London (VNA) - The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) brings timely factual and well-presented news to audiences around the world, being essential and a first port of call for learning about Vietnam and new developments in the country, according to Kyril Whittaker, researcher of Vietnam and member of the Communist Party of Britain.
In a recent interview with a VNA correspondent in the UK, Whittaker said Vietnam News, VietnamPlus and Vietnam Pictorial have all been websites which have helped him conduct preliminary research for his books and articles which he would not have been able to learn about elsewhere.
Particularly for Whittaker, a researcher of Vietnamese culture, politics and history, the VNA provides more on a daily basis about news across the country, from political, socio-economic developments to arts, cultural and art events and international missions and foreign relations.
According to Whittaker, a government agency with 80 years of history, the VNA has always been on-the-ground covering important historical events as they happen and delivering news and pictures of these events to international audiences. In this sense, the VNA as well as being a news agency is a repository of history, of fact-based reporting and is a cultural bridge serving to counter propaganda, and show the true image of Vietnam to the world. As the voice of the Vietnamese government, the agency is reliable, factual and informed, serving to deliver news in an accurate way in a complex environment whereby social media and the digital age have meant that incorrect news and malicious news spreads fast. The VNA as the voice of the Vietnamese state means that reporting is accurate, based on in-person and on-the-ground reporting and not on hearsay or rumour.
He pointed out that as the voice of the Vietnamese state, a state which is of the people, by the people, for the people, the VNA delivers its news in a way which befits this purpose with responsible, accurate and educational information. As a result, VNA publications differ from publications in many parts of the world.
According to Whittaker, the VNA’s practices can be said to be “people’s journalism’, a journalism which is of the people, by the people and for the people which seeks to educate and build, and holds revolutionary ethics at its core. In the modern-day, the VNA stands alongside revolutionary media like Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, Lao Dong (Labour) Newspaper and others, being a forum which communicates party policy and acting as a bridge between Party, state and the people, being a “sharp-weapon” of the working-class and which acts as a bridge of understanding upon which international audiences can learn more about Vietnam and its developments in an accurate and timely way.
Journalists following Uncle Ho will be politically educated, writing clear, purposeful articles which are understandable, truthful and serve the people. The VNA as the voice of the Vietnamese state produces such articles, according to the British researcher.
He pointed out the VNA is a helpful resource to people worldwide on news about Vietnam with its publications, including Vietnam News Daily, Vietnam Pictorial, VietnamPlus, Le Courier du Vietnam, becoming the main publications shared when it comes to news stories about Vietnam. These publications play an important role in spreading the image of Vietnam to the world and contribute to combat disinformation.
He also said though this process, although the VNA is confronted with many challenges, such as the predominance major news organisations, its power to break through onto the media scene has shown that factual, informative news of Vietnam can break through and reach a wide audience.
According to the researcher, the main issue researchers interested in Vietnam had was accessibility, finding the names of Vietnamese publications and then finding their English language publications (if these existed). The VNA through its multiple publications has become the primary source for accurate daily news on Vietnamese culture, politics, economic developments and more.
He also said the VNA reporters basing in countries outside of Vietnam are cultural ambassadors communicating Vietnamese news to an audience which may not have had access, or not known how to access news about Vietnam at the time, and being a bridge of understanding and education between researchers of Vietnam and the country itself.
VNA reporters overseas can also gain an understanding more of the relationships between Vietnam and other countries by analysing the always-increasing diplomatic and cultural relations Vietnam has around the world through bamboo diplomacy. Such stories and links enrich the general information about Vietnam and can help educate present and future generations on historical relationships as well as serving to create new cultural bridges between countries by enhancing mutual understanding and historical ties.
Speaking about the VNA’s adaptation to the digital era, Whittaker said VNA publications have adapted very well with well-designed websites, popular campaigns, and timely, accurate reporting. In the former case, websites such as those of Vietnam News, VietnamPlus and Le Courier du Vietnam are clean, bright, simple and easy to navigate and in the case of magazines like Vietnam Pictorial, beautiful to look at. They have avoided pitfalls of being filled with adverts, being too overcrowded, or being locked behind paywalls.
He noted that in many countries the youth have little to no interest in reading newspapers in today’s digital era, especially so for physical copies, but is also the case a lot of the time for online publications also, as such publications suffer from the aforementioned pitfalls, are reported inaccurately, or are seen as unimportant.
VNA publications again avoid this pitfall while launching campaigns to attract audiences, such as Vietnam News daily’s campaign earlier this year celebrating the 50 years of the liberation of the south which had special edition with liberation tank papercraft additions which served immensely popular among the youth or the latest “Sticker Map” of Vietnam News daily to celebrate the 80 years of independence.
He also pointed traditional and non-traditional challenges for the VNA in the digital era. Traditional challenges include ensuring the news continue to be accessible, combat disinformation and maintaining and hopefully increasing readership. Non-traditional challenges include the threat posed by new technological developments and scams. AI for example as an emerging technology may be helpful in some ways but is very inaccurate in its knowledge-gathering processes and presents many opportunities for disinformation.
Whittaker believed the VNA can combat this by utilising its historical archives and commitment to on-the-ground reporting and its journalists around the world.
He concluded, overall, the VNA is an invaluable resource for international audiences in learning about Vietnam. Through its 80 years of revolutionary journalism it has carried on the fine traditions of the previous generations of "people’s journalists" practicing clear, purposeful journalism dedicated to the people and the Vietnamese revolution./.
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