Trends in the Publishing Industry: Sustained Development or Accelerated Breakthrough?

The year 2025 marks the 20-year journey of implementing Directive No. 42-CT/TW dated August 25, 2004 of the Central Party Secretariat, 9th tenure, on "Improving the overall quality of publishing activities."

This is one of the important documents clearly demonstrating the Party's strategic vision for the publishing sector - a particularly sharp tool on the ideological and cultural front.

After 20 years of implementing Directive 42, it can be seen that the Vietnamese publishing system has made significant progress in both quantity and quality.

Publishing industry still has many bottlenecks

On the afternoon of August 26, the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission coordinated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam Publishing Association to organize a conference to summarize 20 years of implementing Directive No. 42-CT/TW, dated August 25, 2004 of the Central Secretariat on "Improving the overall quality of publishing activities."

Looking back on the past journey, Associate Professor-PhD Pham Minh Tuan, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Communist Magazine, Chairman of Vietnam Publishing Association, said that Directive 42 is not only a guiding document but also the Party's strategic vision for the publishing sector.

Mr. Pham Minh Tuan spoke at the conference summarizing 20 years of implementing Directive 42-CT/TW on the afternoon of August 26 in Hanoi . (Photo: Viet Ha)

Mr. Pham Minh Tuan said that Directive No. 42 considers improving the overall quality of publishing activities an important political task, closely linked to the Party's ideological and cultural work.

Documents such as the Resolution of the 5th Central Conference, Session VIII (1998) on building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity, the Resolution of the 9th Central Conference, Session XI (2014) on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development, and recently the Document of the 13th National Party Congress continued to emphasize "Strongly developing the fields of journalism and publishing in a professional, humane, and modern direction, meeting the healthy and positive cultural needs of the people".

However, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan also pointed out the existing shortcomings and limitations such as the lack of synchronization and overlap between legal documents, leading to difficulties in application and enforcement at the grassroots level, which is a reality that is hindering the development of the industry.

Ms. Phung Thi My, Director of the News Publishing House (third from right) received a Certificate of Merit at the Conference. (Photo: CTV/Vietnam+)

According to Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, some regulations are no longer suitable, especially in the context of the digital transformation boom, hindering dynamism and creativity. Support mechanisms for publications serving political tasks are limited, lacking policies to encourage investment in high-quality content.

In addition, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan pointed out the change in readers' information access behavior, from traditional printed books to mobile devices and online platforms.

“Digital transformation is profoundly changing the value chain of the publishing industry, from editing, prepress, printing to distribution and marketing. This requires comprehensive reform to not only stop at printing activities, but also expand the concept of publishing into a knowledge industry,” said Mr. Tuan.

The Chairman of the Vietnam Publishing Association emphasized the urgency of amending and supplementing the 2012 Publishing Law. The amended law needs to address current bottlenecks by “clarifying the scope of regulation for electronic publications, multi-platform publishing, cross-border publishing joint models, as well as regulations on copyright, data protection and legal liability in the digital environment.”

Delegates chairing the conference. (Photo: CTV/Vietnam+)

At the same time, it is necessary to develop a Publishing Industry Development Strategy to 2035, with a vision to 2045, to create a basis for long-term policy planning.

He also proposed a model for developing the industry in two distinct directions: A group of publishers with political tasks, ordered by the State; and a group of strong publishing-media corporations, operating according to market mechanisms. This will help the industry both ensure its role as an ideological tool and have the capacity to compete and integrate internationally.

In addition, Mr. Tuan proposed establishing State-managed publishing support funds to invest in key projects, while further promoting the socialization process.

Reform to create breakthroughs

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission, suggested that in publishing activities, products must be considered as central values providing scientific knowledge for many fields. International cooperation and exchange in publishing must take place more frequently.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda and Education Commission. (Photo: CTV/Vietnam+)

“Especially when converting to a two-level government, we must serve the people better. In the near future, we will study grassroots culture at the commune, ward, and special economic zone levels so that we can have bookcases for the people,” Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia suggested.

Contributing solutions to develop the Publishing industry, Associate Professor - Doctor Bui Hoai Son, full-time member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society, said: Entering a new stage of development - with the requirements of building a knowledge-based economy, developing the cultural industry, deep international integration and comprehensive digital transformation, we need a new approach to the role of publishing.

Not only a means of ideological communication, not only an administrative career field, publishing needs to be developed into an important cultural industry, with high added value, wide influence in life and the ability to make substantial contributions to the country's socio-economic development.

Associate Professor, Doctor Bui Hoai Son (middle), full-time member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society at the Conference. (Photo: CTV/Vietnam+)

According to Mr. Bui Hoai Son, developing publishing as a cultural industry does not mean commercializing knowledge values, but rather maximizing creative potential, applying modern technology, connecting with the fields of art-entertainment-education, and bringing Vietnamese books to the world.

“The Vietnamese publishing industry is facing a pivotal moment. Either we continue to operate in the old way - holding out within safe borders, making books as an administrative task, not creating cultural-economic breakthroughs. Or we bravely change our thinking, strongly reform institutions, seriously invest in technology and people, and make publishing one of the symbols of the modern Vietnamese cultural industry,” Mr. Bui Hoai Son raised the issue./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/xu-the-cua-nganh-xuat-ban-phat-trien-cam-cu-hay-tang-toc-but-pha-post1058122.vnp