Sovereignty: Deputy General Director of VNA Lê Quốc Minh speaks on information and sovereignty. — VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — The production of external information has helped promote the country’s image and culture to the world, boosting the country’s sovereignty over sea and islands as well as human rights.

Deputy head of the external information service board under the Central Party Committee’s Commission for Publicity and Education, Hoàng Ngọc Hà, said this at a conference in the city on December 21.

Hà said the conference was a chance to review the first phase of the Government’s action plan on external information strategy until the year 2020.

He said that 63 provinces and cities had set up instruction boards on external information services and portals in Vietnamese and English since 2014.

“Many cultural festivals, landscapes, destinations and traditional lifestyles of Việt Nam have been vividly broadcasted worldwide through external media system. Local media also posted numerous news, video clips, photos and information of the country’s sovereignty sea and islands,” Hà said, adding that the world had a positive view of Việt Nam because of this.

He said the service had yet received full financial support in developing an information service, while information content via internet, social network had not been attractive to foreign readers. 

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, 500 films on Việt Nam were screened at Việt Nam’s Culture Week in 15 countries over the past four years.

Mai Ánh Hồng, from the ministry, said Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Việt Nam Television (VTV) and Digital Television (VTC) had promoted their external information service in multi languages with longer broadcast time.

He said VNA’s Việt Nam Pictorial was the largest language publication in Việt Nam. It was printed in eight languages.

Hồng said VNA also had 30 representatives in 28 countries around the world.

Đoàn Thị Minh Phượng from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said Việt Nam was one of nine countries hosting the World Ocean Day communications recently.

Busy: Journalists work at the media centre for this year’s APEC meeting in Đà Nẵng. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Vice director of Đà Nẵng City’s Department of Information and Communications, Nguyễn Thị Phượng, said the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC)’s Leaders’ Week in Đà Nẵng was seen as milestone for the external information service.

She said more than 9,000 news and features on APEC were posted in 2017, including 6,000 were broadcast during Leaders’ Week. Meanwhile, more than 6,000 news and stories covering the Đà Nẵng International Fireworks Festival and Asia Beach Games were also run.

Deputy General Director of VNA, Lê Quốc Minh, said the national news agency had 10 boards in charge of external information services.

“We have built up relationships and co-operation with 40 new agencies over the world, including giant Reuters, AP, Xinhua, Yonhap and new ties with Poland, Kazakhstan and Australia,” Minh said.

“VNA has eyed infotainment (information and entertainment), technology applications and new styles in renewal information service to meet increasing demands of foreign readers,” he said.

He said VNA’s mega stories item, 2013-launched Rapnews (Rap combined with news) – which were seen as non-tradition and non-press product – were the latest media products in attracting young readers.

He also said the agency also planned to build data journalism and boost Artificial Intelligence (AI) in boosting information service in the near future.

Nguyễn Thị Phương Liên from Việt Nam Television (VTV) Channel 4 said external information broadcast at the channel increased from one hour to three hours per day in five languages - English, French, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. — VNS