Journalist association celebrates 65th year

On April 21, 1950, a congress was held in Dinh Hoa District's Diem Mac Commune in the northern province of Thai Nguyen to establish the Association of Viet Nam Press Writers. The name was changed to the Viet Nam Journalists Association (VJA) during its second congress in 1959.

On July 7, 1976, more than a year after the nation reunified, the southern Association of Patriotic and Democratic Journalists merged with the VJA.

The VJA now has 22,000 members nationwide, a substantial increase from the initial 300 members. More than 400 journalists laid down their lives working on battlefields during the country's fights for national independence and reunification.

The 65th anniversary drew 500 VJA members. It served as an opportunity for journalists to reflect on their accomplishments, and seek ways to improve the quality of their work and its impact on society, said Dinh The Huynh, a Politburo member and chairman of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Communication and Education.

He asked the VJA to develop journalists' professional skills and their sense of responsibility to society. He said reporters should give opinions on State management, and legal regulations on the press and external relations.

VJA Vice Standing Chairman Ha Minh Hue said the association sees journalists as soldiers on the front lines of thought and culture, and that its members should continue to build on their achievements.