Le Quoc Minh, Secretary of the VNA Party Committee and Deputy General Director of the agency, said that following the rise of data journalism, the VNA, in recent years, has built many specialised information pages during major events and on current affairs in Vietnam and the world.
However, this website is the first to use various forms of journalism, he stressed.
Building the special site for the National Party Congress began in April last year and it became operational in early December.
It provides information, both archival and updated, in the form of text, photos, videos, infographics, and data so that domestic and foreign media agencies and readers can quickly gain an insight into all of the national Party congresses in history and all-level Party congresses ahead of the 13th National Party Congress.
Minh said the site is the biggest information project of the VNA to date, with the participation of various units, including agencies in charge of information sources, photos, documents, publication, and technical matters.
The engagement of 63 domestic and 30 foreign bureaus has created a special strength for the site, he said, adding that it covers various matters from many localities as well as the perspectives of foreign experts and Vietnamese expatriates.
As the VNA is a key press agency providing the most accurate information about the 13th National Party Congress in a timely manner, thousands of stories, photos, videos, and infographics about the gathering have been published on the website since the beginning of January.
Apart from updated news, the website, available in six languages (Vietnamese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese), provides archival information, including documents issued at national Party congresses, biographies of Party General Secretaries since the first congress, full lists of members of the Politburo, the Party Central Committee, and the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat in the 12th tenure, along with lists of members of the standing boards for the 2020-2025 tenure of all Party committees of provinces, centrally-run cities, ministries, sectors, and central agencies.
Information provided in many languages by the newest tools helps readers stay updated and foreign news agencies cover the congress in a timely manner with accurate and official information, according to Minh.
The launch is a step towards realising the VNA’s development strategy of combining information with technology and creative ideas, he added.
Apart from its creativity and information diversity, the website is also highly regarded thanks to its application of technology.
Deputy Director of the VNA’s Techniques Centre, Nguyen Minh Son, said it was developed by many VNA units and technology partners and has a formal and modern design that is highly interactive on computers, tablets, and smartphones.
It not only features a modern appearance but also uses the most up-to-date communications technology to learn users’ behaviour and improve load speed, he noted.
A unique feature of the website is that it provides widgets that can be added to other websites, thus automatically updating information about the congress on these sites, Son explained.
The website has recorded a relatively large number of visits and the figure has been increasing even more when the 13th National Party Congress is approaching. It is currently among the top four VNA websites in terms of the number of visits and has become a source of official and trustworthy information for both domestic and foreign readers, thus contributing to the success of the 13th National Party Congress./.