President Trần Đại Quang visits the three-day National Press Festival 2018, which was held in Hà Nội yesterday. – VNA/VNS Photo Lê Minh Sơn

HÀ NỘI – In the context of the fourth industrial revolution, the country’s press has strived to overcome difficulties and challenges and continued to improve with more diversified and attractive forms.

President Trần Đại Quang made the statement while attending the closing ceremony of the three-day National Press Festival 2018, which was held in Hà Nội yesterday.

The president said that last year and in the first months of 2018, the national press had made great contributions to the country’s outstanding and comprehensive achievements, closely observing and reflecting important events and tasks of economic, cultural and social development, defense and security maintenance, foreign affairs at all levels, branches and localities.

President Quang hoped that, in the future, the Vietnamese revolutionary press would continue to play the role of a pacifist on the ideological and cultural front, as well as provide education about the Party’s and the State’s policies.

Việt Nam’s revolutionary press should focus on better performing the role of directing public opinion, acting as a bridge between the Party, the State and people. It should attach importance to discovering, exhorting and multiplying new factors, advanced examples, good people, and good deeds in the fields of social life, said the President.

As part of the festival, the Journalists Association and its partners on Saturday held a seminar “The press in the context of industrial revolution 4.0”.

Experts at the seminar agreed that Industry 4.0 directly affects the survival of traditional media, strongly influencing journalists’ work, thus in order to grasp this new trend, there is a need for exchanges and discussions with the press, media agencies and the general public to better understand the impacts of the fourth industrial revolution.

Hồ Quang Lợi, standing vice chairman of the Việt Nam Journalists Association said that this was an opportunity for media managers and journalists to meet and exchange information about the impact of Industry 4.0 on the press as well as on the process of their work.

The fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technology. It includes physical networks, internet connections and cloud computing. Industry 4.0 facilitates the creation of smart factories or digital factories.

Trần Quang Diệu, a lecturer at the Academy of Journalism and Communication, said that the Industry 4.0 includes trends such as online video and increased use of social networking platforms. Human communication will change and virtual reality will be more broadly employed.

In order to meet this new trend, functional agencies and press units needed to invest more in infrastructure, training and fostering human resources and developing communication security.

Deputy general director of the Vietnam News Agency, Lê Quốc Minh, said that in many places in the region and around the world, many newspapers have started to use artificial intelligence to write news.

The reality of technological applications is potent, effectively demanding the will and determination of users. Technology cannot change the mind of the journalists. Every journalist makes a judgment about a problem in a particular way. To do well in today’s world, journalists must always keep important standards of truth, fairness and balance, said Minh.

The National Press Conference 2018 has attracted 59 central press agencies and media training institutions; 8 groups of journalists and 9 localities have their own galleries, totalling 73 booths.

The festival organiser awarded prizes in a range of categories, including for the best reporting on environmental issues, climate change and natural disaster prevention. – VNS