"Teachers go to the podium during the day and go fishing at night to feed their students" is a typical example that I often cite (The work of reporters Dang Chung and Van Phu, won first prize at the National Journalism Award for educational career - 2018, B Prize of the National Press Award - 2019). It is a fact that, when writing portraits or portrait reports, journalists often have the habit of finding a general sentence, a true assessment of the character, and then using that general sentence as the headline. And so the article has a title that sounds like an achievement report but is very general, with nothing special to remember, read, or enjoy. Because the results of generalization are often the same.
For example: "Educators devoted to the cause of cultivating people", "A party member devoted to social work", etc. "Wholehearted" and "Devoted" are undefined concepts, true for many people. people, many places, like a wide-brimmed hat, can be worn on anyone's head. The headline "Teachers go to the podium during the day and go fishing at night to feed their students" is using specific things to say a generalization (everyone who reads can understand), much better and more attractive than writing "Those who Teachers are devoted to their students..." in the usual way. It is a simple, rustic writing style like the words of a worker. But simplicity is often easier to convince the public, especially the public of workers and laborers.
Five years ago, while working as Head of the Professional Department - Vietnam Journalists Association, I gave an interview to Lao Dong Newspaper. I once said and still say: Labor is one of the typical political and social newspapers of the country's press. In 1995, Lao Dong was voted as one of 200 modern, typical newspapers in Asia, attending the International Press Exhibition. Now I still like Bao's design that way.
While working as a journalist and specializing in journalism, researching and teaching journalism, I consider Lao Dong to be one of the most professional newspapers. In my opinion, Lao Dong is a newspaper that diligently invests professionally and reaps many successes in the following typical aspects:
Firstly, it is one of the most successful newspapers in fighting against negativity, corruption, waste, injustice and absurdity in society. "Lao Dong is one of the champions on the anti-negativity front" (Famous journalist Quang Dam, speaking at the Conference on June 10, 1988 at the Lao Dong newspaper office). Since the beginning of the Doi Moi period, many negative cases have been discovered and criticized by newspapers (along with Dai Solidarity, News Week, Tien Phong...) and recently, many works have won high prizes at the National Press Awards. family.
Many of Lao Dong's investigative series are full of convincing material and sharp yet solid writing, with a high level of fighting and criticism. This quality of work is not easy to obtain if the newspaper does not have a tradition of criticism; If there are no writers who are good at their craft and truly attached to and love the workers. Labor has many "disruptive" journalists who have their own style, both in their work and in expressing their work. Many authors are recognized by colleagues, associated with the unique professional style of Labor: Nguyen An Dinh, Tran Duc Chinh (Ly Sinh Su), Nguyen Dac Xuan, Vinh Quyen, Dang Ba Tien, Thang Duc Thang, Ngo Mai Phong, Nguyen Trung Hieu, Huynh Dung Nhan, Viet Van (press photo)…
Second, always be a pioneer and courageous in fighting to protect the legal and legitimate rights of workers, from policies to specific rights. The cases that were discovered were followed to the end by the press, on the side of the injured and disadvantaged workers. In the years 1986 - 1987, the articles of journalist Nguyen An Dinh bravely exposed in Lao Dong newspaper the negative things at a large mechanical factory on Ba Trieu street (at that time, it had to be very terrible to write about, because society The Association and the press are still used to thinking about subsidies and one-sided reflection). Factory workers, later, welcomed journalist Nguyen An Dinh as a hero.
Recently, Lao Dong continues to be a newspaper with many articles highly appreciated by public opinion, many works have won high prizes at National Press Awards and specialized journalism awards. These are journalistic works that fight to protect the rights of workers, workers in many professions, teachers, scientists, etc. In 2019, a series of elaborate, courageous, and tenacious investigations followed. Chasing and standing on the side of people whose beliefs were taken advantage of, exposed the socially shocking incident "Spreading the story of death and revenge, Ba Vang Pagoda earns hundreds of billions every year", which was widely supported by public opinion. Many people know, many journalists know this sensitive matter at this pagoda, but only Lao Dong dares to do it and can do it.
Third, always innovate journalism operations and journalism technology. Launched on May 19, 1999, laodong.vn is one of the first two electronic newspapers in Vietnam (along with Nhan Dan Electronic). Electronic Labor Newspaper also soon caught up with the world's electronic newspaper trend: In 2001, it switched to making a dynamic website, then set up interactive tools with readers under each article; In 2010, it operated independently of the print media and had its own reporter; In 2014, a specialized video site and mobile version were launched; In 2017, the converged editorial model was implemented; From 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) will be applied to journalism... Lao Dong is also one of the early electronic newspapers to implement multimedia. In addition to pioneering, Electronic Labor (along with VietnamPlus.vn, VnExres.net,...) soon successfully applied new forms of multimedia journalism such as longform, infographic, megastory...
These innovations are a solid foundation for the professional creativity of reporters and newspapers. When applying artificial intelligence (AI) to journalism, it will certainly have an impact on journalistic work and the professional ethics of journalists and editors. If the collective's inherent intelligence and experience are well exploited in the operational stages, there will certainly be good works. Print newspapers have fewer and fewer readers, so they should go deeper into topical information, analysis, synthesis, and treatises. Invest more in press photos (newspapers have a pretty good tradition of press photos) and multimedia tools and products on electronic newspapers. Encourage employees to write about themselves and their colleagues.
