Digital transformation – inevitable trend of the Vietnamese press (Photo: VNA)According to insiders, each news agency should build asuitable digital transformation strategy which puts readers and audiences at thecentre, and builds the culture of using data as a foundation for activities and operation of its newsroom.
Today, as readers have changed their habits as well as methods of accessing information, the traditional press should change itself to adapt to andserve them more effectively.
Being aware of the importance of digital transformation inincreasing operation efficiency and ensuring sustainable development, many press agencies have pioneered in applying digital technologies such as artificial intelligence(AI), the Internet of Thing, Cloud, and Big Data.
The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) is one of the press agencies that has implemented digital transformation early. It has stepped up the use of itsdigitalised data and the application of software to speed up the editingand production of articles. Its units producing infographics and TV news havealso applied online software, virtualised technology platforms, and cloud computing tohelp their reporters and editors handle news at any time and everywhere.
Other agencies such as Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV), Vietnam Television (VTV), Nhan Dan Newspaper, VnExpress andZing have also become modern multimedia press agencies.
However, during the digital transformation process, they arefacing a lot of difficulties and challenges in terms of awareness,technology, expense and human resources.
Le Quoc Minh, member of the Party Central Committee,Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper and Chairman of the VietnamJournalists Association (VJA), said that many agencies have yet to clearly understandwhat digital transformation is.
Digital transformation does not lie on technology, but humanand the way of thinking, especially that of leaders, Minh said, stressing theneed to create a new production process, new information, and even anappropriate newsroom culture.
Multimedia and digital content centre of Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade Newspaper) (Photo: congthuong.vn)Digital transformation in journalism aims to developprofessional, humane, and modern press agencies that fulfill the task ofcommunications serving the Party’s revolutionary cause and the country’sreforms, properly perform their roles in guiding the public’s opinions andfirmly safeguarding the information sovereignty on cyberspace, effectivelyimprove readers’ experiences, create new revenue sources, and help promote thedevelopment of the digital content industry.
This strategy targets that by 2030, all of press agencies will have published their contents on digital platforms, with priority given todomestic digital platforms; 90% will have used concentrated data analytic andprocessing platforms and applied artificial intelligence to optimiseoperations; and 100% will have operated the converged newsroom model andothers matching scientific and technological development in the world and producedcontents in line with digital media trends.
Press agencies are also set to optimise revenue sources,with 50% of them raising their revenue by at least 20%.
The strategy also outlines several focal tasks and solutionsto achieve those targets./.
VNA
