News production on digital platform: news-worthy content is needed

Journalist Studio is a Google tool designed to assist journalists and editors (Screen shot)

Hanoi (VNA) - Experts noted that press agencies should not only focus on copy right protection or increase revenues from digital platforms but also pay attention to the improvement of the content, which should be considered the most important task. 

On June 18, the Authority of Press under the Ministry of Information and Communications, in collaboration with Google Asia-Pacific, hosted a webinar on "Skills in content publishing and copyright protection of journalistic works on digital platforms" for reporters and editors of central and local press agencies.

The event aimed to provide reporters and editors with more knowledge and information regarding journalism skills on digital platforms, aiming to bring more information about Vietnam to international readers on the cyberspace.

At the event, participants were given an overview of the Google News initiative; the search toolbar, news positioning on Google News site, Google's news distribution products, and tools for press agencies.

Experts from Google also talked about issues related to copyright protection, including the Google's Copyright Guidelines, the enforcement of copyright protection and technical tools to protect copyright (on search engines and Youtube), and how to report infringement of content copyright, among others.

Through the webinar, experts also recommended that press agencies should not only focus on copyright protection or increase revenues from digital platforms, but also pay attention to the development of high quality content and the optimal display on many devices, which should be considered the most important task.

Nguyen Thanh Lam, Director of Authority of Press, Ministry of Information and Communications, at the webinar (Screen shot)

Speaking at the event, Nguyen Thanh Lam, Director of Authority of Press, Ministry of Information and Communications stressed the importance of press in daily life. The press now has to compete and exert efforts to fight fake news as well as popularize correct information on important issues of the nation.

“In daily publishing activities, especially in the online environment, we have the support from many modern tools, in which the Google ecosystem provides excellent support for publishers and press agencies,” said Director Nguyen Thanh Lam, adding that Google has come up with many tools to assist journalists in their work, including Google News.

The event also looked at ways to enhance the cooperation between Google and press agencies in order to help and protect each other in the cyberspace, and sought suitable mutually benefit business models.

Tezin Norbhu, Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy in Southeast Asia at Google Asia-Pacific, said that Google has cooperated with many famous press agencies in the world over the past 20 years. Google has also provided support for the creation of high-quality press works in this digital age and ensured that everyone around the world can have access to high quality products.

“We are working to build a sustainable and independent ecosystem to bring users different news sources with diverse and trust worthy content. In the last two decades, we have been working with various press agencies in terms of financial and courses building.” Tezin said.

Representatives from Google Asia-Pacific said they Google wished to continue to share revenue with press agencies in Vietnam, organize training sessions, support the building of a news ecosystem in Vietnam, because when people can access healthy and honest information,  the society will develop more positively.

Jean-Jacques Sahel, Head of Information and Content Policy, Google Asia-Pacific (Screen shot)

Jean-Jacques Sahel, Head of Information and Content Policy, Google Asia-Pacific, shared about measures to combat content piracy of journalistic works on digital platforms. He said that every day, up to 2 million websites are reported for copyright infringement. Google has made a big investment to be able to deal with those violations quickly and accurately, because there are also websites that are reported deliberately by competitors, he said./.