Further Training of Journalists in Vietnam

Since 1997, Sweden has considered the media as one of the priorities of Swedish development cooperation with Vietnam. Improvement of the media is crucial for further development towards democratic governance in the country. Following the successful accomplishment of the first phase (2000-2004), the Project "Further Training of Journalists in Vietnam" received a total budget of SEK 30 m (equivalent to approx. US$ 4 m) for its second phase, which starts from October 2004 to December 2007. A series of training courses have been held to achieve the following specific objectives:

• To build up high quality of journalism characterised by professionalism, integrity and interaction with the audiences;
• To enhance the capacity of the media to report important national issues such as poverty alleviation, fighting corruption, promoting democracy and respect for human rights;
• To promote openness and democracy of the media through improved capacity of Vietnamese journalists.

These short-term courses have helped developed professional technical and editorial management skills. In-house training at selected media have been provided as well. The short-term courses are topic based, with focus on development issues such as poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS, children’s rights, anti-corruption, grassroots democracy and issues concerning Parliamentary affairs. Besides improving the professional skills of journalists and editors, the project creates opportunities for dialogues on different issues like the role of the media in the society, the ethical codes, and the press law.

The implementation agency from Vietnam is the Press Department of the Ministry of Culture and Information with its partnership from the Institute for Further Training of Journalists, University of Kalmar, Sweden.

A Performance Analysis of the Swedish Support to Media Development in Vietnam has remarked that to date, Vietnamese journalists and media managers have shown great willingness to take on new ideas.

An increasing number of journalists, especially among the young, try to expand the limits and carry on professional and investigative journalism, often challenging the traditional roles of media as mouthpieces of the leadership.

As a result, the role of media in a two-way communication process has been improved. The public is more than ever active in taking contacts with media and demanding answers to complaints. So-called negative news is more openly discussed.