UNCLE HO'S TEACHINGS FOR JOURNALISTS

Admitting himself to be a person with many connections to journalism, throughout his life of revolutionary activities to save the country and save the people, Uncle Ho used journalism as a sharp weapon to fight the enemy while propagating and motivating the people to make a revolution to liberate the nation and the socialist revolution. He had over 2,000 articles of various genres, written for more than 50 newspapers and magazines at home and abroad, in many languages, expressing revolutionary ideology, patriotism and noble morality, with simple, popular language, with a diverse and attractive style, capable of moving the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of people around the world. At the same time, Uncle Ho's teachings on journalism are a priceless treasure of Vietnamese revolutionary journalism theory. At the end of 1924, Nguyen Ai Quoc returned to directly lead the Vietnamese revolution, establishing the “Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association”, the predecessor of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Besides opening training classes and recruiting members, the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association published the Thanh Nien newspaper, the first issue of which was published on June 21, 1925, and continued to be published until the end of 1929 when the Association ended its historical role. The mission of the revolutionary press since its inception was explained simply but greatly: to propagate “so that more and more people know the Party’s purpose”.[1].
At the 2nd Congress of the Vietnam Journalists Association (April 16, 1959), President Ho Chi Minh advised journalists: “All journalists must have a firm political stance. Politics must be in charge. Only when the political line is correct can other things be correct.”
At the 3rd Congress of the Vietnam Journalists Association, he pointed out: “The task of the press is to serve the people, to serve the revolution. That is the task of our entire Party, our entire people, and also the task of our press.”[2]. The press is an important component in the entire ideological and cultural work of the Party. President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: “Our Party is strong because our Party has a unified ideology and unified actions from top to bottom. The Party's newspaper has the task of making ideology and action clear and unified.”[3].
The Resolution of the Politburo on December 8, 1958 affirmed: Journalists are also revolutionary soldiers. Pens and paper are their sharp weapons. To fulfill their glorious duty, Uncle Ho taught, “...journalists need to cultivate revolutionary ethics, strive to improve their ideology, expertise and culture; focus on political study to grasp the Party's guidelines and the Government's policies; go deep into reality, go deep into the working masses...”[4]. The Party newspaper is like a simple, practical and widespread training course. It teaches us what we need to know about propaganda, organization, leadership and work. Every day it helps to improve our political level and work productivity. If we just work without reading or studying the Party newspaper, it is like walking around blindly at night; we will definitely stumble, stumble and fail.[5].
President Ho Chi Minh considered the honesty of journalists a very important ethical standard in journalistic activities.
A true journalist must be professional, honest, objective, and respect the truth. President Ho Chi Minh taught: “If you don’t know clearly, don’t understand clearly, don’t say, don’t write. When there’s nothing to say, nothing to write, don’t say, don’t write nonsense” and “If you haven’t investigated, researched, or known clearly, don’t say, don’t write.”[6]At the same time, he also required journalists in all cases of praise and criticism to have pure and objective motives, and not to write articles for personal, selfish, or profit-making purposes. He believed that "a newspaper that is not desired by the majority of the masses is not worthy of being a newspaper".
Revolutionary journalists must not only fulfill their responsibilities as revolutionaries, but also be exemplary in obeying the law, fulfilling their civic duties, fulfilling their social responsibilities, and must always cultivate the art of propaganda so that messages can spread widely among the public.

In the article Propagandists and Propaganda published in the newspaperTruthNo. 79 (from June 26, 1947 to July 9, 1947), President Ho Chi Minh wrote: "Propaganda is to tell people something so that they understand, remember, follow, and do. If that goal is not achieved, propaganda has failed."
President Ho Chi Minh pointed out the effective propaganda method: “Propaganda people must always ask themselves: Who are you writing for? Who are you telling? If not, it is like intentionally not wanting people to hear, not wanting people to see.”[7].
The purpose of President Ho Chi Minh's speaking and writing was to make theory accessible and easy to understand for everyone. He used a simple, specific, practical way of speaking and writing and criticized the habit of "bragging", the type of "often speaking one-sidedly and sometimes exaggerating achievements, but rarely or not speaking properly about our difficulties and shortcomings". He taught: "When stating good things, good things, we must be moderate, do not exaggerate. Say it like it is."[8].
President Ho Chi Minh often wrote very briefly but with high general meaning. Through only 9 words "The French fled, the Japanese surrendered, King Bao Dai abdicated", he summarized all 3 turbulent periods of the country. Many sentences were condensed into mottos: "The country takes the people as its foundation", "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom", "For the benefit of ten years, we must plant trees, for the benefit of a hundred years, we must cultivate people"... Therefore, his great thoughts became easy to learn, easy to remember, quickly entered the masses, guiding them to action.
The late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong once wrote: “Throughout his life, Ho Chi Minh was a writer who fought on the cultural and journalistic front with a diverse and nuanced writing style, the highlight of which was his popular character, his way of thinking and expressing himself in a folk, easy-to-understand way, deeply resonating in people's hearts, evoking great ideas, promoting good deeds, with words rich in imagery, expressing great things with small words.”[9].
The Vietnamese revolutionary practice over the past century has proven that, under the leadership of the Party, the Vietnamese revolutionary press has made remarkable progress in all aspects, making great and important contributions to the victory of the Vietnamese revolution.
President Ho Chi Minh's views on the functions, tasks, and nature of revolutionary journalism; on the role, obligations, and ethics of journalists; on the art of "writing" to create a journalistic work and a newspaper that has the power to move the public remain valuable for journalists today.