Veteran war reporters – a “golden generation” of Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi (VNA) – Veteran war reporters of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) met in Hanoi on March 16 to mark 50 years since they joined the battlefield in the resistance war against the US (March 16, 1973).

The former VNA reporters, technicians and telegraphers recalled the day when they left Hanoi for the battlefield, determining to ensure the unending flow of mainstream information.

 

Prior to the meeting, they observed a minute’s silence in memory of their colleagues who laid down their lives while on duty in the war, and visited the VNA’s Hall of Tradition.

In early 1972 when the war escalated, the 20th plenum of the third-tenure Party Central Committee called on the entire Party, people and army to stay persistent until the complete victory.

 

In that spirit, the Vietnam Thong Tan Xa (now Thong Tan Xa Vietnam or Vietnam News Agency-VNA) selected and trained a special batch of reporters (dubbed GP10) to support the Thong tan xa Giai Phong (Liberation News Agency) - the official news agency of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam - in covering the war.  

After training, the GP10 reporters, technicians and telegraphers marched to the south along the Truong Son range. They were assigned to work on all battlefields from the north central, central, Central Highlands, and southern regions. Many of them fell down or were wounded while performing their duties in fierce battles. 

 

After national reunification, many reporters of the GP10 generation continued to work on the front to report on the war to defend the country’s southwestern and northern borders, and as experts in neighbouring Cambodia.

In her remarks, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang stressed that the GP10 generation has made great invaluable contributions to Vietnam's revolutionary press and created glorious marks in the VNA's history.

 

She stressed that generations of VNA journalists, technicians and officials have carried forward the traditions and made continuous efforts to keep the information flow running, and affirm the VNA’s role as a strategic information centre in all development periods of the country.

VNA journalists have made their presence in all regions nationwide and all continents, and have outstandingly fulfilled the tasks assigned by the Party and the State in all circumstances, she said./.