On May 29, 2013, the Faculty of Journalism and Communication (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi) in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (Germany) organized an international seminar with the theme “Economic journalism model in Vietnam and Germany: the appearance of economic information in the press and media”. The seminar aimed to clarify the current situation of economic journalism in Germany and Vietnam, share experiences in developing economic journalism and skills in processing and conveying economic information in the press.
Presenting at the seminar were many famous journalists, press and media experts such as: Miriam Viola von Wrochem (Committee for Culture and Media of the Federal Republic of Germany), Dr. Tran Ngoc Chau (General Director of the economic and financial TV channel FBNC), Dr. Dang Duc Long (Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Financial Times)...
Speaker Miriam Viola von Wrochem presented a paper on the German and European economic context as reflected in the German press and the information regulatory role of the German Federal Press and Information Office in supporting journalists in finding information on policies, data, etc. related to the country's economic issues. The paper brought up an important realization that in order to have a professional and developed economic press, it is necessary to have a source of official, professional, transparent, and responsible economic information from the government to the press.
Dr. Dang Duc Long gave a sharp and engaging presentation on the challenges of Vietnamese economic journalism in the integration process. The author stated that along with the country's development in the period of innovation and international integration, economic information is increasingly taking up a large proportion in all types of journalism, including print, television, radio and electronic newspapers. Vietnamese economic journalism is currently making strong strides to affirm its true stature and position, as well as to meet social needs. However, the issue of information quality and professionalism in the work of economic journalists still has many issues to discuss. Journalist Duc Long emphasized that the three most important characteristics that need to be ensured for economic journalism information are: accuracy, popularity and objectivity. Journalists working on economics must have specialized knowledge of economics and good professional skills, high journalistic ethics in handling and presenting objective information to the public, and a willingness to learn and regularly train themselves. Journalism training institutions need to have specialized training in the field of economic journalism. And a good financial mechanism is also needed for economic journalism to develop healthily and professionally.
Dr. Tran Ngoc Chau shared practical and hot lessons on how to successfully build and develop a financial economic television channel in Vietnam according to the socialized model. According to the founder and senior manager of FBNC, economic journalism requires caution because it is easy to be suspected, and insiders themselves are easily tempted by investors. To achieve success and its own brand, FBNC has identified the following principles: necessary, accurate, serious and respecting values. Collecting information from many sources and information transparency are also important factors in economic journalism.
Journalist Si Hoang (Vietnam Economic Times) shared his own experiences in the process of self-training and growing up to become a professional journalist in the field of economic journalism. He believes that the trend of narrow-field journalism will increasingly develop in Vietnam. Working in narrow-field journalism is truly a challenge for those who are working as professional journalists, because it requires in-depth knowledge almost like an expert, the ability to understand and be sensitive to practical situations and a high passion for the profession. Many economic journalism units, especially in narrow economic sections, face many difficulties in recruiting staff. Journalist Si Hoang himself, after many years of working, when switching to the economic sector, had to attend many in-depth courses on finance and economics to have knowledge equivalent to that of a person working in this profession, in order to meet the job requirements. He also emphasized the “risk” that journalism students are currently facing fierce competition with students majoring in economics and finance in their career fields.
A content that covered all the presentations at the seminar was what journalism training institutions will do to train economic journalism experts? Since 2012, in response to new requirements for journalism, the Faculty of Journalism and Communication of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has recruited more students from group A in order to standardize the input ratio between groups. In addition, the Faculty also proposed solutions: for students to learn specialized knowledge with economic experts, learn economic journalism skills with professional journalists working in the economic field; expand cooperation with universities in economics and finance as well as companies, banks, and economic groups to increase knowledge and experience for students; organize many economic seminars for the media and specialized students; publish publications, radio and television programs on economics produced by students during their studies...