"Thanks to journalism I learned many good things"

-Dear Doctor, as a researcher and person who conducts training for journalism personnel, on the occasion of the anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day June 21, could you share some of your thoughts with current journalists?

I would like to thank TBTCVN for allowing me to share a few things. To be honest, when I took the entrance exam to the Faculty of Journalism at the University of General Sciences more than 20 years ago, I did not think that I would become a lecturer after finishing my journalism studies. I am sure that my colleagues in our faculty did the same.

But after graduation, because we were the first class, the teachers gave us a chance to continue their careers. Maybe it was fate. Every profession has its own advantages and disadvantages. For me, journalism has always been an extremely interesting profession, and one of my greatest passions, because thanks to it, I learned so many good things from this life...

On the occasion of the anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day June 21, I would like to send my sincere thanks and best wishes to teachers, journalists, editorial offices, colleagues, alumni and journalism students.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen: "For me, journalism has always been an extremely interesting profession, and one of my greatest passions, because thanks to it, I have learned so many good things from this life..."

-From the perspective of someone who both works in training management and conducts research and teaching in the field of journalism, can you share some of your feelings about the pressures in journalism training in the current context?

Training activities in the field of journalism at any time have pressures and difficulties. Personally, I think journalism training currently has two outstanding difficulties. First of all, the rapid development of communication technology has brought the journalism industry many opportunities but also many challenges.

Many new forms and methods of communication have emerged, changing the face of the media industry, making it difficult for not only newsrooms but also training institutions to keep up. This leads to the second difficulty: from the training program framework to each class hour of lecturers, everything must be constantly renewed to meet the requirements of practical work.

The “static” element in training is increasingly narrowing, while the “dynamic” element is increasing, forcing both teachers and learners to constantly strive and be creative.

-In reality, many press agencies have produced different types of journalism in the same editorial office, including print, radio, television, and online newspapers. How have these practices and trends impacted journalism training today, Doctor?

Yes. That practice and trend of media convergence and multimedia integration has had a strong impact on journalism schools. With the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, about 10 years ago, we considered dividing the training majors according to journalism types for students right from the beginning of the first year.

However, through surveys of employers' needs, we found that comprehensive training, where students study more than one major, has a higher adaptability when graduating. Therefore, since 2012, we have adjusted the training program framework for the Journalism industry.

Accordingly, students can choose one or more majors including: (1) print - electronic newspapers, (2) radio - television, (3) PR - advertising from the 3rd semester. In addition, since 2013, the Faculty of Journalism and Communication is allowed to enroll students in the Public Relations major. Journalism students can also register to study for a double degree, a major - minor with the Public Relations major and vice versa.

With this new training organization based on the credit system, students are proactive in equipping themselves with more knowledge and skills than before so that they will have more career opportunities after graduation.

- Currently, there is a need to train human resources for specialized journalists - especially training in knowledge and skills in economic journalism. What is your opinion on this issue, Doctor?

It is difficult to include subjects and topics in journalism training programs on all majors, including economics. However, if future journalists are not equipped with specific knowledge about a field, it is difficult to do a good job right after graduation. After listening to the opinions of employers, we have included in the training program framework subjects that provide knowledge about a number of specialized journalism fields for students to choose according to their inclination.

For example, with the subject called “Specialized Journalism” consisting of 4 credits (equivalent to 60 hours of theory), students will be able to choose to study groups of knowledge and journalism skills on economics - finance, or domestic affairs, culture, society, international affairs, sports, law... depending on their needs.

However, both the duration and content of those subjects only partially meet the requirements of the editorial offices. Students still have to actively improve themselves while doing internships at the editorial offices. Both teachers and students in the department are always concerned about finding ways to reduce the gap between the requirements of practice and the training and learning capabilities in schools. Through this, we hope that journalists and editorial offices will join hands to help us so that students can quickly meet the requirements of the job.

Thank you very much, Doctor!

(According to Financial Times)