Develop a national platform to control data, exploit benefits

Sharing at the ASEAN Workshop on Digital Transformation of Journalism and Digital Knowledge Creation held on September 21, Mr. Luu Dinh Phuc, Director of the Press Department ( Ministry of Information and Communications ) said that Vietnam has more than 800 news agencies and nearly 1 million articles published daily, which shows the richness, diversity, and huge information database.

Revenue in the media sector reached nearly 4 billion USD, demonstrating the potential of the media industry in creating economic values. However, up to 50% of advertising value is "flowing" to cross-border platforms, social networks and the data being collected by these platforms. That is why domestic news agencies and media are losing this source of revenue.

Mr. Luu Dinh Phuc, Director of the Press Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) shared at the workshop.

From there, Mr. Phuc said, it is necessary to build domestic platforms so that data can be controlled and used. This is a solution to exploit the benefits of data and build a knowledge base.

The Director of the Press Department shared that the digital transformation of the press in particular and the development of a common platform in Vietnam are being promoted. He cited that on VTVgo's high-speed digital broadcasting platform, people can find not only national TV channels but also local TV channels. The Voice of Vietnam is developing a national distribution platform. Nhan Dan Newspaper is in the process of building a platform. From the domestic digital platforms that are built, it will contribute to attracting advertising sources from cross-border platforms.

Mr. Luu Dinh Phuc added that to carry out the digital transformation of the press, the Vietnamese Government has built a tool to assess the development of the press. From there, press agencies can implement the digital transformation roadmap, with appropriate solutions, and implement the strategy in the future.

At the workshop, there were many proposals revolving around the issue of digital transformation of journalism.

In addition, Vietnam also issued a set of indicators to assess and measure the maturity level of digital transformation in journalism, including a table of indicators grouped into 5 pillars of digital transformation in journalism (Strategy; Digital infrastructure, digital platform and information security; Organizational and professional uniformity; Readers, audiences, listeners; Level of digital technology application) with a total score of 100. Every year, the Ministry of Information and Communications will announce the results of digital transformation.

At the same time, Mr. Phuc also proposed that ASEAN should build a common index on the maturity of digital transformation in journalism. This is just a criterion for media agencies to aim for and be ranked. Each ASEAN member country should have a separate tool to measure its level of digital transformation...

Need to solve the problem of reducing dependence on third-party platforms

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam said that the digital transformation story of Vietnamese press is in its early stages and it is still "a bit early" to compare with other countries in the region, as well as in the world.

The Deputy Minister said that digital transformation of the press is a long road. This is a matter of survival for press agencies, especially the awareness of the heads of press agencies.

“I believe that the press and media agencies in Vietnam will certainly be determined to work together to solve and change. For example, we will have to solve the problem of how to not be too dependent on the technology and content distribution algorithms of cross-border platforms, which have many advantages but are controlling the game.

We must have our own digital ecosystem, solutions to measure and calculate data, and business models that we control, thereby reducing dependence on third-party platforms," ​​the Deputy Minister shared.

The Deputy Minister added that in order to serve readers and listeners in the digital space in the new era, there will be many changes in perception, working methods and approaches. To solve this problem, Vietnamese media agencies will have to find their own path.

“I think the biggest challenge for leaders of press agencies is to clearly distinguish between the things we should continue to do, and even continue to invest in. We can cut out steps, jobs and investments that are really unnecessary and, on the contrary, focus more on the strengths of technology…”, the Deputy Minister added.

Vietnamnet.vn