Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Communication and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia addresses the opening of the 2024 National Press Festival in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VOV)

The 3-day National Press Festival 2024 will comprise multiple activities and 120 booths displaying publications from 600 press agencies and the Vietnam Journalists Association. It depicts contemporary Vietnamese journalism and its professional, humane, and modern direction. This year’s Press Festival has drawn a record high number of press agencies.

Milestones of Vietnam’s revolutionary press

Since Nguyen Ai Quoc, who later became President Ho Chi Minh, founded Vietnam’s first revolutionary newspaper 99 years ago, the revolutionary press has steadily improved in quality, content, form, and journalism technology.

Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Communication and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia said that 99 years is a proud milestone for Vietnam's revolutionary press, whose noble goal is to serve the nation and the people, be a bridge between the Party and the people, and be a forum for the people to express their feelings and trust in the Party.

“Vietnamese journalists can be justifiably proud of the revolutionary press founded by President Ho Chi Minh, its glorious tradition, and its contributions to national construction and defense,” he said. 

Keeping up with global trends

Since it was established, Vietnam's revolutionary press has adopted progressive trends of the world press to harmonize with the character of Vietnamese culture and people.

To keep up with the 4th Industrial Revolution, the press has modernized its methods toward multi-platform, multimedia, and data journalism using artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and other digital tools.

The Festival will include panel discussions on "Data journalism and outstanding content strategy”, "Effective technology investment and application in newsrooms", “Dynamic radio broadcasting in a digital environment”, “Intellectual property rights of television works in the AI world”, and 8 other topics.

Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Communication and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia said that the development of multimedia and data journalism using digital tools like AI and blockchain technology has created both opportunities and challenges for press agencies and journalists.

“The press is at a turning point in social media development which will require media agencies to reform their operation, leadership, managerial mindset, and practices.”