In the heart of vibrant Germany, the news sites and media channels of Vietnamese community journalists join the ever-flowing stream of information, becoming a solid bridge, connecting hundreds of thousands of overseas Vietnamese with their homeland, while truthfully reflecting the rhythm of life, challenges and successes of the community. They are the "messengers" of information, community culture, and the voice of the majority of Vietnamese people in Germany.
Each community journalist started their journalism career with a different destiny, but they all have one thing in common: they do journalism voluntarily, without pay, but with passion and happiness when contributing to the community.
These "cardless" journalists do not mind the hardships and difficulties of going everywhere, attending all events of associations to report news, helping to spread positive information in the Vietnamese community.
Mr. Nguyen Duc Thang, currently President of the October Literature and Arts Club in Berlin, officially started working in community journalism in 2007 when he was the Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Business Association in the Federal Republic of Germany and also the Editor-in-Chief of the Vietnam Business magazine in the Federal Republic of Germany.
He then collaborated with a media company to open the online newspaper Tuoi Tre and became the editor of this magazine. In addition, he also translated and wrote articles for the online magazine Talawas of a group of Vietnamese translators in Germany.
As a member of the Executive Committee of the German-Vietnamese Association and a member of the Jury of the Federal Republic of Germany's state translation/interpretation competition, Mr. Duc Thang has a strong language and a deep understanding of the host country, so he has many articles and analyses on hot political and social events in Germany.
He feels happy because with his German proficiency, he is able to provide information about German economy , culture, and law to those who are not fluent in German. He is also a contributor to the domestic press, having written articles for newspapers such as Sports & Culture of VNA, Hanoi Moi, and Law...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Duc Thang regularly wrote articles summarizing the situation of the pandemic in Germany and the German Government 's epidemic prevention policies, supporting individuals and businesses in difficulty. His articles were warmly received by the community and the Vietnamese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany awarded him a certificate of merit for these contributions.
Also a person with a long-standing attachment to Germany, Mr. Nguyen Huy Thang came to Germany in 1988 and is often affectionately called journalist Huy Thang by everyone in the community.
He started working in journalism in 1979 when he was a war correspondent on the northern border front. In 2016, he founded Viet-Duc TV after retiring and since then, he has returned to journalism with great enthusiasm.
He shared: "For over 9 years, I have been passionate about journalism, feeling excited, loving, and attracted to becoming a community journalist. That is my joy, I do it not for money but for the respect and love of the community."
His news site has become an information channel serving overseas Vietnamese, bringing domestic information to them and transmitting their information back to the country, meeting their need for information about the situation in Vietnam and Germany.
Describing his job, he said: "I feel extremely happy to be a journalist, like a historian for the community. My news follows the memorable developments of the community."
On June 28, 2015, when the Festival celebrating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Germany was held at Dong Xuan Center, Berlin, there were 10,000 people attending, including many Germans who were participating in a Vietnamese festival for the first time. Everyone was excited and happy! The event brought journalist Huy Thang many special emotions, so he composed the song "Vietnam and Germany are all homelands," a song that recorded many emotional imprints of the Vietnamese community in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Journalist Huy Thang also recounted his impressions in 2014 when he represented overseas Vietnamese in Germany to visit Truong Sa archipelago. The trip with many memorable and emotional memories together with overseas Vietnamese from all over the world left him with many special feelings and wonderful solidarity and harmony. On that trip, he composed the song "Hoang Sa Truong Sa, oh we have returned here," a song that has become the luggage of many overseas Vietnamese delegations visiting Truong Sa.
Community journalism is "free" and is spontaneous and voluntary work, but community journalists feel they have a mission and responsibility to record community activities, spread information about integration into the local society, and look towards their homeland.
Mr. Nguyen Sy Phuong, or as everyone often calls him Dr. Phuong, one of the most senior community journalists currently living in Leipzig city, also told a touching story about community journalism: "On New Year's Eve 2009, when the sky was covered in snow, I received a call from a Vietnamese girl who was at the German-Polish border. In a choked sob, she said that her husband had kicked her out of the house and locked the door. I was stunned, and could only encourage her to try, to hide somewhere to avoid the storm, and I would call the police. That was the beginning of a series of articles about German criminal law and family law, which were very useful for Vietnamese people who needed to integrate into German society."
Mr. Phuong came to the German Democratic Republic in 1986 to do research. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, tens of thousands of Vietnamese, most of them export workers, lost their jobs and had to fend for themselves in Germany. They were forced to turn to trading and struggling, without any knowledge or business experience, and were in dire need of support. Even the German people and administrative apparatus were confused by the change in the entire social foundation.
In response to that need, Mr. Phuong registered his business as a business consultant, providing business procedure services, tax declaration, and problem solving for Vietnamese people.
From this practical knowledge in Germany, at the same time Vietnam was carrying out the renovation process, shifting to a market economy, he began writing reference articles on economics, markets, policies, laws, apparatus... for domestic newspapers published weekly, starting with Saigon Economic Times, followed by Saigon Marketing, Tia Sang, Vietnamnet, Education...
In 2003, Mr. Phuong published the paper Thoi Bao Viet Duc, the only Vietnamese newspaper registered for copyright and deposited at the German Deutsche Bücherei Library, to support integration, build the Vietnamese community in Germany, provide advice on all areas, from family to society, from immigration to law, education, residence, business... especially with a lot of information about associations which are very necessary for community activities. In 2017, the newspaper switched to electronic and is now called Duc Viet Online www.ducvietonline.de.
Mr. Phuong confided: "The joy and motivation of the newspaper is when all the problems of each individual can be solved through the newspaper and direct advice from the editorial office, as Karl Marx's motto says: "The happiest person is the one who brings happiness to the most people."
Mr. Nguyen Khac Hung, currently living in Berlin, is also a community journalist with 15 years of "career experience." He said that in 2010, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long, the Hanoi Association in the Federal Republic of Germany was established and he was a founding member. The newly established association had its own website and needed someone to create the association's newspaper, so he started working as a journalist.
Starting with thoughtful articles about Hanoi and the association’s activities that were warmly received by the community, he gradually wrote more and on broader topics. Under the pen name Hung Ly, he became famous in the community for writing hundreds of articles for both community newspapers and domestic newspapers.
He shared that the motivation that helps him write enthusiastically is the joy of having his voice reach the people and being accepted by them. "Every time I write an article, I am excited to wait for it to be published and for the readers' reactions. There are articles like 'Random thoughts about festivals of Hanoians' that receive tens of thousands of views with hundreds of positive comments, I am very happy," he said.
Mr. Hung believes that the mission of community journalism is to inform and connect the community, towards the common goal of successful integration into Germany and towards the homeland. To some extent, community journalism also helps to convey necessary information from Vietnamese representative agencies to the community as well as to help people accompany activities towards the homeland.
Community journalists in Germany are first-generation Vietnamese who have settled in Germany and are now in their 70s and 80s, so the biggest difficulty for them is building a successor team when the second and third generation of Vietnamese are much weaker in the Vietnamese language and are also much less connected to their homeland Vietnam.
According to journalist Duc Thang, to maintain community journalism, first of all, we must maintain writers, and encourage journalists, especially young journalists. Second, we must have a mechanism to train writers, and train Vietnamese for young people who are capable and enthusiastic about writing.
Next, there needs to be coordination between online newspapers to have a tight organizational structure in writing and posting articles. There needs to be a remuneration system, even if it is only symbolic, for writers to encourage them.
To implement the above solutions, according to Mr. Duc Thang, of course, we need the support of state authorities and professional journalists.
Journalist Huy Thang also believes that this is a very difficult task. He said: "Currently, we mainly work by ourselves, with editorial offices having only one or two people. Sometimes we have to pay out of our own pocket for collaborators, but no one collaborates enthusiastically and deeply. We have not found the answer to this question."
Journalist Hung Ly believes that: "Writing is closely linked to language, specifically Vietnamese, and very few second and third generations are good at Vietnamese. Not to mention that journalism also requires writers to be attached to the community, understand the needs of the community, and generally speak to the community. Finding people who meet such standards is extremely difficult. Not to mention that community journalism is not a profession that can make a living, so it is even more difficult to find successors."
According to him, it is also possible to rely on associations, especially student associations, to find suitable factors, thereby guiding, training, and mainly encouraging and orienting young people who love and are passionate about community journalism.
It can be said that community journalism in Germany is still at its peak when community journalists, despite their age, are still full of enthusiasm for journalism, making important contributions to connecting the community and the homeland. Each person has their own strengths, contributing to building the overseas Vietnamese community in different ways, but all are valuable and worthy of respect./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/chuyen-ve-nhung-nguoi-chep-su-cong-dong-tai-duc-post1045096.vnp
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