President Ho Chi Minh with Vietnam revolutionary press

 President Ho Chi Minh is the founder of the Vietnam revolutionary press. He did all kinds of job in the field of journalism, including: reporter, editor, editor in chief, administrator, and publisher. He had thousands of articles published during his revolutionary life. His journalistic career is an endless source of inspiration and a solid foundation for the development of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism today.

Press must serve the revolution

Serving the revolution is the noble mission of the Vietnam revolutionary press. President Ho Chi Minh used the press as an effective means in all revolutionary fields. He wrote thousands of articles both at home and abroad in different languages, but all are aimed at the goal of national independence and socialism of Vietnam, and his earnest wish that has been written in his Will that: "The entire Party and people stay together and strive to build a peaceful, unified, independent, democratic and prosperous Vietnam, and make worthy contributions to the world revolutionary cause". President Ho Chi Minh built a revolutionary press with the task of propagating, agitating, guiding, briefing, and implementing the Party's Platform, lines, viewpoints and undertakings, the constitution and laws of the State; promoting the good, condemning the evil, the bad; educating cadres, party members and everyone towards the true - the good – the beautiful. Vietnam revolutionary press, in his opinion, has no purpose and mission other than these.

President Ho Chi Minh spoke at the 3rd Vietnam Journalist Congress (A file photo)

President Ho Chi Minh’s journalistic views and career are very valuable guidelines for the development of the Vietnamese press today, especially when the country is developing the socialist-oriented market economy and undergoing globalisation and international integration. Applying President Ho Chi Minh's point of view on the revolutionary press in the current period is to maintain three pillars: (1) Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought; (2) Socialist society; (3) Communist Party of Vietnam. Built and developed by President Ho Chi Minh in 1925, Vietnam revolutionary press should achieve further growth and focus on the following points:

Firstly, always adhere to the principles and purposes of each press. Moving away this principle is running counter his viewpoint. Today, journalism is facing severe challenges, including material temptations and interests, as a consequence of the market economy. Following President Ho Chi Minh, we should resolutely resist all temptations and devote the whole life for the independence of the country, the freedom, happiness of the people, do whatever whenever possible that is beneficial to the country and the people.. Vietnamese journalists are pioneers, so they must bear in mind their position of a revolutionary journalist according to President Ho Chi Minh's point of view.

Second, absolutely not to violate revolutionary ethics. Each article and each journalist must be imbued and follow Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style in life, especially in journalism career. His revolutionary ethics include: humanity; loyalty to the country and the Party, kindness to the people; diligence, thrifty, integrity, righteousness, impartiality, public-mindedness, and international spirit. Do not fall into individualism and pursue unhealthy trends, betray the principles and purposes of the newspaper, violate the journalist's ethics, and go against the interests of the Party, the Fatherland, the nation and the people. Journalist must not follow hostile forces to damage Vietnam's revolutionary interests.

Third, build an appropriate organisational structure and a capable and virtuous contingent of journalists. Currently, the Law on Press has been promulgated in our country. It is necessary to make press agencies nationwide operate in accordance with the Law and reality of the new revolutionary period. Press agencies must meet the requirements of the revolution, direct the entire Party, people and army to successfully implement the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress with the goal of sustainable development of the country. Along with that, it is necessary to build the contingent of revolutionary journalists according to Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style. They must : (1) be patriotic and loyal to the Party, filial to the people; (2) strictly observe the law; (3) have good professional expertise; (4) be enthusiastic and ambitious; (5) be willing to sacrifice their personal interests for the sake of the revolution; (6) have good will and always act for the right, the good, and counter the bad, the evil and forces hostile of Vietnamese revolution; (7) have high sense of responsibility and solidarity, especially with colleagues, to complete all tasks assigned by the organisation.

Vietnam’s revolutionary press towards Ho Chi Minh's style

The journalistic style of President Ho Chi Minh has an instructive and topical significance for the development of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism today. This is reflected in the three major points in his journalistic style: concise, popular, and sufficient.

Concise, popular. Concise does not entirely mean brevity, although there are similarities between them. Writings may be long, but He criticises writings that are wordy but empty. The current popularity of the internet with huge amount of information and fierce competition of media requires that Vietnam’s revolutionary press must have styles that meet the needs of timeliness, brief and diversity.

When it comes to popularity, President Ho Chi Minh said that journalists must learn the way of the masses; each word must clearly show the thoughts and desires of the masses; they must always use simple and practical words and examples that are comprehensible to everyone; try to make everyone believe and enjoy the articles they have written. He mentioned four issues that journalists must clearly define: what to speak and write; to whom they speak and write; what to speak and write for; and how to speak and write. He often criticised cadres and party members who are wordy and like to use foreign languages without paying attention to listeners and viewers, regardless of whether they understand or not. President Ho Chi Minh often spoke the voice of the people, or used folk songs and proverbs. He explained political theories, Marxism-Leninism in a clear, concise, comprehensible, and non-scholastic manner.

Sufficience. The articles he wrote are ususally concise, but include enough basic information. Although all the documents adopted at the Party Founding Conference in early 1930 were very brief, they fully met the main criteria to make the Platform of a political party, namely: (1) Objectives of the Party; (2) The theoretical ground of the Party; (3) The path to achieve the objectives; (4) The leadership forces of the Party; (5) Mass forces to achieve the objectives; (6) Operating method of the Party; (7) Possible future society when the Party gains power; (8) International relations of the Party.

Attractiveness. His articles, especially the calls for compatriots and soldiers across the country are very enthusiastic, and contain the determination and strategy of the entire nation. His New Year wishes interspersed with his poems made the New Year's Eves more sacred and emotional; his generous political articles, his writings to the sectors, genders, students, young people, teenagers which are full of love and affection without citations from resolutions and directives,  show his effective style of expression, the one of "Nation - Science - Mass" that our people have unanimously strived for since the mid-40s of the twentieth century.

The Vietnam’s revolutionary press in Ho Chi Minh’s style must activate and encourage the entire Party, army and people to act for the revolutionary goals; must "roll up their sleeves" when mentioning the tasks of party organisations, authorities and mass organisations. He did journalistic work naturally and honestly just like breathing. And the attractiveness of Vietnam's revolutionary press according to Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style also lies in its association with reality, meeting the country's requirements in each period. There is nothing more boring than reading articles that are far from reality, insensitive to the situation of the country, and not touch the hearts of the people.

Nearly 100 years have passed, since the first issue of Thanh Nien newspaper founded by President Ho Chi Minh (June 21, 1925 - June 21, 2022). With valuable instructions from Marxism - Lenin, Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style, Vietnam’s revolutionary journalism has made great strides on the way to its revolutionary goals. The Vietnam revolutionary press in tandem with the political, economic, cultural and social fronts, etc., will actively contribute more in realising his aspiration of a powerful and prosperous Vietnam on par with the world powers. That is freedom of speech in line of the Vietnamese revolution; the freedom towards the true – the good – the beautiful, and towards the liberation cause that President Ho Chi Minh initiated: national liberation, class liberation, social liberation, and human liberation.