Vietnam’s Online Newspaper Development Trend in the Context of Social Media

Abstract

According to statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications, as of December 2022, the whole country has 127 news agencies; 670 journal agencies (there are 327 journals of political theory and science, 72 journals of literature and art); 72 radio and television agencies. Personnel operating in the field of journalism are about 41,000 people, of which the radio and television sector is approximately 16,500 people. Compared with 2021, personnel is relatively stable and the number of personnel granted journalist cards increases significantly. There have been 19,356 cases of being granted journalist cards. It is easy for the public to check the names of long-term online newspapers and major readers such as “VnExpress,” “Dan Tri,” “Vietnamplus,” “VietNamNet,” etc. The emergence of multimedia journalism is an important step towards shaping the new type of digital storytelling and the future of journalism. In the process of renovation, the Vietnamese press is also gradually transforming and approaching new media products (Long-form/E-Magazine/Megastory) that show long, in-depth stories and multi-purpose writing, photos, audio, video, photographers, etc. According to “Vietnamplus” – a press agency leading this trend, when you first bring this type of work to the public, it is unexpected that these works are received more strongly than other types of media. We use questionnaires to build public perceptions and observations as journalists working for five major online newspapers in Vietnam. The data is taken from in-depth interviews with journalists, editors, editorial staff, and editors-in-chief of five major online newspapers in Vietnam. We choose the sample according to the sampling method of the case. In the context of social media, Vietnam’s online newspapers have developed and changed significantly. These findings will enrich and have a typical impact by clarifying two main contradictions that exist in Vietnam’s online newspapers. Those are conflicts between news products, regular articles and media products, e-magazines, megastory and conflicts in organizations producing online newspapers. From there, the article looks at how Vietnam’s online newspaper is going to grow, how it uses visual reporting, and how excited journalists and press managers are about it.