  attention from the public, Dr Do Thi Thu Hang, head of the Journalism Academy, said this relates to people’s psychology. People tend to pay attention to issues related to their safety. People also are curious. This should not be blamed on the public, but on the responsibility of news reporters.

To solve this problem, according to Hang, it is necessary to clarify which information is ‘negative’, and ask state management agencies to create criteria for negative and positive news.

“The press has the function of monitoring the entire social process; agencies, organizations and individuals all are under the supervision of the press. Therefore, journalists not only have to be objective in reporting news, but also have to be objective in behaviors and attitudes,” she said.

What is tectonic journalism?

According to Dr Nguyen Van Dung, there are three requirements for press agencies in modern times.

Dung said tectonic journalism must speak the truth in a selective way. He stressed that truth is the strength of the press.

Second, the press needs to carry out supervision and social criticism. Criticism of policies is a big issue which needs to be done under the principle of transparency in order to create confidence in society.

The third solution is improving the professional capability of journalists. They need to heighten the sense of legal responsibility when selecting issues, events and information. In addition, they need to improve their skills of using data and developing investigative journalism.

Deputy Editor in Chief of VietnamPlus Nguyen Hoang Nhat said VietnamPlus reporters always raise questions for themselves: Why has the situation existed for so long? What do we need to do to solve the problems? Are there any problems in the legal framework? 

Nhat said the editorial board encourages reporters to work in groups, design plans, and consult with the editorial board before implementing a major series of articles.

Thu Hang