VNA upholds role as strategic, reliable information agency: Party chief

State President Luong Cuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, and President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee Do Van Chien sent flowers and congratulatory letters to the VNA on this occasion.

The event also saw the attendance of Politburo members and Party Central Committee secretaries: Phan Dinh Trạc, head of the committee’s Commission for Internal Affairs; and Nguyen Trong Nghia, head of the committee’s Commission for Information, Education, and Mass Mobilisation.

Politburo members: Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang and Minister of Public Security General Luong Tam Quang; along with Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung, member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son, and member of the Party Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh, also attended.

Also present were Party Central Committee members and alternate members; leaders of ministries and agencies; VNA leaders and former leaders; representatives of families of VNA journalist-martyrs; numerous VNA reporters, editors, technicians, and staff; and representatives from international news agencies and media organisations in Viet Nam.

Delivering a keynote speech at the celebration, Party General Secretary Lam laid stress on the agency’s historic contributions to the nation. Born and grown alongside the country’s development, generations of the VNA journalists, he said, have shown courage, dedication, and sacrifice, helping to chronicle the epic story of Viet Nam and its Party and people.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the Party chief extended warm congratulations and heartfelt sentiments to all VNA leaders, reporters, editors, technicians, and staff across generations, as well as to the families of journalist-martyrs and war-wounded journalists. He paid tribute to their sacrifices and praised their contributions to the Party’s revolutionary cause and the legacy of Viet Nam’s revolutionary press.

In the new context, he pointed out that the VNA must continuously innovate to develop in accordance with the stature of the era and the country's development, continuing to affirm its role as a strategic and reliable information agency of the Party and State. It must serve as the mainstream information source and flow on the journalism and ideological front.

The VNA needs to closely monitor and firmly grasp domestic developments and international fluctuations, proactively collect information sources, comprehensively analyse, evaluate, and forecast situations in an accurate and timely manner. The agency must deliver valuable reports and even advise, propose, and recommend solutions for the Party and State leaders to make appropriate decisions, avoiding passivity and surprises. The VNA’s information, he underlined, must be accurate, objective, humane, and useful for both the nation and the people.

To meet their missions in the country’s new development period, the VNA journalists must strengthen their political mettle, stay loyal to revolutionary ideals, and affirm the role as pioneering soldiers on the information front, excellently completing the tasks assigned by the Party and State. The Party leader stressed that they must popularise the Party and State’s guidelines, policies, laws, and Viet Nam’s development achievements, contributing to consolidating social trust and unity, fostering a collective aspiration for national progress.

Party General Secretary To Lam delivers a keynote speech at the VNA's celebration on September 14. (Photo: VNA)

He reminded VNA journalists to safeguard professional ethics, integrity, and social responsibility, resisting material temptations and always standing on the side of truth, justice, and progress. Amidst the digital transformation wave and fierce competition in the global media landscape, the journalists must be a pioneer in adopting modern technologies, mastering digital platforms, AI, and big data.

In their work, they must remain sharp to new developments while being extremely cautious. In the information highway where truth and falsehood often intermingle, they need to hone their skills to swiftly identify and counter fake news and provide key information for the Party and State leaders and the communications system in a timely fashion.

The Party chief urged the VNA to better its database building work, given data is the production material in the digital era. Building a scientific journalistic database system, including the valuable information and documentation centre and national photo archive, will be an important foundation for the agency to develop creative journalism and data journalism, contributing to forming the nation's "collective memory."

As extensive integration into the world is one of the key priorities for Viet Nam in the coming time, the General Secretary called on the VNA to step up cooperation with leading global news organisations and reputable media outlets, establishing itself as a respected regional news supplier.

Alongside spreading images of the country, culture, and people of Viet Nam to foreign audiences, the VNA should adopt innovative partnerships to highlight national progress on global platforms, while also bringing stories of global development to the Vietnamese people, he said.

He pressed the VNA to re-organise its operations for greater efficiency and offer better incentives to its core staff, underscoring the need to recruit and train a new generation of talented, ambitious, and dedicated young journalists to meet evolving requirements while carrying forward its proud traditions. Adopting cutting-edge journalism models, he noted, would contribute to the development of Viet Nam’s revolutionary press.

Reflecting on the VNA’s 80-year legacy, he praised its journalists for their unwavering political resolve and sacrifices during wartime and peacetime, serving the Party, State, and people. The exhibition showcasing the VNA’s history, he remarked, represents just a fraction of its extensive photo archive, yet vividly captures these values.

Looking ahead, he asked VNA reporters, editors, technicians, and staff to take pride in their legacy and lead with innovation. The goal is to assert the agency’s role, mettle, and creativity in a new era of national development.

Citing the VNA’s heroic tradition and drive for renewal, the General Secretary expressed confidence in its ability to grow strongly, steer mainstream information, shape public opinion, and solidify its role as Viet Nam’s national news agency and a trusted strategic information provider of the Party and State.

VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang delivers remarks at the ceremony on September 14. (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the event, Vu Viet Trang, Secretary of the Party Committee, General Director of the VNA, and Chairwoman of the VNA Journalists Association, recalled that on September 15, 1945, from the Bach Mai Radio Station, Viet Nam Thong tan xa (VNTTX), now Thong tan xa Viet Nam (Viet Nam News Agency), broadcast the Declaration of Independence to the entire world, in three languages: Vietnamese, English, and French, proclaiming the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. Since that historic moment, September 15 has been celebrated as the Traditional Day of the national news agency.

Throughout the eight-decade journey of growth and development, the VNA has always received special attention from the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, guidance from the Government, and the trust, support, and affection of the people.

President Ho Chi Minh’s words have been a guiding torch, urging generations of VNA journalists to overcome any hardships, bombs and gunfire to maintain an uninterrupted flow of information. Throughout the fiercest periods of the war, reporters from VNTTX and the Liberation Press Agency (LPA) were present on every battlefield and military campaign, she noted.

Nearly 260 reporters, editors, and technicians of the VNA heroically laid down their lives on battlefields stretching from Viet Bac to Ca Mau, and in the course of fulfilling international missions. This number accounts for more than 25% of the agency’s personnel during the wartime period, and over half of all journalist-martyrs nationwide.

In peacetime, the VNA’s information continues to resonate with the pulse of the times, vividly reflecting the nation’s dynamic development and remarkable breakthroughs.

With its excellent achievements, the VNA is proud to be the only press agency honoured three times with the Hero title: Hero of Labour during the Renewal period in 2001; Hero of the People’s Armed Forces in 2005; and Hero of the People’s Armed Forces awarded to the Liberation Press Agency in 2020.

Outstanding works by VNA journalists across generations have been awarded the Ho Chi Minh Award, the State Prize for Literature and Arts, as well as numerous national and international journalism awards, according to the official.

Trang emphasised that in response to the requirements of the new situation, the VNA continues to uphold traditions, maintain the core values, constantly make innovations, and effectively carry out the task of being a strategic information provider in the new context, serving as a source of accurate, reliable, and diverse information for the media system and readers at home and abroad and asserting its stature as a highly reputable national news agency in the region and the world.

She noted that anticipating the trends of digital media, the VNA has developed a comprehensive digital ecosystem, integrating modern communication technologies and artificial intelligence into its management, operation, information production and dissemination processes. The entire workflow is now interconnected on a shared platform, helping maximise resources and improve efficiency and quality. The agency’s affiliated newsrooms consistently rank high in annual digital transformation maturity assessment.

Entrusted by the Party and State, the VNA has for many years directly delivered news coverage in the languages of 12 ethnic minority groups nationwide to communities in remote areas, promptly communicating policies of the Party and State to ensure accurate understanding and proper implementation by the people.

In many national important events, the VNA has served as the leading and sole provider of news and images; acted effectively as the host media for Viet Nam’s major events. With their information products, VNA reporters and editors have actively countered negative phenomena and false rhetoric of hostile forces in and outside the country, contributing to protecting territorial sovereignty and maintaining political and social stability, and affirming its vanguard role on the ideological front.

The General Director went on to say that as the strategic information centre of the Party and State, the VNA's reports and reference materials play a vital role in supporting leadership, direction, administration, and policy-making. The agency's insightful and comprehensive information, including forecasts and situational assessments, has made a significant contribution to the early and from-afar struggle on the information and communication front.

As the country’s leading news agency for foreign services, the VNA continues to capitalise on its resources in external relations information activities. It has consistently diversified and innovated its communication methods to promote Viet Nam as a dynamic and modern nation with strong international integration, while showcasing the country’s distinctive traditional cultural values and contributing to the mobilisation of all resources for national development.

In addition, Trang said, the VNA has effectively tapped its cooperation with more than 40 news agencies worldwide and its position in the Executive Board of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), which represents up to 40% of global news. It has actively published information in foreign languages across international media channels, supporting broader foreign service efforts to enhance Viet Nam’s role and stature in the international arena.

On behalf of Party and State leaders, General Secretary Lam presented the Ho Chi Minh Order to the VNA in recognition of its long-standing contributions and outstanding achievements in the nation’s revolutionary cause.

On this occasion, the General Secretary and other Party and State leaders launched the official website for the 14th National Party Congress at https://daihoidang.vn.

Available in Vietnamese, English, French, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish, the site offers a wealth of content, including text, photos, videos, graphics, and data. It provides comprehensive news, in-depth analysis, and archives on Party documents and personnel over the past 13 congresses as the country is preparing for the 14th event.

Earlier, the Party chief and other leaders toured an exhibition featuring the VNA’s 80 years of accompanying the nation and signed the agency’s golden book of tradition.