Head of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee’s Commission for Publicity Trinh Van Quyet led a delegation comprising officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Voice of Vietnam (VOV), and Vietnam News Agency (VNA), to visit the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Sydney on August 10 (local time).
The visit ran in parallel with General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee and President To Lam’s state visit to Australia.
Both sides dug deep into modern journalism trends, the application of artificial intelligence (AI), and ways to fire up media cooperation.
ABC Chair Kim Williams welcomed the Vietnamese delegation, tracing ABC’s journey from a traditional radio broadcaster into a leading multimedia news organisation. He said the network has steadily expanded its reach and built relationships with international media, including outlets in Vietnam.
Williams noted that the global media industry is being rocked by the rapid rise of digital technology, reshaping not just newsroom operations but the entire production, distribution, and management of information.
Sharing ABC’s playbook, he said AI now plays an increasingly foundational role, and the broadcaster is actively testing the technology to optimise journalistic workflows. In practice, AI has proven highly effective at converting content between formats, such as automatically turning radio broadcasts into text for digital platforms. It also assists journalists in headline writing by analysing content and suggesting top options, while helping boil large datasets down into concise news reports.
With roughly 60 offices across Australia, ABC uses AI to rapidly spin local radio from remote and regional areas into digital news stories for its website and social media platforms. This eases the load on journalists, freeing them up to chase new stories without sacrificing accuracy or objectivity, he said.
Digital technology also enables ABC to reach 99.7% of Australia’s territory through data compression and multi-platform distribution. Still, Williams warned that AI remains an emerging field demanding extreme care around journalistic ethics, reliability, and editorial responsibility.
During the working session, Quyet, who is also a Politburo member and Secrectary of the CPV Central Committee, stressed that Vietnam always attaches importance to people’s right to access information and is committed to building a professional, humane, and modern press. Vietnamese media do not just deliver timely news but also play a crucial role in projecting Vietnamese culture, image, land, and people to the world.
Describing AI adoption as an inevitable trend in modern journalism, Quyet asserted that the technology only reaches its full potential when combined with professional competence, ethics, and journalistic accountability. The human factor, he insisted, remains decisive in verifying, evaluating, and taking responsibility for content before publication.
To match media cooperation with the weight of the Vietnam–Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, he proposed five key collaboration areas.
First, the two sides should keep ramping up exchanges of radio and television broadcasts and quality media products that spotlight the history, culture, countries, and people of Vietnam and Australia.
Second, they should expand co-production of specialised programnes, podcasts, and multimedia products of shared interests such as sustainable development, digital transformation, innovation, education, and tourism.
Third, ABC was encouraged to push professional training at Vietnamese media agencies, with a focus on integrated newsroom management, podcast production, digital technologies, and AI applications.
Fourth, the two sides should push exchanges among media leaders, managers and experts.
Fifth, ABC and Vietnamese media outlets should leverage their roles as members of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) to enhance coordination.
Williams backed Vietnam’s proposals, affirming that the memoranda of understanding ABC has signed with Vietnam Television and VOV provide a solid foundation for professional training. The ABU framework, he added, opens even more doors for practical multilateral cooperation in the region.
Sharing details of planned cooperation, Head of the ABC International Services Claire Gorman said ABC will launch an in-depth business programme focused on Southeast Asia and ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, later this year.
This month, ABC will also broadcast a six-part culture and arts series entitled “Culture by Design”, filmed in Hanoi, which is expected to air on VTV’s “Vietnam Today” channel.
On training, the “Digital Dialogues” programme, recently hosted by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, helped Vietnamese journalists upgrade their skills in applying AI and digital transformation to real-world news production.
Later, the Vietnamese delegation toured ABC’s production facilities and got a close look at integrated newsroom model and modern media technologies./.
