At the 2016 World Economic Forum held in Davos (Switzerland), Professor Klaus Schwab stated that the 4.0 industrial revolution is taking place in 3 main areas: biotechnology, digital technology, and physics. In which, digital technology is related to the development of mass media in general and journalism in particular. Digital technology is changing the way newspapers are produced and distributed. Therefore, there is a need for journalists who are trained to adapt to new technology.
President Ho Chi Minh also affirmed: "When talking about journalism, we must first talk about journalists." Inheriting Ho Chi Minh's ideology, our Party and State always pay attention to training and fostering journalism human resources.
On December 1, 2004, the Politburo issued conclusion notice 162-TB/TW on "some measures to strengthen press management in the new situation", which clearly stated: "Pay more attention to training and improving the qualifications of journalists in terms of political awareness and professional expertise, professional ethics, social responsibility and civic duty".
On the occasion of the 98th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, VietTimes reporter had an interview about the issue of training journalism human resources with Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Deputy Director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (VNU Hanoi), Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Digital Communications Association.
PV: Madam, could you tell us how the journalism training programs at universities are now, and whether they meet the practical needs of journalism?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen:Currently, there are many training institutions in the field of Journalism and Multimedia Communications nationwide to provide human resources for the journalism and communications industry. In general, the training programs ensure standards in terms of duration, structure, content, and training forms according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and the governing body. Each university has its own strengths and therefore the training programs in Journalism also reflect the identity and capacity of each school.
With the Journalism training program of the Institute of Journalism and Communication, we design it based on the general regulations of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi. In particular, the program is built on the foundation of knowledge of social sciences and humanities, which is the outstanding competitive advantage of the University compared to other training units. Accordingly, Bachelors of Journalism of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities will apply knowledge and skills in basic social sciences from experienced teachers in Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Linguistics, Literature, History, etc. to create modern press and communication products to meet the increasing demands of press agencies and serve a diverse public.
I do not have enough data to evaluate all the Journalism training programs of all current journalism training institutions to see if they meet practical needs. However, the results of independent assessment surveys on the quality of Journalism training conducted by the accreditation agency licensed by the Ministry of Education and Training have shown that employers are highly satisfied with our Institute's graduates. Many generations of our students have been and are engaging in the challenging work of journalism with confidence, professionalism and passion to contribute to society and to their profession.
Because journalism is a field that involves technology, there is always rapid movement and change, so journalism training programs will always have to keep up with that change to update and adjust if they do not want to fall behind. The press public is also changing in the direction of becoming more proactive in participating in the media, so that is also a challenge for journalism training programs.
PV: Do you see any difficulties in creating the best curriculum for journalism students (difficulties in equipment, finance...)?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen:I think that to teach journalism well, the system of lecture halls and facilities for journalism need to be invested in and innovated regularly, even simulated or equipped as in real newsrooms, so that students can visualize and practice journalism right from school. Having that is the wish of all schools that train in journalism.
However, if the students are well equipped with technical facilities but do not have passion for the profession, it will be difficult to create good journalists. Students really need to be inspired to pursue their careers from talented and enthusiastic journalists who have gone before them. Therefore, technology is only a part, more importantly, it is still the attitude of the users, controlling those devices and technologies in their professional practice.
PV: How is journalism students' access to technology today, madam? Does the school have equipment such as video cameras, cameras, and high-configuration computers for teaching, madam?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen:The Institute of Journalism and Communication is fully equipped with smart, multimedia classrooms, radio, television, and photojournalism studios with advanced, modern quality. Journalism students are taught in practice rooms, helping them master the skills of using specialized machines. Many of the products they create have been used in practice by many press offices.
PV: Has the number of students enrolling in Journalism courses increased or decreased in recent years, madam?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen: Journalism is still an attractive profession for young people because of its dynamism. The number of students enrolling in Journalism in recent years has tended to increase, so the standard score for admission to Journalism at universities is also very high. In the 2022-2023 school year, the entrance score for Block C of the Journalism major at our Institute of Journalism and Communication is a record high: 29.9 points. With such a high score, the input quality of the Journalism major at the School can be said to be excellent, promising to "produce" talented future journalists to contribute to society.
PV: Currently, high technologies such as AI and Big Data are developing very strongly. They can replace journalists writing short news stories, or even replace real people hosting TV news. In your opinion, can AI completely replace the work of journalists in the future?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen:I think AI is a great technology application that helps people in general and journalists in particular to work more conveniently. Currently, AI has supported journalists in many stages of performing their tasks.
However, I believe that AI will hardly completely replace the work of journalists, because journalism needs to ensure many standards of both expertise and professional ethics that AI may violate due to limitations in the quality of the system's input data sources.
PV: In your opinion, what policies does the government, specifically the Ministry of Education and Training, need to have to support the training of journalism students?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen:I think that training students in Journalism should be considered the same as in many other fields. The policies and regulations on journalism training that are currently being applied are appropriate and there is no need for any special support policies.
PV: If you could give one piece of advice to students to become a talented journalist, what would you say?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen:A teacher of mine once said that journalism is a profession that can be learned but not taught. This is not to say that no one can teach journalism, and if so, our work is meaningless, but rather to emphasize the need for self-study, self-improvement of professional skills and qualities of journalists. There are still good journalists who have not been through formal training in journalism, but that number is certainly not many.
In my opinion, to become a journalist with a professional mark, journalism students must be clearly aware of the mission and purpose of journalism in order to strive to fulfill their goals and tasks. Simply put, journalists must love their profession, must be courageous in "throwing" themselves into vibrant reality to understand the hidden truths behind the numbers, the fate of life, especially of the disadvantaged in society. If you just like sitting in air-conditioned rooms and traveling to check in at luxurious places, then don't be foolish enough to choose to study Journalism because you will not be able to see the beauty of this profession!
PV: Thank you for this interview!
By the end of May 2022, the country had 816 press agencies, including: 114 newspapers and 116 magazines operating in two types of print and electronic newspapers; 557 print newspapers and magazines; 29 independent electronic newspapers and magazines; 72 agencies operating in the field of radio and television.
The press human resources include 41,600 people working in all 4 types. The total number of journalists with cards is nearly 18,000 people. The human resources working in press and media agencies in Vietnam are mainly trained from journalism training institutions and a small number are talented, passionate about journalism, and mature from practice..
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