The rapid development of technology, artificial intelligence, and social media has changed the way content is produced, presented, distributed, received, and verified, presenting journalism with formidable, yet compelling challenges.
Improving quality, fostering innovation and creativity, and keeping pace with advanced technology trends are the most enduring, stable, and sustainable ways to address evolving reader demands, enhance communication effectiveness, and increase revenue for newsrooms, especially on digital platforms.
The 2026 National Press Festival operates under the theme “Vietnamese Journalism – Loyalty, Creativity, and Responsibility in the New Era,” highlighting the creativity of newsrooms and journalists.
To effectively inform the public and attract readers in the new era, newsrooms must embrace continuous innovation and creativity, necessitating comprehensive changes in leadership thinking, newsroom models, production processes, data governance, content distribution, audience measurement, the press economy, and professional culture.
Opening the discussion session, Dr Ngo Bich Ngoc from Swinburne Vietnam presented revealing statistics from the Digital News Report 2026. Current trends indicate that modern society faces “trust uncertainty” amid an explosion of news. More worryingly, up to 46% of users actively avoid news because they feel overloaded or anxious.
Alongside technological challenges, traditional journalism is also facing declining revenue from print newspapers and television, as audience numbers have consistently declined over the past decade.
To adapt, Bich Ngoc recommended that press agencies transform into “multi-service business companies” based on their brand reputation, providing other business models such as technology licensing, SaaS, high-end event organisation, exclusive experiences, affiliate marketing, e-commerce, and in-depth data consultancy.
Drawing on the experience of a publication deeply connected with successive generations of young people, journalist Phung Cong Suong, Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper, delivered an insightful presentation on multimedia and multi-platform communication strategies to serve the needs of “Gen Z” audiences.
According to Phung Cong Suong, young people today have become the dominant demographic of users and readers in the digital media space. Gen Z, born roughly between 1997 and 2012, currently accounts for about a quarter of Viet Nam’s population and exhibits the highest frequency of internet usage.
To adapt, instead of merely producing news in tradional formats, journalism needs to create information experiences tailored to each audience group, responding precisely to “what readers need”.
Speaking at the discussion session, journalist Le Quoc Minh, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper and Chairman of the Viet Nam Journalists Association, shared a worrying reality: the habit of scrolling through short videos is gradually causing young people to lose their deep-reading comprehension and patience for long-form content.
Newsrooms need to make fundamental changes by applying “product thinking” instead of focusing only on producing articles in traditional formats. Le Quoc Minh said it is necessary to mobilise creativity from all staff members within newsrooms to spread information, encouraging journalists to be bold and willing to experiment to find successful new directions.
On copyright issues, the Chairman of the Viet Nam Journalists Association highlighted a thought-provoking reality: copyright is being infringed not only by the public but also by press agencies themselves against one another.
In today’s digital era, revolutionary journalism must be present everywhere, from mobile phones to future smart wearable devices, to reach the people as widely and deeply as possible. The Chairman of the Viet Nam Journalists Association affirmed that innovation and creativity will help journalism maintain its position as a trusted bridge between the State and the people.
