Uncle Ho's teachings for journalists

On the role and mission of the press and journalists

President Ho Chi Minh - the great teacher of Vietnamese revolutionary journalism

President Ho Chi Minh is a shining example of a revolutionary journalist and a great teacher of Vietnamese revolutionary journalism. Admitting that he had a great relationship with 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 and at the same time propagate and encourage the people to make revolution to liberate the nation and 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 newspaperAdolescent, the first issue was published on June 21, 1925, and was 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 will know the purpose of the Party".[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 everything else be correct.”.

Uncle Ho and journalists at the 2nd Congress of the Vietnam Journalists Association, April 16, 1959. Photo: Archive

Journalists are involved in socio-political activities through their journalism profession, so the mission of journalism is to serve the revolution, to serve the people, journalists must be revolutionary soldiers on all fronts. Therefore, a firm political stance is the standard and the top requirement for every journalist.

At the 3rd Congress of the Vietnam Journalists Association, he pointed out:“The mission of the press is to serve the people, to serve the revolution. That is the mission of our entire Party, our entire people, and also the mission of our press.”[2].

The press is an important component in the entire ideological and cultural work of the Party; it is one of the sharp and effective tools to build and foster the Party's political and ideological foundation; to propagate Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws, to mobilize, encourage and organize the people to carry out two strategic tasks: building and defending the Fatherland; at the same time, it is a bridge of friendship for Vietnam to expand exchanges and integration with the world. Based on the great and important role of the press in social life, the founders of Marxism-Leninism affirmed: The press has class character, party character, people character and culture character. The revolutionary Party must lead the revolutionary press, that is an immutable principle. President Ho 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].

Resolution of the Politburo dated December 8, 1958 affirmed:Journalists are also revolutionary soldiers. Pens and paper are their sharp weapons.To fulfill his 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 or understand clearly, don't say or write. When you have nothing to say or write, don't say or write nonsense."and"If you haven't investigated, researched, or known clearly, don't say or 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 wanted by the vast majority of the people is not worthy of being a newspaper.”.

The press must bring to the public confidence in the truth, confidence in the strictness of the law, especially confidence in the leadership of the Party, confidence in the policies and laws of the State, and the revolutionary tradition of our people. Revolutionary journalists must not only fulfill their responsibilities as revolutionaries but also be exemplary in abiding by 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.

On the art of propaganda

In the article Propagandists and Propaganda published in Truth newspaper No. 79 (from June 26, 1947 to July 9, 1947), President Ho Chi Minh wrote: “Propaganda is to tell something to the people so that they understand, remember, follow, and do. If that goal is not achieved, propaganda is a failure.”. To do so, one must have a firm grasp of the target audience. If the propagandist does not investigate, analyze, research, or understand the masses, but only speaks as he sees fit, writes whatever comes to mind, he will certainly fail. He also noted that the people are not all the same. For each target group, he required appropriate propaganda methods and priority must be given to the target group with low levels of awareness and culture. Because if one target group understands, the other targets will also grasp it easily.

President Ho Chi Minh talks to journalists, September 1960. Photo: ArchivePresident Ho Chi Minh pointed out the method of propaganda to achieve effectiveness "Propagandists must always ask themselves: Who are you writing for? Who are you telling it to? If not, it is like deliberately not wanting people to hear or 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 the popular character, the way of thinking and expressing folk, easy to understand, deeply resonating in people's hearts, evoking great thoughts, 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.