Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Van Huong - new thinking for new fields of study

Memory Land

Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Van Huong was born and raised in the Central region where the cool Lam River flows through, easing the hardships of his mother. Hung Linh Commune, Hung Nguyen District is where he left behind many happy and sad memories, as well as hardships. Although he has been away from his homeland for a long time, the memories of a child far from home never fade. He confided: “Every time I return to my hometown, I see my mother’s back bend a little more, the longer she chews the betel, the more spicy and sweet it becomes. The dike, the fields, and the river are where corn and cassava replace rice to feed people, and the whole village at that time was soaked in sweat.”

Loving his mother who was getting old, he had spent decades raising his children. In 1970, the family received the sad news that his beloved father had died in a battle on the Quang Tri battlefield. Pain, sadness, and suffering were heavy burdens on his mother's shoulders. Loving his mother, he tried to study hard, studying while helping his mother overcome this pain. The academic achievements he had achieved were a source of encouragement and comfort for his mother and relatives. In high school, he passed the literature exam at Phan Boi Chau School, a famous high school in Nghe An. Not only that, he was at that time a class cadre, a dynamic Youth Union cadre, actively participating in Youth Union, Young Pioneers and other social activities. In 1980, he achieved high scores when registering for the Literature Department, Hanoi University of Science, and was one of four people selected to study journalism in the Soviet Union. After more than 10 years of studying in the land of the White Birch, he graduated from University with a degree in Journalism, continued his postgraduate studies and successfully defended his thesis for a PhD in Journalism. During this period, he had the opportunity to study at Lomonosov University - a prestigious university in the world.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Van Huong (Photo: Thanh Long)

Contributions to the Journalism and Media Industry

After completing his PhD program, he returned to his homeland and accepted a job at his beloved lecture hall: the Faculty of Journalism, Hanoi University of Science (at that time the Faculty of Journalism had just been established for one year). In the early days of its establishment, there were many shortages. Books and textbooks were almost non-existent, while the need for journalism training was increasingly evident and the school's requirement was to urgently prepare to open a training program. To initially meet the need for journalism materials, he was assigned by the Faculty Board and scientists to translate and rewrite basic materials on Journalism - Communication. Only one year later, the book "Theoretical basis of Journalism - Communication" co-written with Associate Professor Duong Xuan Son and Professor Tran Quang was edited and printed, becoming the first theoretical book of the faculty to serve training and research. He also advocated building scientific research topics to serve teaching such as the topic "Journalism with the issue of population and family planning"; “Journalism and legal education for youth” etc. He is also active in publishing journalistic books such as: Journalism - Theoretical and practical issues; Time and Witnesses; Journalistic news...

As a person who has been trained in a country with a modern and advanced press and media, researching and choosing training programs and courses is very necessary. He believes that in our country, press activities have their own characteristics, the press is a tool for the Party's ideological work, the voice of the State and a trusted forum for the People. Press activities must put the interests of the Party, the nation and the People above all. The vivid practice in press and media activities shows that theory must go one step ahead to anticipate and orient development in the right direction. There are two issues that we see that Mr. Dinh Van Huong has a clear awareness and perspective in carrying out the task of training and researching journalism.

Firstly, since 1995, that is, 5 years after the establishment of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, Mr. Dinh Van Huong realized that the issue of Law and Journalism Ethics plays an important role in journalism. Journalism is an information activity, has the ability to spread and create public opinion, and orient in the fastest way, the power of information is no less than the power of material things. Therefore, Law and Journalism Ethics are highly valued. Journalists, in addition to having vision and talent, also need to have professional ethics, because it is a mirror reflecting attitude and responsibility towards the community and society. Journalists not only need to grasp the law and understand the law as a citizen, but also need to have a heart, altruism, and especially honesty.

From those thoughts, he registered to build the subject: Law and ethics of journalism, to equip and introduce future journalists to the legal system of the State and professional ethics. In the early years of development, there were only specialized talks, gradually becoming an elective subject and now a compulsory subject in the journalism training program of the faculty. The reality of current journalism and media activities has proven his far-sighted vision.

Second, in recent years, many scientists and managers have predicted that the development direction of the press and media industry will be the establishment of press and media corporations. This is a new and strategic issue. On forums, Mr. Dinh Van Huong has had thoughts and comments for each specific step. That is the formation of newspaper groups. This clearly shows that in the process of developing our country's press, even during the colonial period, there were newspaper groups such as: Indochina Magazine Newspaper Group led by Nguyen Van Vinh, and then in the 1930s, there was Tao Dan Newspaper Group. Nowadays, newspaper groups of units, ministries, and branches also operate according to newspaper groups such as Tuoi Tre, Thanh Nien, Cong An Nhan Dan, Dai Vo Vo Viet Nam, etc. The individual development of press agencies is not wide enough for the press to develop and join the media activities of countries with developed press. At the same time, economic and technological conditions are not strong enough to develop quickly and steadily. Therefore, to become a professional press group requires a suitable roadmap.

For more than ten years as the Head of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, he has made great contributions to the organization of the unit and the development of innovative training programs suitable for the realities of life. The human resources for the faculty are mainly selected and planned from excellent students with the qualities to be lecturers. And currently, that human resource is promoting and contributing a lot to the faculty in teaching, scientific research and unit management. Many of them have now held the positions of Head of Department, Vice Head of Department and have been promoting their capacity to continue to build a strong and developing faculty. In training, he advocates linking theory and practice so that learners have a foundation of scientific knowledge and at the same time have solid working skills to be able to have media products right from the classroom. It can be said that students of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication have mastered the classroom, mastered the class hours to receive knowledge in the most optimal way.

Those thoughts and actions are enough to show a passion for teaching and research. Ahead are the peaks of knowledge. On that thorny path, he continues to conquer, no matter what position he holds!