Former Italian football Alessandro del Piero knows what newspaper to read when he's in Việt Nam. — VNS/VNA Photo

AF Reeves - @afreeves23

When I was asked to write about Việt Nam News' upcoming 35th anniversary for this week's column, I had to stop and think. My column should cover the convergence of news, trends and the ‘expat’ experience, so I reflected on how I got to the point of being asked to write such a piece. From a guest writer at the last World Cup to reviewing restaurants, poking fun at the wonderful absurdity that comes with our contrasting cultures, and sharing my thoughts and fears about the society that has, largely, accepted me. My first feeling is gratitude. Not only for the leg up into media work, but for the service Việt Nam News provides its readers, many of whom are 'expats', my apparent target audience.

That service turns 35 this month, which makes the paper older than I am by more than a year. When it first reached the eyes of the public on 17 June 1991, it ran to four pages, written, edited and proofed by hand, from a newsroom with no television and a daily budget of VNĐ300,000 (US$11) for everything outside of salaries. It was the country's first English-language daily, arriving just as Việt Nam opened its doors. With a global changing of the guard, đổi mới (Renewal) was gathering pace, warmth, investment and new faces were turning up in a country previously guarded. Somebody had to explain the place to the newcomers. That somebody was only four pages long.

It is 24 pages now, with a weekend edition that displays culture as well as news and a multimedia desk turning out more than 300 videos a year. Founded as the state news agency's first official word to the world, it remains the daily of choice for diplomats, investors and travellers trying to make sense of a proud nation still defining itself. Through real news, rather than idle celebrity gossip. While government-funded, my columns have had room to wonder aloud, to provoke, to start conversations worth having.

That matters now more than ever. In the age of AI, when anyone with a phone and a grievance can publish, when talking heads say whatever earns the click, and when machines generate it all faster than anyone can check, a paper with editors and standards is far from a relic. Public faith should not be a luxury, it should be a cornerstone.

The paper has long understood this, which is why it has always made space for foreign writers and editors, fresh eyes to keep it modern and to bridge the gap between a society that can baffle outsiders while assisting those of us trying to grasp the place we have chosen to live. I am one of those curious folk, and I’ll always endeavour to put forward genuine ideas, to serve real conversations.

When I moved across the world, I assumed certain things had been left behind for good. The half-formed notion that I might one day write for a living, the most indulgent thing in the suitcase. I did not expect to find it again here, in the pages of a national, printed daily newspaper. But I did. As this next World Cup gears up, wherever I go, and whoever else might think to print my words, this is the one that gave it back. Happy birthday VNS, and thank you!