National Assembly President Trần Thanh Mẫn gives instructions at the conference. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

KHÁNH HÒA — National Assembly (NA) President Trần Thanh Mẫn has asked the Đại biểu nhân dân (People’s Deputies) newspaper to continue pursuing substantive, comprehensive and modern reforms while streamlining its organisational structure.

He made the request on Monday at the 2026 National Conference of Contributors to the newspaper, themed 'Harnessing the power of policy communications: accompanying elected bodies in the country’s new era of development'.

Mẫn praised the newspaper for successfully fulfilling its political and professional duties in recent years.

It has helped educate people on the Party’s guidelines and orientations, the State’s policies and laws, NA proceedings and local People’s Council sessions.

More than 500 contributors to the newspaper have served as an extended arm, helping to make its content increasingly diverse.

Recalling the major orientations conveyed by Party General Secretary and President Tô Lâm to press agencies and journalists nationwide, he urged the newspaper to provide readers with truthful and objective information about the activities of the NA and People’s Councils.

The NA president said that the legislature is undergoing sweeping reforms, particularly in its approach to law-making and oversight. It is also working to promptly institutionalise the Party’s guidelines, coordinate effectively with the Government and take the lead in digital transformation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Press agencies must also renew their communications work concerning the NA, while making vigorous use of science and technology, digital transformation and AI.

Mẫn expressed his hope that, in the next few years, the newspaper would pay regular attention to the training and professional development of its leaders, reporters and editors.

They should be able to apply science and technology and AI, constantly pursue self-learning and research and approach their work with seriousness and diligence, he said.

At the same time, the newspaper should engage more actively in the fight against corruption while identifying and spreading examples of successful approaches.

In particular, the newspaper must properly fulfil its role and adhere to its principles and objectives. This means providing in-depth coverage of the NA and People’s Councils at all levels, improving the quality of its news and articles and ensuring their guiding role and broad reach.

The results and social impact of every news report, article and photograph published must be measurable, Mẫn said.

He also said that contributors should keep the flame of passion alive, maintain high ethical standards and a firm political stance and remain dynamic and flexible. They should process information swiftly, accurately and thoroughly, while maintaining an open and constructive attitude to contribute to the country’s development.

The NA leader asked leaders of localities to pay greater attention to information and communications work, so that every citizen lives and works in accordance with the Constitution and the law.

Editor-in-Chief Phạm Thị Thanh Huyền said that the newspaper’s contributors are not just people who write articles and supply information in the conventional sense.

They also include NA deputies, leaders of NA deputy delegations and members of People’s Councils in provinces and cities who are directly engaged in the work of elected bodies, as well as experts, scientists, managers and people with extensive practical experience.

Contributors are directly involved in formulating and organising the implementation of policies. At the same time, they understand better than anyone else the practical issues that policies need to address.

For the newspaper, contributors are not simply a force of writers, but an intellectual network and resource that helps connect the parliamentary chamber with everyday life, the central level with localities and elected bodies with voters and the people.

Huyền confirmed that in the next few years, the newspaper will make even greater use of the intellectual resources of its contributors, enabling every heartfelt opinion rooted in practical experience to find its way to the parliamentary chamber, while ensuring that every major policy and guideline discussed there reaches the people in the most accessible and persuasive manner.

The newspaper plans to undertake sweeping reforms in its thinking, content and journalistic methods, pursue digital transformation, master new media platforms, improve its political and analytical journalism and build a team of journalists who are politically steadfast, professional, humane and modern.

Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Khánh Hòa Provincial Party Committee Hồ Xuân Trường said that policy communications hold particular significance in the new phase of development.

They serve as a bridge enabling the people to participate in carrying out the province’s major orientations for economic, cultural and social development, as well as national defence and security, he said.

Trường expressed the hope that journalists and contributors would continue to pay attention to the province, share their experiences, accompany it in its development and introduce Khánh Hòa’s land and people to a wider audience, contributing to the province’s steady progress in its new phase of development. — VNS