Apart from very basic strong points, there are hidden corners in the press-business relationship, and we do not dare to look openly and directly at those negative points in a positive way. And that is the reason for the long existence of this one-sided viewpoint on this bilateral relationship.
With a frank, wholehearted and responsible talk, Mr Nguyen The Ky, Head of Press and Publication Department under the Central Propaganda Bureau, brings in an objective and accurate stance on the true nature of the press as well as necessity and long-time consistent effort to build a sustained environment for relationships between the press and the business world to thrive. On the 85th Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day anniversary, he has given an exclusive talk to the Vietnam Business Forum.
The relationship between the press and the business community is quite a sensitive matter. As far as I am concerned, you have written some very interesting stories about the mutual relationship between the press and the business. Could you talk about it?
Not only in Vietnam but also in other countries, the relationship between the press and the business is very close. The development of the journalism significantly depends on the cooperation of businesses. The Fourth Estate wants to live better, have higher loyalty rates and pays higher to reporters and editors; it must have a better financial source and rely heavily on advertising sources and business sponsorships. Although some press agencies have expanded their scopes to real estate business or established media companies, they still have to rely on enterprises and business environment. This is not only true for Vietnamese news agencies but also for world-leading newswire corporations.
With access to the press, enterprises will have more information. Where political situations are stable enough to invest in and where political uncertainty forces an adjustment in business strategy. For example, the press repeatedly runs the information about political stability in Vietnam in recent years; more investors will shift their interest into the country. The press is considered the main channel for companies to popularise their brands and products because the press is an orthodox and popular means. Therefore, the relationship between the business and the press is, simply speaking, a reciprocally organic relationship, but strictly speaking, this is a vital relationship. The good ties will benefit both but the bad affairs may harm both or at least one side.
Many news agencies have recently thrived thanks to close ties with the businesses on two aspects. Firstly, information about economy, business and entrepreneurs is the most interesting. Business-specialised publications run information about business aspects in every issue and even every page. This is actually a public interested column and a fertile source of information for the press to mine and live on. Secondly, advertisements on products and trademarks of enterprises are usually in the middle or at the end of a publication or even a separate insertion. TV and radio also have programmes on economy, housing, market, price, external economic relations and international integration among many others. Businesses also have to read newspapers to know about policymaking, business models or investment fields that they care.
Many companies have recently complained about misleading information that harms their business. What do you think about this remark?
In fact, many businesses reflect on the lack of objectiveness of the press, mainly due to inaccurate information which harm their business operations. This is a "technical error" in respect to insufficient awareness or knowledge shortfall of reporters and these weaknesses lead to unwanted results. However, there is another reason that some journalists want to take some benefits from the business writing and they usually raise difficulties for businesses. In recent years, the Press and Publication Department has also received information on bad conducts of journalists and collaborators. For example, a real estate trading company claimed that a reporter came to work with the company and asked for soft prices to buy an apartment or a land plot. If the company agreed, he would write good things on the company on his own newspapers and other ones where he collaborated but if the company turned him down, he would find problems to report on or insinuate the company’s problems on his newswire and on other publications. He could also ask his friends and colleagues to echo his actions. These actions spoil the code of conducts for reporters and journalists because although a company has shortcomings, mistakes and weaknesses, they should not work in such a bad attitude like that.
At present, this is not only a few cases but is a very worrying trend. Press authorities, news agencies, editors-in-chief and managers need to take action to eliminate this dangerous trend. Although the Party and the State have issued regulations and legal documents on conducts of journalists and reporters, lax management of some news agencies should lead to this situation. The Vietnamese press is celebrating its 85th founding anniversary and its history is glorified by heroic newsmen. However, the market mechanism has generated practical figures who need to be re-corrected.
But, businesses are sometimes a cause of journalists’ wrongdoings. Some companies use the press as a weapon to attack their competitors. Wow do you think about this?
To beat their rivals, some enterprises use reporters as a tool and a force to serve individual or collective interest. For example, a beverage company in Ho Chi Minh City suffered two or three incidents in the past two years due to the action of the press. Maybe, the nature was not as bad as it was but it might be caused by their competitors through the arm of the press. This was possible resulted from limited information for reporters, or lack of knowledge or ethnical matters. For such problems, news agencies and journalists must be conscious to avoid becoming a weapon of some enterprises to attack their competitors. Indeed, there are many journalists with thorough understanding of the case but still wrote in a different way to support some enterprises to harm their competitors while uplifting others. Then, personal interests of journalists will be satisfied. Some journalists are corrupted but most are well- respected with high pride of their professional careers. In reality, the press right is provided by the laws and it is granted by the public through the State. I want to emphasise that when people have mild disease, they will get well very soon if they get right treatments. If they do not know their disease or pretend to not know, they will get realised by the arm of the laws. Of course, the law is important to shape the conduct but the management of a news agency is more important. Journalists must be recommended of their wrongdoings by their leaders before applying any sanctions. If such cases are properly handled, bad deeds will not appear again. Besides, authorities need to supervise operations of news agencies and journalists to inform and tackle wrongdoings timely. However, objectively, many businesses do not do business property and want to win on the market at all costs, destroy living environment and produce contaminated foods. Journalists must stand against such bad deeds.
How should the concept of journalist ethics be interpreted?
Journalist ethics in relation to the company is built on mutual respect, support and development. All businesses and journalists are oriented to honesty, perfection and beauty and the relation will not exist with one-sided benefits. A company of course produces a product for profit but its price, quality and utility must be accepted by the society. But, it is unacceptable if the product is not good for the society. Take the glutamate for example, it tastes sweet with soup but it is unacceptable if its producer contaminates the environment. Thus, both businesses and journalists must follow their own codes of conduct.
How will the Press and Publication Department do to improve this matter?
Indeed, several news agencies were set up very long ago and they have very senior journalists but not all of them are professional in their thinking, work and behaviour. Actually, there are still rooms for such unprofessional behaviours like bargaining with companies or joining hands with associates to weigh up their threats on enterprises as the laws, the State and social conventions have now not fully regulated these behaviours. It takes much time and effort to take this problem.
On June 19, the Central Propaganda Bureau, the Vietnam Journalist Association, the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Academy of Journalism and Propaganda opened a workshop with the aim of promoting the 85-year tradition of the Vietnamese press world and making the Vietnamese press revolutionary and professional. Revolution means continuous innovations to attain better things in an orthodox, professional way.
Reported by Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
