Delegates discuss digital transformation in journalism at a seminar held in HCM City on Thursday. File photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre

HCM CITY — News organisations need to promote co-operation with authorities and technology businesses to achieve digital transformation, Lâm Đình Thắng, director of the HCM City Department of Information and Communications, has said.

Speaking at a seminar on digital transformation in journalism held on Thursday, he said to help news organisations achieve digital transformation, the department planned to recommend policies to the city for training their bosses, reporters, editors, and other staff.

The city has instructed DXCenter, which provides consultancy and support to individuals and businesses in digital transformation, to apprise publishers about e-office platforms, information analysis and social media analysis.

The city Security Operations Centre has been tasked with helping publishers cope with major cybersecurity situations.

According to the Authority of Information Security (AIS), in the first nine months of this year Việt Nam suffered 6,156 cyberattacks, 30.15 per cent higher than in the same period of last year.

They included an attack on VOV (Voice of Việt Nam) in June.

The country has more than 800 news organisations, including 249 online newspapers and magazines, but only 23 per cent have invested in cybersecurity.

Besides, many lack skilled IT technicians and protocols to deal with cybersecurity problems.

AIS has sought the assistance of the Việt Nam Cybersecurity Emergency Response Teams/Coordination Center (VNCERT/CC) to resolve security problems faced by news organisations, and called on five online security providers, Viettel, VNPT, VCCorp, CMC, and FPT to offer them solutions.

Dương Anh Đức, vice chairman of the city People’s Committee, said: “Digital transformation means not only using information technology for operations, but also changing the way people work and think.

“How fast or slow a news item is can affect thousands of readers. With technology, the influence of news organisations has become more and more powerful.” 

"The process of digital transformation has to be carried out sustainably and thoroughly," he said.

Applying digital technology in operations would not only speed up news publication, but also increase the ability to collect, analyse and control the huge amount of information in society today, he said.

“Digital information is an irreversible process. We need to be proactive about participating in the process, taking advantage of opportunities, and never being left behind."

At the seminar, the Department of Information and Communications and the Journalists Association launched the city’s first press contest in information technology and digital transformation.

All reporters and editors of news organisations in the city can participate.

Contestants can send their works that have been published by newspapers, magazines, online newspapers, television, and radio between June 21 this year and June 20, 2022, to the Journalists Association.

The awards will be given away on August 28. — VNS