Political journalism needs to assert its position in the new context

In the context of the explosive development of social networks, the press has long sought to “live with the flood”. Many solutions have been proposed and applied by many press agencies and many press industries.

Change to adapt is mandatory, but one thing is certain, political journalism must be given due attention, not only to affirm the position of the genre, but also to contribute significantly to orienting public opinion.

According to the annual report "Digital 2025 Global Overview Report" published by We Are Social and Meltwater in mid-February 2025, up to 95.8% of Internet users over the age of 16 in Vietnam use Internet messaging platforms and services every month, higher than the global average (94.5%). Another startling figure is that as of June 30, 2024, Vietnam has about 110 million social media accounts. Of which, Zalo has 76.5 million regular users, Facebook is 72 million, YouTube is 63 million, TikTok is 67 million users. Among these, there are many journalists and press agencies who are also account holders, even one person has several accounts on one website, and on different websites. This shows how much information on social media platforms influences people's lives! In that context, not only proactively participating in social networking platforms, promoting the voice and strength of each type of journalism on these platforms also needs more attention, so that it is as effective as possible.

In the history of the formation and development of journalism, political journalism genres such as editorials, commentary, special articles, investigations... were born later, but have always been focused on, because of their importance not only in providing information, but also because of the ability to analyze, comment, prove, explain, and express the views of journalists and press agencies. In the past, when the Internet was not yet developed and social networks had not yet exploded, "news hunting" journalists had a special role and position. Exclusive, quick, and timely information contributed to making the reputation of journalists and press agencies. But now, many issues have changed dramatically. The news reporting function of the press still exists, but it cannot compete with social networks, with all people, with citizen journalism. The types of journalism themselves must also change to adapt to the increasingly high demands of the public. For example, printed newspapers almost no longer publish news, but focus on organizing topics, series of articles, groups of articles, in-depth information with analysis, commentary, and explanation. Meanwhile, all types of journalism, from traditional printed newspapers to radio, television, and online newspapers, focus on finding and developing audiences on social networking platforms. Digital audiences are given the most attention and appropriate investment by all types of journalism under possible conditions. This has even more favorable conditions for development, in the context of local radio and television stations merging with printed newspapers, forming editorial offices that converge not only in content but also in types of journalism. This is also quite common with central press agencies, where all types of journalism are integrated into one agency, which are specific products such as printed newspapers, electronic newspapers, television, radio, podcasts, etc.

The press agencies converge and integrate different types of journalism, but the professionalism and segmentation are quite clear, with systematic and fundamental investment strategies for each type of journalism, for each strength of each type of journalism. This explains why there are quite long videos on social networks of press agencies but still attract a large number of viewers, because they meet the need to know deeply, know clearly, know "behind" the information that has been received before. These are videos related to current domestic and international issues that many people are interested in, related to the legitimate, legitimate, and close rights and interests of the people. Thus, information itself is not enough, especially in the context of the explosion of social networks, distinguishing between real and fake news, good and bad, right and wrong is not an easy task. At a higher level, the information of the press agency needs to be "upgraded", expressed in the genres of political commentary, to provide analysis, proof, evaluation, explanation, commentary, and orientation of public opinion so that people can correctly and fully understand the extent, nature, and truth of the information, thereby trusting and following it, if needed.

Journalist Hoang Tung - former Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda Department, an excellent theoretical writer in the Vietnamese press - said that "discourse is a guide to ideology, a guide to thinking, an analysis of situations and events on a constantly changing and developing stream". Thus, to guide the public, journalists need to have analytical skills, so that the public can see the essence of events, phenomena, and people; and what is false and unfounded information. With political discourse, in addition to analysis, the writer also needs to prove, explain, and state his or her own point of view. That means not only providing information, but also dissecting the information in a multi-dimensional, objective, thorough, convincing, and humane way. That requires the writer of political discourse to have qualifications, knowledge, and a deep understanding of one or several fields, and to be able to convince the public with the information provided. It must be a logical, smooth combination of stating arguments and establishing a system of arguments in a comprehensive, reasonable argument.

Therefore, political journalism is often called opinion journalism, in-depth journalism. In-depth journalism, because it is closely linked to the comments made by the author of the article. Those opinions are sometimes the opinions of the press agency, even of the press industry. Therefore, if the comments are not objective, convincing, without courage and stance, it is difficult for the public to trust. In-depth journalism, because the genres of political journalism have a very clear characteristic of having to converge the skills of analysis, explanation, proof, synthesis... That is, the writer must have extensive knowledge of each topic, each field, each specific article. Without knowledge, it will only be "riding a horse to see flowers", "surfing", superficial, unable to make the public trust, "convinced", let alone follow. Therefore, many press agencies with strengths in the political genre often attract a large number of collaborators who are experts, scientists , and leaders with journalistic abilities.

With such roles, strengths and outstanding characteristics, political journalism, especially current affairs journalism, must promote its full potential in the context of information on digital platforms increasingly encroaching and dominating the public anytime, anywhere very conveniently. Promoting its strengths, political journalism plays an important role in helping readers avoid receiving false, toxic information that is dangerous to themselves and society. In fact, our country's press agencies increasingly focus on the political genre, expressed through different columns and programs. The political imprint of journalism is increasingly prominent, when strengths are promoted at the right time, contributing significantly to helping the public grasp correct and orthodox information quickly, thereby having the right perception and action.

In the context of the explosion of social networks with countless traps of fake news, false news, and absurd rumors, political journalism needs to assert its position even more, by stating opinions, expressing views promptly and clearly, as well as explaining and analyzing sharply, logically, and convincingly. Only then will political genres in particular and journalism in general be able to convince and orient public opinion, contributing positively to the development and progress of society and the country in the new era, the era of national development.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/bao-chi-chinh-luan-can-khang-dinh-vi-the-trong-boi-canh-moi-706315.html