Decision 362/QD-TTg 2019 master plan on press development and management

DECISION

Approving the master plan on press development and management nationwide through 2025^[1]

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the April 5, 2016 Press Law;

Based on opinions of the Party Central Committee’s Political Bureau, Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, and the Standing Member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat in Documents No. 10018-CV/VPTW of March 31, 2015; No. 26-KL/TW of December 29, 2017; and No. 8785-CV/VPTW of February 1, 2019;

At the proposal of the Minister of Information and Communications;

DECIDES:

Article 1.To approve the master plan on press development and management nationwide through 2025, with the following principal contents:

I. VIEWPOINTS

1. The press is a means of communications, a tool of propagation, and an important ideological weapon of the Party and State, and a forum of the people which is placed under the direct and comprehensive leadership of the Party and management of the State and operates under the Constitution and law.

2. To develop and properly manage the press along the line of revolutionism, professionism, quality and effectiveness to meet the people’s information demand, disseminate the Party’s line and the State’s policies and laws, unite and rally the masses, create social consensus, set ideological and aesthetic orientations, and contribute to improving the people’s intellectual standards and developing the Vietnamese culture and people.

3. The State shall adopt mechanisms and policies on finance and training, and create necessary conditions for the press to perform its political and communication tasks and, at the same time, encourage press agencies to further mobilize resources for development while ensuring adherence to the set principles and objectives, refraining from purely pursuing profits, and preventing private ownership of the press and control of the press by interest groups from occurring.

4. To develop the press in line with science and technology development as well as information and media trends in the world. To closely combine assorted types of journalism and at the same time bring into play the advantages of different media and information services in the Internet in order to proactively provide, and increase the coverage of, official information at home and abroad, and restrict negative effects and ensure cyber information safety and security.

II. OBJECTIVES

To arrange the press system in combination with renewing the organizational model and increasing the effectiveness of the leadership and management of the press to develop the system of print press, visual press, audio press, and electronic press. To build a number of key multimedia press agencies to play the core role in orienting public opinion and providing external information. To arrange the press system, remedying the situation of overlaps, thinned-out investment, loose management and operation without strict adherence to the set principles and objectives in combination with clear identification of the press leadership and management responsibility of Party Committees and administrations, especially heads of managing agencies and press agencies. To build a contingent of managers, reporters and editors who possess moral qualities and professional qualifications to meet requirements for press development in the new situation.

III. ORIENTATIONS, ARRANGEMENT PLANS AND IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE

1. For printed newspapers and magazines

To arrange the system of print press agencies in association with renewing their organizational and managerial model along the line of reducing the number of print press agencies and allowing each agency to have more than one publication (including one major publication and maybe some other publications). After being arranged, all press agencies will have direct managing agencies being provincial- or ministerial-level units (excluding military zone- and armed service-level ones) so as to facilitate direction and management work. Press agencies shall be entitled to enjoy financial autonomy. The State shall reserve budget funds to invest in a number of key press agencies, apply the mechanism of order placement to a number of newspapers and magazines performing identified political tasks. To renew the forms and contents of publications to meet the demand for general information as well as specialized information of each group of readers and each region. The arrangement plan and implementation schedule are prescribed as follows:

a/ The Party Central Committee will have theNhan dan(People) newspaper and Communist review, of which theNhan dannewspaper shall be organized after the model of multimedia communication agency.

By 2020, each commission of the Party Central Committee will have no more than 1 printed magazine; to encourage magazines to launch electronic versions and gradually convert printed magazines into electronic magazines.

After 2020, with the Communist Party of Vietnam online newspaper (under the Party Central Committee’s Communication and Education Commission) being the core, to consolidate magazines of the Party Central Committee’s commissions to form a multimedia centralized press agency.

b/ The National Assembly Office, Supreme People’s Procuracy, Supreme People Court and State Audit Office of Vietnam each will have 1 printed newspaper and 1 printed magazine.

c/ Ministries and ministerial-level agencies each will have 1 newspaper and 1 magazine. In case a ministry or ministerial-level agency receives a newspaper from a central socio-professional or social organization or an enterprise, it may have at most 2 newspapers but shall complete the arrangement of attached press agencies by 2025 (so as to have 1 newspaper).

The Vietnam Television, Radio Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency, People’s Army newspaper and People’s Public Security newspaper will be organized after the model of multimedia communication agency.

Government-attached agencies (except the Vietnam Television, Radio Voice of Vietnam, and Vietnam News Agency) each will have 1 magazine. Military zones and military armed services each will have 1 newspaper or magazine.

General departments and equivalent units under ministries or ministerial-level agencies each will have 1 magazine.

Implementation schedule: By the end of 2020, ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies shall complete the arrangement of attached press agencies as planned.

In 2020, the Ministry of Public Security shall complete the reorganization of newspapers under the Public Security Departments of 5 provinces and centrally run cities into a publication of the People’s Public Security newspaper.

d/ Academies, research institutes, universities and hospitals that meet the prescribed conditions may have scientific journals which are entitled to autonomy in accordance with law.

dd/ Provinces and centrally run cities each will have 1 newspaper under the provincial-level Party Committee and 1 magazine under the provincial-level literature and arts association. Some provinces and centrally run cities which are economic, science and technology, cultural or tourism centers may have specialized magazines. Departmental-level agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees will not have press agencies.

Implementation schedule: By the end of 2020, provinces and centrally run cities shall complete the arrangement of attached press agencies as planned. Particularly, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City shall strive for the target that by the end of 2020 each city will have at most 5 newspapers (excluding newspapers under religious organizations) and complete the arrangement by 2025 (so as to have 1 newspaper).

e/ Central socio-political organizations each will have 1 newspaper and 1 magazine. The Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations and Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations each will have 1 newspaper under the Union and a number of magazines under member associations. The Vietnam Journalists’ Association and Vietnam Writers’ Association each will have 1 newspaper and 1 magazine. Central socio-professional organizations and social organizations each will have 1 magazine.

Implementation schedule: By the end of 2019, central organizations shall complete the arrangement of attached press agencies as planned. Particularly, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union will have at most 3 newspapers by the end of 2020 and complete the arrangement by 2025 (so as to have 1 newspaper).

g/ By the end of 2020, economic groups and state corporations will no longer have newspapers while their magazines shall continue operating according to granted licenses; the re-grant of licenses must comply with the Press Law.

h/ Central agencies of religious organizations lawfully operating under Vietnam’s law each will have 1 magazine.

Implementation schedule: By 2025, religious organizations shall complete the arrangement of attached press agencies as planned.

2. For radio and television broadcasting

a/ The radio and television broadcasting system shall be renewed along the line of giving focus on production of broadcast programs so as to ensure that the amount of broadcasting time of domestically produced programs on national and local radio and television channels serving essential political, information and communication tasks accounts for at least 70% of the total amount of daily broadcasting time of each channel (of which the amount of broadcasting time of programs produced by the channel itself accounts for at least 30% of the amount of time of domestically produced programs); contents exploited from a foreign channel are mostly world news, science, technology, sports and entertainment news and must not exceed 30% of the total amount of daily broadcasting time of such channel. By 2020, radio and television stations shall themselves finance their current expenditures. The State shall adopt mechanisms to support and place orders to channels, special sections and programs serving essential political, information and communication tasks and adopt appropriate mechanisms to step by step form and develop domestic content production.

b/ For the system of pay radio and television services, the number of foreign channels permitted for fully broadcasting in the system must not exceed 30% of the total number of channels.

c/ TheNhan dantelevision channel (with theNhan dannewspaper being the managing agency), VNews channel (with the Vietnam News Agency being the managing agency), Radio Voice of Vietnam’s television channel (with the Radio Voice of Vietnam being the managing agency), the People’s Public Security television channel (with the Ministry of Public Security being the managing agency), Vietnam national defense television channel (with the Ministry of National Defense being the managing agency), and National Assembly television channel (with the National Assembly Office being the managing agency) shall not build their own transmission and broadcasting systems; regional television centers under the Vietnam Television shall only produce programs for the Vietnam Television in such regions and may not broadcast separate regional channels.

d/ Arrangement plan:

- The Vietnam Television is the national television station. The Radio Voice of Vietnam is the national radio station. The Vietnam News Agency is the national news agency.

- The Vietnam News Agency, Radio Voice of Vietnam,Nhan dannewspaper, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security and National Assembly Office will have their own television channels.

- Provinces and centrally run cities each will have 1 radio station and 1 television station. Each station will have 1 radio channel and 1 television channel serving essential political, information and communication tasks.

Particularly, Ho Chi Minh City will have 1 radio station and 1 television station. Each station of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has at most 2 radio channels and 2 television channels serving essential political, information and communication tasks.

Implementation schedule: Radio and television stations nationwide shall complete the arrangement of attached press agencies by the end of 2020.

3. For electronic newspapers and electronic magazines

a/ The plan on arrangement of electronic newspapers and electronic magazines is similar to that for printed newspapers and magazines. Agencies and organizations permitted to have printed newspapers and magazines prescribed in Clause 1, Section III above will be entitled to have electronic newspapers and magazines. Electronic magazines must reflect the nature of magazines and it is not permitted to use licenses for publishing electronic magazines to publish electronic magazines.

b/ Existing electronic newspapers whose managing agencies are social organizations, socio-political organizations, or state enterprises shall be transferred to other managing agencies or converted into magazines.

Implementation schedule: The arrangement of the press agencies prescribed at Points a and b of this Clause must comply with the schedule applicable to printed newspapers and magazines.

c/ Basically, electronic magazines shall themselves balance their finances. The State shall adopt mechanisms to support the development of a number of key electronic newspapers which possess modern techniques and technologies, high interactivity and diversified contents, and are capable of attracting the masses and orientating public opinion, especially upon occurrence of important, complicated and sensitive events and matters, in order to serve the performance of political, communication and external information tasks (in Vietnamese and foreign languages).

d/ To arrange the system of electronic newspapers in association with renewal of technology and management work so as to bring into the fullest use advantages in terms of information coverage, interactivity, information search and event sequencing capacity in conformity with the trend of multimedia technological convergence for them to become an useful tool for orientating cyber information.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION SOLUTIONS

1. Information and communication

a/ To grasp the Party’s viewpoints and direction over the press and the master plan on press development and management and create high consensus in implementation of the master plan.

b/ To boost dissemination and education work so that people of all strata, especially the youth and youngsters, improve their capacity of self-protection against negative and harmful information in the cyberspace.

To increase the protection of information, especially secret information of agencies, organization and individuals; to provide guidance on how to exploit and use the cyber and cyber information in a safe and effective manner.

2. Laws, mechanisms and policies

a/ To amend and improve the laws on the press, telecommunications and information technology to develop and at the same time properly manage assorted types of journalism and cyber information in conformity with information and communication development trends in the world and conditions in the country.

b/ To amend and supplement the law on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of press and electronic information to suit reality and serve state management work.

3. Organizational apparatus

a/ To conduct reorganization, reduce the number of focal units, remedy overlaps and link responsibilities of managing agencies and heads of managing agencies to operation of attached press agencies.

b/ To consolidate the organizational apparatuses and improve the capacity of managing the press and electronic information of agencies in charge of directing and managing the press at all levels; to clearly identify the tasks, powers and responsibilities of each sector and authority in managing and directing the press and electronic information. To uphold the role of spokespersons of agencies and organizations.

c/ Before 2020, the Vietnam Television, Radio Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency,Nhan dannewspaper, People’s Army newspaper, and People’s Public Security newspaper shall formulate plans on key multimedia communication agency for submission to competent authorities for consideration and approval.

4. Improvement of law enforcement capacity

a/ To increase inspection and examination and strictly handle violations committed by agencies, press publications and responsible persons. To sanction, suspend, and revoke operation licenses of, press agencies and press publications committing violations according to regulations. To review and rectify joint activities and publishing activities of press agencies. To enhance the management of websites and social networks in order to promote the effects of these modes of information in communication activities while restricting negative effects.

b/ To attach importance to coordination and improvement of the role of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association in supervising the observance of law in press activities and professional ethnics of journalists.

5. Finance

a/ To study mechanisms and policies to create conditions for press agencies to reduce expenses and increase revenues for development. To clearly distinguish between the financial mechanism applicable to the press serving political and communication tasks and that for the press serving entertainment and commercial purposes. The State shall only invest in and guarantee funds for a number of newspapers serving political and communication tasks; and provide budget supports for publications, specialized sections and programs suitable to specific political tasks in each period and region.

b/ To improve financial mechanisms and policies applicable to joint activities and activities of producing science, knowledge dissemination and entertainment contents, specialized sections and programs of press agencies.

6. Human resources

a/ To review, supplement and improve regulations on appointment, relief from office, commendation, discipline and criteria on age, qualification, capacity, and managerial experience of holders of key leading titles of press agencies.

b/ To accelerate the training and retraining in professional skills, managerial skills and journalism economics for leaders of press agencies. To renew the contents of journalism training and retraining programs.

c/ To improve the capacity of the information personnel of state agencies; to provide retraining courses on professional skills, especially knowledge and skills of processing information and responding to information incidents.

7. Science and technology

a/ To invest in key press agencies in association with the requirements for modernization and application of advanced media technologies and adopt mechanisms to encourage press agencies to approach advanced media technologies.

b/ To invest in research and development of technical tools and solutions for well managing electronic press and cyber information. To increase coordination among agencies, programs, schemes and projects to ensure cyber information safety and security, increase the coverage of official information and at the same time prevent and restrict impacts of harmful and negative information.

8. International cooperation and external information

a/ To increase cooperation between domestic press agencies and foreign press agencies as well as regional and international press organizations. To promote the effectiveness of overseas representative missions of Vietnamese news and press agencies.

b/ To accelerate international cooperation on training and scientific research in the field of press and information and communications. To coordinate in handling violations in cross-border provision of services in conformity with international law and practices.

c/ To improve effectiveness of external information programs and increase the provision of information about Vietnam in foreign languages.

Article 2.Organization of implementation

1. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees and related agencies shall organize the implementation of this master plan; and report to the Ministry of Information and Communications on the implementation of this master plan and propose measures for handling problems arising in the course of implementation.

2. The Ministry of Information and Communications

a/ To assume the prime responsibility and be held responsible for guiding, organizing, monitoring, urging and examining the implementation of this master plan.

b/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, formulating and improving the system of techno-economic norms for press activities;

c/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, reviewing and proposing amendments and supplements to the laws on press, telecommunications, and information technology to suit practical press activities, effectively implementing this master plan, and creating conditions for press development.

To review and re-grant operation licenses of press agencies, ensuring conformity with law and the orientations set in this master plan.

d/ To coordinate with the Party Central Committee’s Communication and Education Commission in directing ideological work, disseminating and grasping the Party’s viewpoints and directions on the press and this master plan and creating high consensus in implementation of this master plan.

dd/ To coordinate with related agencies in amending and supplementing regulations on coordination in press direction and management work, appointment, relief from office, commendation and discipline of leaders of press agencies.

e/ To build a national digital data deposit center to meet the supervision, analysis and intensive evaluation requirements serving the state management of the press.

3. The Ministry of Finance

a/ To ensure sufficient funds for implementation of this master plan in accordance with law.

b/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, studying, proposing and submitting to competent authorities for improvement, policies on incentives and supports on taxes and fees, etc., for the press serving political, public security, national defense and external information tasks, social policy beneficiaries and tasks assigned by the State.

4. Press managing agencies

a/ To organize the implementation of this master plan while upholding the leading and directing role and responsibility of Party committees, Party organizations and heads of managing agencies and press agencies; to properly conduct ideological work, set orientations on information on personnel work, enhance management, and adopt specific solutions to create conditions for those engaged in press activities to make contributions and develop.

b/ To increase education, training, retraining and improvement of professional qualifications and political stance of cadres, reporters and editors; to strictly handle according to competence cadres, employees and press staff of press agencies under their management who commit violations.

c/ To report to the Ministry of Information and Communications on the implementation of this master plan and propose measures for handling problems arising in the course of implementation.

5. The Vietnam Journalists’ Association

To coordinate with the Party Central Committee’s Communication and Education Commission and Ministry of Information and Communications in directing and managing press activities; to properly conduct the communication work among its members about the implementation of this master plan.

Article 3.This Decision takes effect on the date of its promulgation.

If there are previous regulations of the Prime Minister on arrangement of press agencies which are contrary to this Decision, this Decision shall prevail.

Article 4.Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, provincial-level People’s Committee chairpersons, press managing agencies and related agencies and organizations shall implement this Decision.-

Prime Minister
NGUYEN XUAN PHUC