Summary of PhD thesis: Phan Van Kien

INTRODUCTION

1. Urgency of the topic

In recent years, the development of science and technology and the global information explosion in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are posing many enormous challenges to information workers in general and the press and media in particular.

The emergence, spread and popularity of information on social networks is a difficult problem for managers as well as global media agencies. Social media space is often negatively affected by rumors and fake news. Not to mention, many subjects have taken advantage of the rapid spread and lack of control of social networks to release fake news intentionally to manipulate public opinion in a predetermined direction.

In that context, the role of mainstream media becomes more important in supplementing, correcting, criticizing society and guiding public opinion against the attack of fake news from social networks. From there, the role of criticizing society and guiding public opinion in recent years has been more clearly recognized.

Social criticism is a phenomenon that appeared and developed very early in Western societies and became an important criterion in the process of democratization of political and social life. Social criticism of the press began to be focused on research for more than ten years in Vietnam.

One of the aspects that has not received much research attention is evaluating the social criticism role of electronic newspapers in relation to guiding public opinion in the electronic gazette space.

A more multidimensional approach to the effectiveness of social criticism and public opinion guidance of the press in general and electronic newspapers in particular is also an issue that requires new research.

From the above analysis of urgency, we choose the topic“The role of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of electronic newspapers”PhD thesis in journalism and communication.

2. Research purpose

Based on the systematization of theories on social criticism and guidance of public opinion of electronic newspapers, the thesis surveys and evaluates the role of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of Vietnamese electronic newspapers, thereby proposing solutions to improve the effectiveness of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of Vietnamese electronic newspapers today.

3. Research tasks

To achieve the above research objectives, the thesis will carry out the following research tasks:

The first,Systematize and clarify theoretical issues related to the research content in the thesis such as social criticism, social criticism of electronic newspapers, social opinion, guidance of social opinion of electronic newspapers, the relationship between social criticism and guidance of social opinion on electronic newspapers...

Monday, the thesis examines and clarifies the role of social criticism and public opinion guidance of electronic newspapers.

Tuesday, clarify the criteria and evaluate the effectiveness of social criticism and guide public opinion of electronic newspapers according to the defined criteria.

Fourth, the thesis analyzes and evaluates the relationship between social criticism and public opinion guidance of two surveyed electronic newspapers.

ThursdayFrom the comments and assessments, the thesis proposes solutions to enhance the role of social criticism and public opinion guidance of electronic newspapers.

4.Objects and scope of research

The research object of the thesis is the role of social criticism and public opinion guidance of Vietnamese electronic newspapers.

The research space is two electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress. The research period is from 2010 to 2016.

5. Gresearch hypothesis

Hypothesis 1:The press impacts on real life through guiding public opinion. From those impacts, it contributes to public opinion directly impacting social life, contributing to changing reality.

Hypothesis 2:Electronic newspapers with the strengths of the online form have different roles compared to other forms in performing the role of social criticism such as creating a direct discussion forum for the public to discuss and contribute opinions; creating multimedia messages in the process of social criticism; creating "multi-step flows" in the process of public discussion...

Hypothesis 3:Editorial boards and journalists play an agenda-setting role in organizing messages to influence and guide public opinion.

Hypothesis 4:Public opinion in the Vietnamese electronic public space has its own distinct characteristics in the process of participating in social criticism. These characteristics are governed by the virtual nature of the internet space and the cultural and social characteristics specific to the Vietnamese context.

Hypothesis 5:The quality of social criticism in the press in general and online newspapers in particular is not comprehensive, as shown by the uneven effectiveness of solving practical problems.

6..Research methods

6.1. Methodology

The thesis applies the methodology of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought and the viewpoints of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the laws of the State of Vietnam on building a state of the people, by the people, for the people; on the role of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of the press in general and of electronic newspapers in particular in the cause of national development.

The thesis also uses theTheory of Media Journalism, sociology, political science.

6.2. Specific methods

6.2.1. Content Analysis Method

The content analysis method is used in the thesis to analyze the content of the surveyed journalistic works with the aim of approaching the content and method of the social criticism process and guiding public opinion of the two electronic newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre.

This method is also used in analyzing the content of public responses after receiving messages from the work to discuss and add more information to the quantitative results that have been statistically and analytically collected.

6.2.2. Statistical methods

This is the main method used in the thesis. The author of the thesis has performed the following statistics:

• Survey of 1,745 news articles on Vnexpress online newspaper and 1,268 news articles on Tuoi Tre online newspaper related to 92 events and incidents that were socially criticized in the two newspapers from 2010 to 2016.
• Survey and statistics of 46,503 feedback opinions on the Perspectives section of Vnexpress newspaper and 8,375 feedback opinions on the Current Affairs - Thoughts section of Tuoi Tre newspaper in three years, from 2013 to 2016 to analyze the characteristics of public discussion in the electronic newspaper environment as well as examine the movement of feedback opinions in this public space over time.
• In addition, in the process of analyzing the content and methods of social criticism and social guidance through specific cases, statistical methods are also actively used in classifying quantitative data according to specific criteria to serve the qualitative analysis process.
• The thesis also uses Google's statistical application (Googletrend) to collect global information visitor data of two surveyed electronic newspapers.

6.2.3. In-depth interview method

The author of the thesis directly conducted in-depth interviews through recorded direct conversations and response forms with 17 people including the editorial board, section leaders, reporters, and collaborators who are direct section managers or authors of articles published in the two electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress.

6.2.4. Comparison method

The comparative method is used to compare the characteristics of several objects after analysis.

7.New contributions of the thesis

Firstly, the thesis recognizes the social criticism role of electronic newspapers in relation to guiding public opinion in a specific, survey and evaluation manner.

Second, the thesis points out the “secondary” space in public discussion with survey items.

Third, the thesis evaluates the effectiveness of social criticism and public opinion guidance of online newspapers based on a survey combining vertical (time axis by item) and horizontal (specific events in two newspapers).

Fourth, the thesis evaluates the effectiveness of multimedia integration of electronic newspapers in the process of social criticism and guiding public opinion.

8.Significance of the thesis

8.1. Theoretical significance

The thesis adds a new perspective in approaching the role of social criticism and guidance of public opinion in the press in general and electronic newspapers in particular. The thesis has clarified the relationship between social criticism and guidance of public opinion in the role of electronic newspapers in general.

The thesis also specifically looked at from theory to practice the characteristics of public space in the role of social criticism and guiding public opinion of Vietnamese electronic newspapers.

The theoretical issues and conclusions presented in the thesis may open up many directions for further in-depth research on this issue.

8.2. Practical significance

The thesis is the basis for the two online newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre online to make appropriate changes to develop public spaces on their own interfaces. The thesis is also a document of certain significance for managers and policy makers in the field of journalism and media to refer to in establishing and making management decisions. The thesis is also a useful reference document for students, trainees, and postgraduates when studying the role of the press in general and the role of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of online newspapers in particular.

9.Structure of the thesis

In addition to the introduction, conclusion, references, appendixes... the main content of the thesis is divided into 4 chapters:

Chapter 1. Research Overview

Chapter 2. Theoretical and practical basis of social criticism and guidance of public opinion in electronic newspapers

Chapter 3. The role of social criticism and public opinion guidance of Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress electronic newspapers.

Chapter 4. Some issues and solutions to enhance the role and effectiveness of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of electronic newspapers.

Chapter 1

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

The thesis conducts a survey of documents in two directions: studies abroad and studies in Vietnam. Studies abroad are approached from three aspects:

1/ Studies on the role of electronic newspapers;

2/Studies on the role of social criticism of the press;

3/ Studies on the role of the press in guiding public opinion

Research in Vietnam is approached from two perspectives:

1/ Studies on the role of social criticism of the press. This aspect is divided into: Basic theoretical studies on social criticism and studies on social criticism of the press.

2/ Studies on the role of the press in guiding public opinion.

From the literature review, the thesis has some comments and assessments as follows:

1.1. Research on social criticism is a research direction that attracts the participation of many fields: philosophy, political science, sociology, journalism, etc. Social criticism in Vietnam, in essence, is to solve the urgent needs of the country's development practice. That is, the urgency of social criticism is its application to specific fields, not general theoretical research. However, social criticism is a broad issue and needs to be solved by multidisciplinary research. The two-sided nature of social criticism has caused researchers to fall into two difficulties: The first difficulty is that if approached from separate angles, it will be seen that any field can mention social criticism as a role of its field, but in the end, when approached separately from any angle, it will be seen as not comprehensive and difficult to convince. The second difficulty is that if we approach interdisciplinary, we need to have a general and specific view of each research field in order to solve the problem. From the perspective of media journalism, previous studies have often approached from a general perspective rather than specific research. There are some specific approaches that often use research from another field to talk about media journalism rather than direct research.

1.2. In theory, social criticism appeared very early in the world and was the content of the fields of philosophy, political science, and sociology before becoming a concept in the role of modern journalism. World studies on social criticism in the pre-modern period focused on the field of social criticism theory due to the provisions of social history characteristics (pre-Enlightenment researchers, Enlightenment critics, authors of the Franfourk school, etc.).

1.3. Studies on the role of the press in social life in general in the world and in Vietnam are still focusing mainly on the "traditional" aspects as known up to now such as the ideological role, the role in fields such as economics, culture, education... The most recent published documents we have when referring to the role of social criticism often mention it through the function of orienting public opinion or the function of social supervision of the press (Duong Xuan Son, Dinh Van Huong, Tran Quang, Nguyen Van Dung...)

1.4. When referring to the role of the press and media in social criticism, studies in the world and in Vietnam are still mainly focusing on the relationship between the role of the press and media in creating and orienting public opinion, but have not directly mentioned the role of social criticism. That is, these studies have touched on the nature of social criticism of the press and media but have not yet named it as a concept of social criticism (like the studies of Tran Huu Quang, Nguyen Quy Thanh, Mai Quynh Nam...)

1.5. Some doctoral theses have conducted in-depth research on social criticism in the press, but they fall into two cases: The first case is to research social criticism in the press through the perspective of a field other than journalism (such as Do Van Quan's approach through the perspective of sociology, Nguyen Van Minh's approach through the perspective of political science...). The second case is to research social criticism in the press through the perspective of journalism but falls into the case of general research rather than specific research. In fact, this general research examines the cross-section of the event, causing the comments on the research results to be subjective and unsystematic (like the case of Tran Xuan Than).

In summary: Research on social criticism and social criticism in the press is not a new research issue. However, there has been no work that directly addresses the approach to social criticism as a role of the press and media and its perception in relation to its nature as a role in guiding public opinion.

 

Chapter 2

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BASIS OF SOCIAL CRITICISM AND GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC OPINION OF ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPERS

2.1 Basic concepts of the research problem

2.1.1. Objection

Through analyzing different definitions of criticism by many authors, the thesis tentatively understands criticism in the following aspects:

- Criticism is the expression of the inner meaning of critical activity, appearing in all areas of life.

- Criticism is not necessarily refutation. Criticism is an objective, logical, and scientifically evidenced assessment and comment on an issue or phenomenon in life. Therefore, criticism includes both “praise” and “criticism”.

- Criticism appears after a thorough, serious and thorough study and research of the object being criticized. Therefore, when talking about criticism, it means talking about objective and scientific comments and assessments. Criticisms based on the subjective purpose of the critic are no longer true to the spirit of the term criticism.

- True criticism, no matter how it is expressed, is always for the purpose of building, not for rejection or rejection.

2.1.2. Social criticism

Social criticism is approached in the thesis from the following aspects:

- Social criticism is using arguments, assessments, and judgments with a critical spirit to deal with major issues that directly affect a large part of the population.

- Social criticism is in form a large dialogue between social groups (possibly the government and the people...) to reconcile interests and conflicts in reality.

- Social criticism is formed and developed on the basis of pluralism of opinions on an issue or a phenomenon in society that is closely related to human life. Therefore, although the result of social criticism is consensus, in the discussion process, many different opinions, even conflicting ones, always appear.

- Social criticism is used to address urgent issues arising in society. Therefore, the ultimate goal of social criticism is to criticize public policy.

2.1.3. Social opinion

The concept of public opinion in English is “Public Opinion”, first used by J. Solsbery in the 12th century. But the first person to use this concept in the modern sense was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In Vietnamese, the term public opinion is called by many different names such as public opinion, public opinion, public opinion, mass opinion, public opinion…

From analyzing and citing the views of many researchers, we agree with the views of Mai Quynh Nam and Pham Chien Khu that public opinion is a manifestation of social consciousness whose nature is expressed in the actual activities of people. Public opinion is formed after the process of exchange and discussion in society.

In this thesis, the concept of public opinion is also considered as the result of the process of social discussion on a specific space platform - the space of electronic newspapers. Because it takes place on a specific space (presented in detail in section 2.4 of this chapter), public opinion resulting from the process of social discussion on electronic newspapers also has certain special features.

2.1.4. Guidance on public opinion

Many documents that we consulted mentioned the role of the press in orienting public opinion. Some documents even considered orienting public opinion as a function of the press.

The term “orientation” is both more rigid and more imposing than the term “guidance”. Not only that, the term “guidance” is used in legal documents of the state. Therefore, in this thesis, we agree to use the term “guidance of public opinion”.

2.1.5. Electronic newspaper

There are many different concepts of “Electronic journalism”. In English, this type is called “Electronic media/journalism”, “E-journalism”. To emphasize the online characteristics of this type of journalism, people also use the concepts “Online journalism”, “Online Newspaper”.

Electronic newspaper is the name for the type of press that uses the internet to provide information through the form of a website.

The characteristics of electronic newspapers are mentioned by many authors under 4 main perspectives: 1/ Multimedia capability; 2/ Immediate and non-periodic characteristics; 3/ Interactivity and 4/ Ability to store and search for information. [Nguyen Thi Truong Giang, 2011, pages 103-146]

In the framework of this thesis, we are interested in the third characteristic of this type of journalism, which is online interactivity. This can be considered the strength of electronic newspapers in creating an environment to form public opinion of the press.

2.2. The relationship between social criticism and social opinion guidance of electronic newspapers

The dialectical, inseparable relationship between the role of social criticism and the guidance of public opinion of the press can be seen more deeply in the following aspects: The sustainability of social norms; Social criticism is the rational basis for public opinion; Public opinion gathers and disseminates social norms to create new trends of impact. Public opinion directly reflects the effectiveness of social criticism.

2.3. Content, methods of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of electronic newspapers

2.3.1. Social criticism content and guidance on public opinion

Our thesis approaches the content of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of electronic newspapers from the following perspectives:

The first, electronic newspapers criticize drafts, policies, guidelines, laws of state agencies and organizations in the political system.

Monday,Electronic newspapers in the process of informing also provide scientific and practical basis for projects, decisions and public policies.

Tuesday,Electronic newspapers participate in fighting against negativity, bureaucracy, corruption...

2.3.2.Methods of social criticism and guidance of public opinion

With the approach of this thesis, electronic newspapers use specific methods of social criticism and public opinion guidance as follows:

Firstly, electronic newspapers provide timely and multi-dimensional information and data based on social norms in the process of performing the role of social criticism and guiding public opinion.

Second, electronic newspapers provide information and multimedia data in the process of performing the role of social criticism and guiding public opinion.

Third, electronic newspapers organize direct discussions on issues raised in the process of social criticism and guide public opinion.

2.4. Criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of electronic newspapers

From the arguments and analysis of the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of information and social criticism by many authors, we propose a set of criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of social criticism and guiding public opinion of electronic newspapers as follows:

Level 1: Receptive levelpublic.

Level 2: Level of public discussion and response

Level 3: Actual effectiveness (the extent to which policy impact and actual change are affected)

2.5. Viewpoints of the Vietnamese Party and State on the role of the press in social criticism and guiding public opinion

From the analysis of many documents and directives of the Communist Party of Vietnam and legal documents of the Vietnamese State, the thesis generalizes three basic viewpoints of the Party and the Vietnamese State on the role of the press in social criticism and guiding public opinion: 1/ The press must contribute to strengthening criticism and self-criticism throughout society; 2/ The press must create a broad forum for people to discuss and contribute opinions; 3/ The press must actively criticize society and guide public opinion.

2.6. Social criticism and public opinion guidance from the perspective of Public Space theory, Agenda setting and Two-step flow

The thesis introduces the content of three commonly used communication theories, and at the same time, analyzes the approach and process of applying the content of these theories to the thesis.

Chapter 3

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CRITICISM AND SOCIAL OPINION GUIDELINES OF TUOI TRE AND VNEXPRESS ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPERS

3.1. Social criticism content and guidance on public opinion

The thesis conducted a survey of 1,745 news articles in Vnexpress newspaper and 1,268 articles in Tuoi Tre related to 92 events and incidents that were socially criticized in the two newspapers from 2010 to 2016. The author of the thesis classified the content of social criticism and guided public opinion according to the 3 criteria mentioned in chapter 2 of the thesis. The criteria are coded as follows:

ND1: Content 1, commenting on drafts, policies, guidelines, and laws of state agencies.

ND2: Content 2, Providing scientific and practical basis for projects, decisions and public policies

ND3: Content 3, Participate in fighting against negativity, bureaucracy, corruption...

The results are as follows:

Board3.1: Survey results on social criticism and social opinion guidance on online newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre from 2010 - 2016.

Through the survey results, we can see some problems as follows:

The first,The general trend of the two newspapers is to focus on criticizing drafts, policies, guidelines, and laws of state agencies and providing scientific and practical bases for projects, decisions, and public policies (contents 1 and 2). Content 3 (participating in fighting negativity, bureaucracy, and corruption) has a lower number of articles and ratio.

Monday,In the content of "providing scientific and practical basis for projects, decisions, and public policies", both newspapers have a lower number of events but a higher number of articles than the first content (criticizing drafts, policies, guidelines, and laws of state agencies).

Tuesday,Tuoi Tre newspaper has both a higher number and rate of articles against negativity, bureaucracy, and corruption than Vnexpress, although the total number of articles in this content of Vnexpress is higher. This shows the nature of the two newspapers that the thesis surveyed.

3.1.1.PReview drafts, policies, guidelines, laws of state agencies and organizations in the political system.

Social criticism with these contents often focuses on the stage of policy formation. The press participates in social criticism so that policies and guidelines can be contributed and examined from many different perspectives, helping public agencies make correct decisions, in accordance with the practical benefits of social life.

However, there are also cases where the press also participates in social criticism and guides public opinion in each stage of policy implementation because there are actual developments that are different from the original policy. At this time, the press performs both the function of supervision and the function of social criticism to promptly adjust decisions, and at the same time, plays the role of guiding public opinion so that the public has a clear and complete understanding of guidelines and policies.

A series of articles on “owner vehicles” and “urban traffic flow” in Vnexpress and many other Vietnamese electronic newspapers have created a powerful social counter-argument and contributed directly to adjusting the policies of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Security.

First,Both series created a lively discussion forum, attracting many social sectors to participate.

Monday,Both series demonstrate professionalism in the process of informing about the issues discussed. Combining genres that emphasize information and criticism such as news, reflection, interview, etc.

Tuesday, both create a broad discussion forum, but there are fundamental differences between the two series.

WednesdayFrom the above methods of social criticism and guidance of public opinion, the focus on the factors in the criticism process in the two series of articles also shows differences.

3.1.2.ĐProvide scientific and practical basis for projects, decisions and public policies.

The best scientific basis is to get the opinions of highly qualified people. The best practical basis is to listen to the opinions of those involved, and most importantly, those who are directly affected by those projects, decisions, and policies. Therefore, a project, decision, or public policy when being socially criticized in an online newspaper is often a collection of three basic information channels: Information from the editorial office, information from experts, and information from public opinion.

Within the framework of the thesis, we analyze in depth two events on Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress. That is the event on the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City High-speed Railway Project in 2010 and the event of Replacing trees in Hanoi in 2015.

3.1.3.TParticipate in fighting against negativity, bureaucracy, corruption...

This is a content of social criticism and guidance of public opinion in which the two electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress have clearly demonstrated their roles through the events and issues mentioned, criticized and followed up to the end. Tuoi Tre newspaper is highly appreciated as a prestigious newspaper in fighting negativity and corruption. Vnexpress is also a quick and multi-dimensional newspaper in this content.

It can be affirmed that the process of social criticism and guidance of public opinion on the event of replacing trees in Hanoi has a great contribution (if not mainly) from the press and social networks.

The characteristics of social criticism and public opinion guidance of the press through the case of replacing trees are expressed in two main aspects. The first aspect, the series of articles on two pages of the newspaper has demonstrated the process of professional argumentation and persuasion of the press by closely combining logical information and emotional information to carry out the process of social criticism and public opinion guidance. This process has created the combined strength of social criticism and public opinion guidance in the way of arguing the issue.

The second aspect, by creating a broad, multi-dimensional forum among the public, the two newspapers have created a combined strength in the problem space in the process of social criticism.

3.2. Methods of social criticism and guidance of public opinion

Survey of 1,745 news articles in Vnexpress newspaper and 1,268 articles in Tuoi Tre related to 92 events and incidents in the two newspapers from 2010 to 2016. The author of the thesis classified the methods of social criticism and guidance of public opinion according to the 3 criteria mentioned in chapter 2 of the thesis. The criteria are coded as follows:

PT1: Provide timely and multi-dimensional information and data

PT2: Providing information, multimedia data

PT3: Organize direct discussions on the issues raised

The results are shown in the following table:

Table 3.4: Survey results on social criticism methods and social opinion guidance on Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress electronic newspapers from 2010 - 2016.

Firstly, the survey results of social criticism methods and social opinion guidance are statistically based on the methods that the two electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress used in their articles. Each article can converge some or all of the 3 classified methods, so the total results of the above table are often greater than 100%, different from the survey of social criticism content and social opinion guidance previously statistically, although the number of articles and events statistically are the same.

Second, both newspapers provide timely, multi-dimensional, factual information and data in each published article.

Third, both newspapers tried to connect and interact with the public through many methods and organized direct discussions on the surveyed issues. However, the rate of organizing direct discussions on Tuoi Tre newspaper was lower than that of Vnexpress.

Fourth, the works in the two newspapers have tried to apply multimedia elements to convey information, however, this application is not rich and thorough, and has not yet maximized the power of multimedia elements in conveying information as well as social criticism and guiding public opinion. Information is mainly used through written channels and still images.

3.2.1. Provide timely, multi-dimensional information, arguments and data based on social norms

The thesis examines two columns “Current events - Thoughts” of Tuoi Tre newspaper and “Perspectives” of Vnexpress to demonstrate the role of providing timely, multi-dimensional information, arguments and data on the basis of social norms of the two newspapers. The analysis is approached from the following aspects:

3.2.2.1. From personal perspective to social norms

3.2.2.2.From event to event

3.2.2.3.Critical clarity

3.2.2. Providing multimedia information and data

In the newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre, the use of multimedia elements to convey information is also applied in many articles.

The author of the thesis conducted a survey on the integration of multimedia elements into works on two electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress through a series of articles on the marine environmental incident in the Central region in 2016. The integration used the criteria set presented in the theoretical framework with 9 types of applications. The specific results are shown in the following table:

Table 3.5: Survey of the integration of multimedia elements in works during marine environmental incidents.

• Survey results, can see some characteristics:

Firstly, on both Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre online newspapers, the use of channels other than written elements has been focused on. However, the richness in the use of multimedia elements is not high.

Second, in Tuoi Tre online newspaper, the use of audio elements is more popular than in Vnexpress.

Third, Vnexpress’s use of multimedia elements is better and has a higher rate than Tuoi Tre’s. This can be understood from the limitation of Tuoi Tre being an online newspaper of a paper newspaper as analyzed in some other contents of this thesis. Meanwhile, Vnexpress is a purely electronic newspaper.

In particular, on Vnexpress, the proportion of video works produced by reporters accounts for a significant proportion (45 videos compared to 4 on Tuoi Tre online).

Thus, it can be seen that the use of multimedia elements on the two online newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre online has been initially integrated. However, the use of multimedia elements is still quite poor, especially on Tuoi Tre newspaper. Vnexpress online newspaper has shown the strength of online newspapers in conducting social criticism and guiding public opinion by conveying information in a visual, multimedia way. However, the strength of multimedia has not been fully utilized in this online newspaper.

3.2.3. Organize live discussions on the newspaper interface

Surveying the two sections Current Affairs - Thoughts of Tuoi Tre online newspaper and Viewpoint of Vnexpress, the author of the thesis found that the two online newspapers have created a rich discussion space with the participation of many social components.

In particular, in the process of discussing the content originally oriented by the editorial office, the participants have formed second public spaces. These are discussions that are deeper, even further than the content originally set by the editorial office. These discussions are extremely meaningful, affirming that the ideals set forth by Habermas in his theory still appear to some extent in the stage of internet development. Not only that, this second public space increases the value of democracy in the discussion process of the internet public in general and electronic newspapers in particular.

For convenience in analyzing and comparing the level of discussion according to the dominant content of the article, we divided the articles into 4 groups for survey, including: Politics - Society, Culture - Sports, Economy, Science - Education

The survey results are as follows:

Table 3.6: Number of readers' comments on each topic group

From the survey data above, some general comments can be made as follows:

First, the public is less concerned with economic issues than with other issues.

Second, primary space is still dominant.

Third, the discussion rate on the secondary space of Perspective is even and higher than Current Affairs - Thoughts.

Fourth, the distribution of discussions on the Current Affairs - Broader thinking on Perspectives.

3.3. Effective social criticism and guidance of public opinion

According to the framework for evaluating the effectiveness of social criticism and guiding public opinion proposed in chapter 2 of the thesis, the author conducted a survey and evaluation according to the established framework. The results are as follows:

 3.3.1. Level of reception

To evaluate the effectiveness of the argument at level 1, we used the Google Trends tool to collect quantitative data on the number of people searching globally from 2010 to 2016 with two newspapers, Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress.

From the results of comparing search trends on Google Trends of the two survey newspapers, three characteristics can be seen:

First, the two newspapers surveyed in the period 2010 - 2016 did not have a score of zero (0), thus, proving that the two newspapers were searched on a certain number, enough for Google Trends to be able to count globally. This quantitative information may be sufficient to conclude the level of public reception to the counter-message in the two survey items.

Second, looking at the fluctuations from 2010 to 2016, it can be seen that from 2010 to August 2012, the number of news searches on the Tuoi Tre interface was superior to that of Vnexpress. However, from August 2012, Vnexpress surpassed and was always greater than the number of searches on Tuoi Tre newspaper until the end of 2016. This could be an important indicator, illustrating the development of online newspapers and the decline of print newspapers globally.

3.3.2. Level of public discussion and response

The thesis surveyed public feedback on two sections “Current events - Thoughts” of Tuoi Tre newspaper and “Perspectives” of Vnexpress. From the results of this survey, we continued to divide the survey period into two stages from 2013 - 2014 and 2015 - 2016 to see the changes in the results of public discussion on the survey section. This change is partly directly affected by the editorial direction. This result further affirms the role of promoting public participation in public discussion of the two online newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre online.

Ksurvey resultsfeedbackbetween two stages2013 - 2014and 2015 - 2016 in News - Thoughts

 

Ksurvey resultsfeedbackbetween two stages2013 - 2014and 2015 - 2016 on the itemViewpoint

 

 

From the survey results in the table above, we can draw some comments on the movement of discussion in the public space of the News - Thoughts section of Tuoi Tre online newspaper as follows:

First, the number of responses to the Current Affairs - Thoughts section increased significantly in the two periods. From only 480 responses in 2013 - 2014, it increased to 7,895 responses in 2015 - 2016. Thus, between the two periods, the number of responses increased 16.5 times. This result reflects two issues:

Firstly, the need for discussion in the space of Tuoi Tre newspaper, specifically the Current Events - Public Thoughts section, has increased.

Second, the improvement and investment in infrastructure and human resources for Tuoi Tre electronic newspaper has increased following the general trend of the world today.

Second, the tendency of readers to discuss and express their opinions and views increased significantly between the two periods.

Third, the public tends to respond more positively and is more conscious in presenting their opinions.

The survey results in the Perspective section between the two periods 2013 - 2014 and 2015 - 2016 show the following characteristics:

Firstly, similar to Current Affairs - Thoughts, the number of responses to the Perspectives section also increased significantly. Specifically, if in the period 2013 - 2014 there were 8,158 responses, then in the period 2015 - 2016 it increased to 38,345 responses (4.7 times more). This reflects a clear increase in public interest in the Perspectives section - which is a new section built since the end of 2013. It also shows that the audience of Vnexpress is still a number worthy of its position as the leading electronic newspaper in Vietnam for many years.

Second, overall, the public tends to reduce discussion by giving direct opinions and adding viewpoints.

Third, the public tends to favor factual recommendations and predictive data.

Fourth, the number of short, purely emotional, unrelated responses to the article is still increasing.

The survey results on the two sections show a clear difference in response rates in the content of the same section as well as between the two sections of the two newspapers. These figures highlight the following characteristics:

Firstly, in terms of the number of responses, on the Perspectives section of Vnexpress, the number of responses is much higher than the Current Events - Thoughts section on Tuoi Tre online (nearly 8 times).

Third, the response type with the lowest percentage in both categories is type 3 (providing data, predictions) with 3.75% in Current Affairs - Thoughts and 5.06 in Perspectives, respectively. In this type, in Current Affairs - Thoughts, group 1 (providing data based on personal experience) has an overwhelming percentage (2.71%), while in Perspectives, the two response groups have relatively equal percentages (2.63% and 2.43%).

Fourth, the response rates between the groups in the two categories are quite different.

3.3.3. Actual effectiveness

The author of the thesis conducted a survey of issues raised for social criticism in Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre online newspapers from 2013 to 2016 and divided these events into three categories to evaluate the actual effectiveness of social criticism: 1/ Issues that were only criticized and discussed in the mass media but not resolved in reality. 2/ Issues that were criticized were only partially resolved in reality and not thoroughly. 3/ Issues that were criticized were completely resolved in reality (for example, the National Assembly completely rejected the North-South high-speed railway project, canceled the Long Bien bridge renovation project, individuals involved in the tree cutting incident in Hanoi were disciplined...).

The results are as follows:

From 2013 to 2016, 1,095 articles on Tuoi Tre and 745 articles on Vnexpress were surveyed with the percentage of events mentioned and the actual results after rebuttal as follows:

 

Board3.7: statistics on the actual effectiveness of issues debated on Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress from 2013 - 2016.

Looking at the survey results above, we can see some of the following characteristics:

Firstly, the number of problems that are thoroughly resolved after criticism is not high in practice.

Second, most of the events that were debated in the press from 2013 to 2016 were only discussed in newspapers and on social media.

Third, many problems, although solved in practice, are only partially solved.

Chapter 4

SOME ISSUES AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CRITICISM AND GUIDANCE OF PUBLIC OPINION OF ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPERS

4.1 Evaluation of the role of social criticism and guidance of public opinion on the two electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress

4.1.1. Advantages

Through the research results on the content, form and effectiveness of social criticism and guidance of public opinion of the electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress, it can be seen that both newspapers have some advantages as follows:

The first, has established messages with high social criticism value. That value is shown first of all in the information value that the works bring to the public.

Monday,The most outstanding advantage of the electronic newspapers Tuoi Tre and Vnexpress in the research of this thesis is that the two newspapers have created a lively, rich, multi-dimensional discussion forum and have initially demonstrated some aspects of the theory of "Public space" and the theory of "two-step flow".

Tuesday,The two electronic newspapers have initially applied the advantages of electronic newspapers to the process of social criticism and guiding public opinion. That advantage is demonstrated through two aspects:

Firstly, with the advantage of direct interaction through the newspaper interface, electronic newspapers in general and the two survey newspaper pages in particular have created lively and rich discussion forums, contributing to expanding the approach as well as the amount of information in the process of social criticism and guiding public opinion.

Second, with the advantage of multimedia, the two newspapers have initially integrated visual elements such as videos, graphics, press photos, etc. as well as audio elements into presenting information in addition to traditional written elements.

Wednesday,The two newspapers have created a reciprocal relationship between the value of social criticism and the value of guiding public opinion. Social criticism creates a rational and scientific foundation for the formation and guidance of public opinion. On the contrary, public opinion formed from the value of social criticism has a direct impact on the process of changing public awareness as well as changing public policies. In this aspect, social criticism and guiding public opinion are like two sides of the role of electronic newspapers.

4.1.2. Disadvantages

Besides the advantages, the two electronic newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre also revealed some limitations as follows:

The first,Although it has initially created effective social criticism and guided public opinion at all three levels: message reception, public feedback and discussion, and practical effectiveness, at all three levels, the effectiveness is not comprehensive.

Monday,The limitations of agenda-setting in certain genres of work are also something to reflect on.

Tuesday,Multimedia is not yet fully utilized.

Wednesday,The public discussion space is still subject to many factors. The two most prominent issues we noted are:

Firstly, due to being controlled by the editorial board's discussion filtering team, public discussion comments cannot appear immediately on the forum. Secondly, all public discussion comments on the electronic bulletin space cannot be published, even if they do not violate the editorial board's requirements.

Rankyear,The intervention of opinion leaders in the discussion process on electronic newspapers is not as clear as on social networks.

4.2. Issues raised from research results

4.2.1. Problems from social criticism content of the press

We think that sections like “Perspectives” or “Current Affairs - Thoughts” should focus more on policy issues and social supervision instead of participating in social criticism on all major and minor issues in life. Obviously, reporting and commenting on all issues is the duty of the press. But social criticism as a contribution to policy change, as a result of a social supervision process, needs broader, more comprehensive perspectives and “heavier” social criticism.

4.2.2. Issues from the discussion environment in electronic newspapers

To have a good public discussion, one of the important factors is to have a good public environment for the discussion process to take place. The discussion environment on the Internet, as analyzed earlier, has many advantages but also reveals too many disadvantages. Electronic newspapers themselves are a special public space, there are also many issues that need to be mentioned in influencing the discussion process. The three most important issues are: 1/ The intervention of the editorial office in the public discussion process, 2/ The legitimacy of the discussion content and 3/ The disadvantages stemming from the special nature of the public space on electronic newspapers.

4.2.3. Issues from public opinion

Through the analysis of public opinion on two electronic newspapers in the thesis, we can see some issues as follows:

The first, public opinion on electronic newspapers is currently at the third stage (the stage of collective debate on issues) in the stages of public opinion analyzed in the theoretical part. The fourth stage of public opinion has not been clearly shown (the stage of forming opinions, judgmental attitudes and possibly leading to common behavior, in other words, the stage of transition from public opinion to practical action).

Monday, the influence of the feedback “filtering” process, especially the filtering of duplicate feedback in terms of content, has greatly affected the intensity attribute of public opinion.

4.3 Solutions to promote social criticism and guide public opinion on electronic newspapers

4.3.1. General solution

4.3.1.1. Group of solutions on awareness of social components with social criticism activities and public opinion

4.3.1.2. Group of solutions on policy mechanisms and laws for social criticism and public opinion

4.3.1.3. Group of solutions on social criticism and public opinion

4.3.1.4. Solution groups with agenciespress and journalism training facilities

First, about the editorial office's principles, purposes, and information orientation..

Monday, on the editorial board's social criticism content.

Third, about the critical thinking capacity of staff in the electronic newspaper editorial office.

Fourth, on views on public opinion on electronic newspapers.

4.3.2. Specific solution with two survey pages

4.3.2.1. Enhance different approaches to the same problem

4.3.2.2. Strengthen the connection between items

4.3.2.3. Better appreciate the role of feedback

 4.3.2.4. Diversify feedback channels

CONCLUDE

1. From the research results, it can be seen that the role of social criticism and guiding public opinion of electronic newspapers has both common characteristics of the press and unique features specific to the type. With the advantages of the online type, the role of creating and monitoring the public discussion process, according to the author of the thesis, is the most important and emphasized role of electronic newspapers in social criticism and guiding public opinion. With this role, creating "Two-step flows" or "Multi-step flows" in the communication process is a characteristic of electronic newspapers in the developing internet environment. In addition, the role of "Setting the agenda" of the editorial office is also clearly demonstrated in the process of establishing messages, selecting information and structuring messages of works. Promoting the advantages of the type, electronic newspapers also need to increase the integration of multimedia in message design and information transmission.

2. The results of the thesis also basically verify the hypotheses presented in the introduction of the thesis. Specifically as follows:

Through the process of monitoring public discussion and the process of setting the agenda of social criticism messages, electronic newspapers have contributed to guiding public opinion in the process of social criticism on life issues. Thus, the role of social criticism of electronic newspapers in particular and the press in general is to influence public opinion so that public opinion creates pressure and impacts on the practical process. It can be said that hypothesis 1 of the thesis:“The press impacts real life through guiding public opinion. From those impacts, contributing to public opinion directly impacting social life,contributechange practice”has been confirmed.

• Through the online feedback function, electronic newspapers have created a public forum to discuss political and social issues in life in general, thereby forming an electronic public space like the model that Habermas stated in the Public Space theory. Not only that, the first and second level feedback forms presented in the thesis also prove that the "two-step flow" is created. Although not directly demonstrated in the thesis, it can be seen that, besides the "two-step flow" of information created by electronic newspapers, the internet environment also creates other "multi-step flows" on social networks and other platforms. With the characteristics of the type, the two electronic newspapers Vnexpress and Tuoi Tre have also initially integrated multimedia elements such as video, audio, inforgraphics... into their works. That proves that hypothesis 2 of the thesis is also proven:“Electronic newspapers with the strengths of the online form have different roles compared to other forms in performing the role of social criticism such as creating a direct discussion forum for the public to discuss and contribute opinions; creatingmultimedia messages in the process of social criticism; creating“multi-step flow” in the public discussion process…”

The results of the thesis also analyzed and evaluated the roles of the press as a "professional speaking" agency in the process of social criticism through characteristics such as "From personal perspective to social norms", "from events to events", "clear criticism". The thesis also analyzed and evaluated the characteristics and features that the electronic newspaper message set out in the article such as "Guiding message", "Highly rational message"... thus, hypothesis 3 of the thesis“The editorial office and journalists have an agenda-setting role in the process of organizing messages to influence and guide public opinion.”also confirmed.

The thesis also pointed out, analyzed and evaluated the characteristics of public space in electronic newspapers. In particular, the thesis emphasized the unique characteristics of the Vietnamese electronic public space governed by the virtuality of the internet public space and the cultural and social characteristics of Vietnam. The five characteristics of public space in Vietnamese electronic newspapers pointed out and analyzed in chapter 3 of the thesis also confirm hypothesis 4 of the thesis:“Public opinion in the Vietnamese electronic gazette space has very distinct characteristics in the process of participating in social criticism.These characteristics are governed by the virtuality of the internet space and the cultural and social characteristics specific to the Vietnamese context.”.

• has a role in creating the quality of social criticism at the level of reception, discussion and public feedback, but the actual quality of electronic newspapers has been proven by the thesis to not be as effective as expected from this activity as analyzed from theory. In fact, the press is a factor that contributes to influencing public opinion but does not completely create public opinion at the overall level of this institution. Public opinion also moves on its own and is influenced and directed by many other factors. This result also contributes to confirming hypothesis 5 of the thesis: “QualitySocial criticism in the press in general and online newspapers in particular is not comprehensive, as shown by the uneven effectiveness of solving practical problems.

3. Unresolved issues in the thesis:

Rankbest,The thesis has not quantified the specific impacts of the editorial office through the work on public opinion, nor has it quantified the process of setting the editorial office's agenda in the work. This is a complex requirement and difficult to solve according to the approach of the thesis. The author of the thesis hopes to be able to present these results in another research work.

Second, the survey subjects of the thesis are two large electronic newspapers, continuously for a period of 7 years. Although we tried to choose one purely electronic newspaper, one electronic newspaper with a paper version, and at the same time, we chose many case studies as well as two very specific columns of the two newspapers to survey, but the coverage is still not high when both surveyed newspapers are still two strong newspapers with a large audience. In fact, there are smaller electronic newspapers with a smaller audience such as Vnexpress or Tuoi Tre, so the frequency and frequency of discussions surveyed in this thesis will be difficult to be accurate. There are even electronic newspapers that currently do not have discussions or the editorial office does not have a public mode for public feedback. Therefore, to have a more comprehensive result, more clearly showing the public discussion situation on Vietnamese electronic newspapers, a larger study with a richer sample size than this study is needed.

Third, the thesis has not yet examined the process of social discussion on social networks and other platforms of/with the internet, a step forward that started from the sharing of works on electronic newspapers. The analysis of this second discussion process, in many cases, reflects more accurately and clearly the content of public discussion on social issues. However, the scope of the study as well as the capacity and approach of the thesis do not allow it, so I would like to reserve this direction for a subsequent research project on comparing the public space of electronic newspapers and social networks in Vietnam by the thesis author.

LIST OF AUTHOR'S SCIENTIFIC WORKS

RELATED TO THE THESIS

1. Phan Van Kien (2014) Interpretation of the culture of fear of the modern Vietnamese media public, Proceedings of the Scientific Conference for Young Cadres and Postgraduate Students, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi National University Publishing House, pp. 34-56.
2. Phan Van Kien (2015), Some issues of Vietnamese scientific journals participating in scientific criticism and social criticism,VNU Journal of Science, Social Sciences and Humanities JournalVol. 31, No. 2 (2015), pp. 29-38.
3. Phan Van Kien (2015), Social criticism on tuoitre.vn and vnexpress.net about the event of replacing trees in Hanoi in 2015,VNU Journal of Science, Social Sciences and Humanities JournalVol. 31, No. 5 (2015), pp. 34-45.
4. Phan Van Kien (2015),The specificity of public space in electronic newspapers, Proceedings of the Young Scientists Conference: Interdisciplinary research in social sciences and humanities, approaches from theoretical and practical perspectives, Hanoi National University Publishing House, pp. 14-27.
5. Phan Van Kien (2016),The Dethronement of Social Media or the Rise of Social Criticism and Individual Intelligence, Proceedings of the Scientific Conference “Journalism and Social Networks”, Center for Journalism Training and Journalists Magazine, Vietnam Journalists Association organized on December 2, 2015. Pages 130 – 139.
6. Phan Van Kien (2017), Development trends of modern journalism: Challenges for Vietnamese journalism,Communist Magazine, Profile - EventsNo. 353, pp. 26-28.
7. Phan Van Kien (2018), Discussion on the challenges of artificial intelligence to modern media,Journalism and Media – Key Issues (Volume 1), Hanoi National University Publishing House, pp. 160-166.
8. Phan Van Kien (2018), Characteristics of Discussion in "Public Sphere" of Vietnam Electronic Newspaper through "Newsand Opinion" Column – Tuoi Tre Newspaper,Journal of Sociology andAnthropology(Horizon Research Publishing - USA) 6(3): 337-347.