Constantly improving press works’ quality

As the organ of the Party Committee, government and people of Binh Duong province, Binh Duong Newspaper has proactively overcome difficulties and strived to fulfill its assigned functions & tasks, contributing to shaping public opinion, fostering social consensus, promoting the province's image to numerous people at home and abroad. In the context of social media and multimedia impacting journalism activities in general and local journalism in particular, Binh Duong Newspaper is reinventing itself to enhance the quality of its content sections, meeting the increasingly diverse needs of readers.

Attention to detail in every photo

During the professional development session in June 2024, commemorating the 99th anniversary of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day, the editorial board of Binh Duong Newspaper organized a specialized training session on photography and photo editing skills for reporters, editors and technicians of the unit. With his long-standing affection for Binh Duong Newspaper, lecturer Vu Hai Son from the Department of Journalism and Communication under Ho Chi Minh city’s University of Social Sciences and Humanities, enthusiastically imparted basic skills in photography and photo editing skills, shared experience in using various cameras and smartphones for current work. He also shared valuable experience on how to capture photos in different situations and skills in using photo editing software, the rules for shooting news and journalistic photos, considerations for reportage and portrait photos, how to choose photojournalism topics, and methods for constructing photojournalistic frames.

Nguyen Hoang Thao, Deputy Secretary of provincial Party Committee awards authors and groups of authors with works winning central and regional awards

The organization of a training course on photography and photo editing skills is one of many activities to concretize the editorial board's determination to innovate both the content and form of the newspaper. Journalist Le Minh Tung, Editor-in-Chief of Binh Duong Newspaper stated that photojournalism plays an extremely important role in journalism activities. Especially with the trend of modern journalism today, photojournalism is an indispensable part of providing comprehensive contents to readers, particularly the quick responsiveness and "language" of each photo that words cannot convey. Therefore, along with investing in news content, the editorial board wants reporters, editors and technicians to show meticulousness in each photo, ensuring the attractiveness of the newspaper pages.

Training in photography and photo editing skills is one of the ongoing activities organized by the editorial board to implement the innovation and development policy in line with modern journalism trends. Besides regular professional activities of departments, the editorial board organizes monthly meetings for all reporters to review experience in news production while exchanging, sharing and learning experience to improve the quality of journalistic works. These meetings are also an opportunity for the editorial board to listen to reporters' suggestions and proposals to make more lively and attractive press works, meeting the needs of readers, listeners and viewers of Binh Duong Newspaper's journalistic products.

Enhancing quality through competitions

Recognizing that participating in competitions and winning journalism awards is one of the effective solutions to improve the quality of journalistic works, Binh Duong Newspaper has actively participated in numerous journalism awards from central to regional and local levels.

Under the guidance of the editorial board and the Binh Duong Newspaper Journalists Association, many reporters have researched and explored good topics that fit the competition criteria, investing in creating entries. Additionally, the newspaper has established a Steering Committee for high-quality journalistic works, comprising of managers and editors to organize meetings and implement plans. The Steering Committee has developed flexible coordination regulations. Weekly, committee members review the progress of high-quality journalistic works and provide feedback. Instead of letting reporters find topics on their own, the newspaper assigns experienced individuals as project leaders, with discussion among committee members to organize the execution. The newspaper also provides support for high-quality journalistic works by creating favorable conditions, arranging time for reporters and offering financial assistance. This approach has opportunely encouraged and motivated reporters to confidently produce high-quality journalistic works.

Furthermore, the editorial board regularly sends reporters to training courses, organizes study tours, shares experience with other local Party newspapers and newspapers with a large number of readers nationwide. The newspaper also invites experienced journalists to share skills in creating high-quality journalistic works that serve both propaganda needs and participation in journalism awards. Participation in journalism awards from central to local levels is also a measure of the quality of journalistic works that the newspaper has produced in recent times.

The frequent and timely guidance from the editorial board, along with the determination of reporters and editors in participating in journalism awards, has yielded many positive results. Many high-quality journalistic works from Binh Duong Newspaper have participated and won awards in various competitions. Since early this year, Binh Duong Newspaper has won lots of awards, including the 2nd Dien Hong Journalism Awards, the Southeastern Journalism Awards, the Nguyen Van Tiet Journalism Awards…Notably, the work of sowing “Red Seeds” in FDI Enterprises" (3 articles) by the group of authors Do Trong, Thai Phong, Ky Tan and Hoang Anh won the B prize at the 18th National Journalism Awards 2023.

Reported by Tri Dung-Translated by Kim Tin