“The Revolutionary Press in Vietnam: Time to Soar High”

25 June, 2025

General Secretary To Lam: Celebrating the glorious 100-year formation and development, the Vietnamese revolutionary press must continue to rise powerfully, affirming its pioneering role on the ideological and cultural front, serving the country’s development. – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Beginning his speech, General Secretary To Lam stated that the 100th anniversary of Vietnamese Revolutionary Press is a century of companionship with the nation, a glorious journey written with intelligence, national spirit, revolutionary offensive spirit, noble sacrifices, and tireless efforts of Vietnamese revolutionary journalists. The General Secretary also congratulated the Vietnamese revolutionary journalists on being honored with the noble “Ho Chi Minh Order” for the second time.

“It can be affirmed that the Vietnamese revolutionary press has been fulfilling its noble mission – building trust, creating consensus, spreading development aspirations, and contributing to the realization of the goal of building a strong, prosperous, and happy Vietnam in the new era,” said General Secretary To Lam.

The new era of the nation is opening up new horizons for development and also setting new revolutionary requirements with high determination and grand aspirations to build a strong and prosperous country. In this context, the Vietnamese revolutionary press must assert its revolutionary spirit and pioneering role on the ideological and cultural front, serving as the ideological pillar and vanguard force in creating trust and consensus in society. It plays a crucial role in promoting humanitarian and progressive values, strongly disseminating the spirit of innovation and creativity, and inspiring learning, labor, and dedication. The press must continuously reform itself to develop commensurately with the scale of the era and the country’s development, truly becoming a professional, humane, and modern press that serves the cause of the Party, State, and people on the journey of building and developing the country.

To meet this requirement, General Secretary To Lam proposed five key tasks for press agencies and journalists to focus on:

First, deeply understand the extremely noble political and social responsibilities before the Party, State, and people. The revolutionary press must be the voice of the Party, State, socio-political organizations, and a trusted forum for the people, bridging the unity between the Party and the people. Effectively carry out the task of bringing the Party and State’s guidelines and policies to the people, creating an environment for people to participate in press activities, reflecting the legitimate aspirations of the people to the Party and State, ensuring the ideological, combative, and people-oriented nature of the press. Mobilize the strength of the people to participate in building the Party and political system to be increasingly pure and strong.

As soldiers on the ideological and cultural front, journalists must be exemplary in professional ethics, firm in thought, political stance, and loyal to the revolutionary ideal. They should be truly professional, excel in expertise and professional skills, bravely fight against negative manifestations, and have sufficient resistance to temptations. Journalists must be credible social activists, engage in propaganda and mass mobilization, and actively participate in people-to-people diplomacy. In all circumstances, prioritize political and social responsibilities and professional ethics above all else. Each journalistic work must perform well the function of providing accurate, objective, truthful, humane, and useful information. Journalists in the new era must continuously learn, improve their skills, and integrate modern technology.

Second, the revolutionary press is an integral part of the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, and it must possess a revolutionary offensive spirit, bravely fight against and eliminate the bad, stagnant, and backward elements, actively encourage and promote the new and progressive, and be pioneers and brave in facing the country’s major and new issues. It must become a leading flag, inspiring creativity, encouraging innovation, and fostering dedication among officials, party members, and the entire society. In the current revolutionary stage, the press needs to inject new vitality, arouse determination, patriotism, and dedication across society, creating a tremendous and enduring spiritual driving force for the country’s development in the new era.

Third, as an important component of cultural life, the press must affirm its role in building a Vietnamese culture that is advanced, imbued with national identity, and actively participate in cultural rejuvenation and the development of modern Vietnamese people with a strong sense of identity. Each journalist and press agency must be a symbol of cultural behavior, ethical standards, and social service, contributing to preserving and promoting traditional humanitarian values, spreading goodness and beauty, actively promoting the image of the country and Vietnamese people to the world, and proactively embracing the essence of human culture to enrich the national cultural identity.

Fourth, with the wave of digital transformation and fierce competition in the global communication space, the press must quickly adapt, pioneer in innovating thinking, master technology, and break through in journalism and information transmission. Enhance the presence of the revolutionary press on social media platforms and maintain the information and propaganda front in the face of the development of cross-border platforms. This is an inevitable requirement for the press to dominate the information and communication front in the cyber environment and enhance the value of each press agency. Leading press agencies such as Nhan Dan Newspaper, Communist Magazine, Vietnam News Agency, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam Television, and some portals of central agencies need to focus on digital transformation, strengthen cooperation and integration, perform well in forecasting, and effectively carry out the function of information orientation, deserving to be the “lighthouse” for the revolutionary press system of the country.

Fifth, innovate the thinking in leading, directing, and managing the press towards building and creating an environment for the press to best promote its revolutionary nature, mission of serving the country, and benefiting the people. Clearly define the functions and tasks of each agency, resolutely not doing it for them or micromanaging. Institutionalize the Party’s policies and complete the legal system on the press to ensure synchronization, transparency, modernity, and effectiveness. Continue to effectively implement planning and rearrangement of press agencies towards a lean, efficient, effective, and powerful structure. Find solutions to overcome the overlap in functions and tasks among press agencies, and resolutely remove from the press team those who weaken their fighting will, fade in revolutionary ideals, violate professional ethics, or breach the regulations of agencies and organizations. Strengthen the application of science and technology and big data analysis to contribute to improving the quality of information orientation according to the principle of proactiveness, timeliness, persuasiveness, effectiveness, and practicality. Establish a mechanism for transparent and open ordering, supporting key press agencies in performing political tasks, especially in critical areas, strategic areas, and sensitive fields. Develop leading national press agencies and corporations with an information orientation function and appropriate mechanisms to develop the revolutionary press cause.

According to General Secretary To Lam, celebrating the glorious 100-year formation and development, the Vietnamese revolutionary press must continue to rise powerfully, affirming its pioneering role on the ideological and cultural front, serving the country’s development. Vietnamese journalists must be true assault warriors, possessing strong political mettle, a spirit of innovation, and a dedication to contributing to the common cause of the nation. The press must become a force in building trust, encouraging development aspirations, and contributing to realizing the goal of building a strong, prosperous, and everlasting Vietnam in the nation’s era of advancement.

Huy Khai

– 15:20 21/06/2025