Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Duy Ngoc (centre) and the new board of directors at the Hanoi Press and Radio-Television Agency. Photo: VNA  

Hanoi Press and Radio–Television Agency, a new city-level media body formed through the merger of six local press organisations, officially debuted at a ceremony hosted by the municipal Party Committee on February 5.

Addressing the ceremony, Le Trung Kien, Deputy Head of the municipal Party Committee’s Organisation Commission, announced a decision to establish the agency, based on merging Ha Noi Moi newspaper, Kinh te & Do thi newspaper, Phu nu Thu do newspaper, Lao dong Thu do newspaper, Tuoi tre Thu do newspaper and Hanoi Radio and Television.

Vu Minh Tuan, Deputy Head of the Hanoi Party Committee’s Board for Information, Education and Mass Mobilisation, was appointed Director of the Hanoi Press and Radio–Television Agency.

Speaking at the event, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Duy Ngoc applauded the capital’s media agencies for effectively fulfilling their communication role, especially in covering all-level Party organisations’ congresses.

He noted that their work has fostered social consensus, reinforced public confidence in the city’s Party organisation and political system, and played a vital role in countering false narratives and safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation as Hanoi pursues breakthrough development in a new era.

Ngoc assigned five key tasks for the agency in the time to come, saying it needs to build a professional, humane and modern media system; roll out a unified brand identity across all platforms reflecting its new vision and mission; and streamline its organisational structure from the outset to ensure efficiency.

He stressed the need to complete organisational restructuring in the first quarter, clearly link individual responsibilities to specific tasks, and develop KPI-based performance criteria to replace the traditional focus on article volume.

The new agency needs to continue fostering unity, creativity and breakthrough, he stressed, noting that unity should be reflected across all production teams, departments and the entire organisation.

According to the Party official, journalism must remain closely connected to the people, with public trust serving as the ultimate measure of success. He, therefore, stressed that every news report and radio or television programme should be produced with a strong sense of responsibility, faithfully and objectively reflecting real developments in society while listening to the public’s voice.

The agency must be built into a key and pioneering outlet that leads coverage on the capital while staying in step with the nation as a whole, he stated.

He tasked the agency with studying and implementing a community journalism model, under which each commune and ward would have at least one reporter embedded locally to closely monitor and report issues at the grassroots level./.