Scientific seminar with the theme "Vietnam Environmental Journalism: Developments, stakeholders and latest topics" organized by the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (Germany) on May 24, 2012.The seminar included speakers from environmental management agencies, non-governmental organizations, press and media agencies and journalism training institutions nationwide. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Principal of the School - attended and presented the opening report at the opening session. The seminar focused on discussing the main topics: current hot environmental issues that the press needs to pay attention to; current types of press and media in reflecting environmental issues in Vietnam; solutions for training environmental journalists, the necessity, world experience and lessons for Vietnam.
Environmental and sustainable development journalism
Environment and sustainable development issues are one of the hot topics attracting the attention of the press and media. At the seminar, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Ke Son - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said that in order to improve the effectiveness of environmental communication in Vietnam, environmental communication today needs to pay attention to topics and issues such as: need to unify some basic concepts about the environment, need to adjust the approach, method, content and communication skills in the environment to contribute to the formation of "environmental culture".
Emphasizing the role of the press in communicating about the environment and climate change, Dr. Pham Thi My (Editor-in-Chief of the Natural Resources and Environment Newspaper) said that the press agencies have considered the environment and climate change as hot issues; public opinion from the press creates social pressure on competent authorities to solve environmental problems. However, according to Dr. Pham Thi My, communication about the environment and climate change today still has limitations: it has not comprehensively reflected issues related to the environment and climate change; most of the content mentioned is condemning and criticizing acts that affect the living environment and ecological environment of specific business establishments and economic groups; criticizing decisions on pollution treatment by competent authorities that are not appropriate; lack of critical articles on policies... Referring to the issue of sustainable development, Prof. Dr. Truong Ba Thanh (Rector of the University of Economics, University of Danang) also said that it is necessary to emphasize on strengthening propaganda and promotion for the community, and to assign comprehensive tasks in propaganda about the environment. Currently, the media only cares about prominent issues and has not paid attention to issues for stable and sustainable development of the environment. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi (Deputy General Director of the General Department of Seas and Islands of Vietnam - Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) said that currently, climate change issues in coastal areas have received more attention, but climate change in global oceans has not received due attention. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to communicating about climate change issues in the oceans, because changes in ocean climate also lead to changes in global climate.
Problems and solutions in environmental journalism
Discussing the issues in environmental journalism, journalist Hoang Quoc Dung (Chairman of the Vietnam Environmental Journalists Forum) pointed out the visible and invisible obstacles: obstacles from access to information, lack of regulations to support and guide access to information; difficult access to justice, obstacles from management mechanisms. And according to journalist Hoang Quoc Dung, the environment is an easy topic to write about but is one of the most difficult topics to write about well. And the capacity and qualities of journalists are also the biggest obstacles among the obstacles caused in environmental journalism. According to journalist Dong Manh Hung (Director of VOV TV channel - Voice of Vietnam), the environment is a hot issue but is always a sensitive topic. How to provide information effectively is something that press agencies must think about. Journalist Dong Manh Hung shared: when doing environmental communications, press agencies must have a strategy. That strategy must closely follow the major environmental issues globally and nationally today... For journalists with a passion for writing about the environment, they also need to be trained not only in professional skills but also in knowledge about the environment and climate change prevention. MSc. Bui Viet Ha (Lecturer of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication) through the case study "Project to produce clean coal from industrial waste" proposed a community-based communication model, a community communication model in which the community members themselves are both the subject and the object reflected in the communication messages. MSc. Bui Viet Ha especially emphasized the core issue that the media must go first to pave the way, based on the urgent needs of the community, so that the community will speak up and demand protection. Only then can environmental protection be maintained effectively and sustainably.
Training environmental journalists In Vietnam, there is currently no university that organizes training for journalists specializing in the environment. Dr. Huynh Van Thong (Head of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication - University of Social Sciences and Humanities - VNU-HCM) said: Training human resources for journalism specializing in the environment is a "hollow area" in the training program framework as well as in the current capacity of organizing journalism training of Vietnamese universities. Journalism faculties in Vietnam need to proactively connect and cooperate to build a theoretical framework on environmental journalism as a foundation for training and research on environmental journalism.
Faced with that situation, Dr. Dang Thi Thu Huong (Head of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication - University of Social Sciences and Humanities - VNU) affirmed: Environmental journalism has been and is creating a generation of journalists specializing in writing about the environment in the most effective way, to inform, analyze, educate and orient the public about the risks and hazards affecting the environment and ecosystem, at the same time proposing solutions to promote and organize the public to implement environmental protection measures. The problem is that environmental communication requires knowledge and skills and journalists specializing in writing about the environment need to be professionally trained. The Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU is adjusting the training program and in the near future there will be courses on environmental journalism. According to the training process, students who choose the environmental topic will be oriented to do internships and practical work at environmental press agencies or environmental information and propaganda units... This scientific seminar is the basis for the Faculty of Journalism and Communication to learn from experience in order to build the Faculty's training program framework to meet practical requirements and at the same time contribute to building a network of cooperation between scientists, environmental journalists and journalism training institutions.
