Media agencies should stand active in information activities and make more contributions to generating a social consensus in both thought and action, meeting the requirements of the national renewal.

Dinh The Huynh, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Commission for Popularisation and Education, made the suggestion at a national media conference on January 14 in Hanoi to define the sector’s tasks in 2014.

He said that journalists need to update all new features of the modern communications environment to make changes in mindset and adapt to the open information atmosphere.

Media agencies should be active in controlling the information battlefield to set orientation for public opinion, he said.

Regarding major tasks for 2014, Huynh said specific plans and a roadmap should be outlined with priority given to key and urgent tasks.

According to a report heard at the event, in 2013, media activities faced many difficulties and challenges. However, the sector had a strong performance and showed political responsibilities.

Particularly, the media positively popularised a resolution adopted during the fourth plenum of the Party Central Committee (11 th tenure) on Party building and Directive 03 of the Politburo stepping up the campaign “studying and following the moral example of President Ho Chi Minh”, while helping honour outstanding individuals in national patriotic movements.

The media sector made significant contributions to affirming national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and highlighting Vietnam ’s desire and efforts in maintaining an environment of peace and stability as well as clarifying the Party and State’s external policies, said the report.

Press agencies also promoted the image of Vietnam and introduced the traditions and cultural identity of the nation to international friends, it added.

They played an important role in fighting corruption, wastefulness and other negative phenomena, while rejecting wrongful allegations by political opportunists and hostile forces, contributing to bettering the Party and State apparatus and consolidating people’s trust in the system and renewal cause.

However, the report also pointed out the shortcomings of the media, such as the violations of principles and increasing commercialisation in some agencies.

Meanwhile, slow press planning led to waste of resources. The coordination among management agencies and ministries, sectors and localities in the supply of information to the media remained poor and asynchronous, the report said.

Participants at the event also made proposals on a number of solutions to renovate and enhance the quality and efficiency of communications, while exchanging experience in a wide range of issues.

They also agreed on basic measures to implement key tasks in 2014 and following years. Accordingly, the sector will continue focusing on popularising the implementation of resolutions of the Party Central Committee and the Politburo, especially the realisation of the amended Constitution, while designing plans to reflect in an accurate and timely manner the opinions of people on the resolutions.

Participants also shared the opinion that in 2014, the media should focus on updating important national events and effectively popularising issues related to the national sea and islands, and external relations, thus ensuring national independence and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment to boost development.

The media will help increase social security and order as well as enhance the efficiency of external relations in the current development period, they said.

The conference was jointly organised by the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Popularisation and Education, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Vietnam Journalists Association.-VNA