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PAN's Editor-in-Chief Major General Pham Van Huan presents flowers to the US guests |
Major General Pham Van Huan, PAN’s Editor-in-Chief, chaired the reception for the four-member delegation, led by Dr. Mary Beth Marklein who used to be a reporter of the USA Today and worked at the Vietnamese Academy of Journalism and Communications in 2015 under the Fulbright program.
The visit to the PAN was part of the guests’ information exchange program on journalism and communication training in Vietnam with the aim of exploring more about Vietnam, its people and journalistic experiences of Vietnamese war correspondents as well as the two countries’ relationship.
At the talks between the US guests and PAN's leaders and former PAN war correspondents, Ms. Mary Beth Marklein expressed her pleasure at visiting the PAN and hoped that it would help her and her students find out more about the history of Vietnam and learn experiences from the PAN’s reporters during the war- and peace-time.
In his speech, Gen. Huan thanked the guests for their sentiments for the S-shape country of Vietnam and stressed the fruitful ties between Vietnam and the US on the spirit of closing the past, looking towards the future.
He briefed the guests on the newspaper’s history, tradition, functions, tasks and development orientations.
Accordingly, the PAN was named by President Ho Chi Minh and its first issue debuted on October 20, 1950 at Thai Nguyen safe zone. Its 33 issues published right on the Dien Bien Phu front from late December 1953 to mid-May 1954 with the engagement of just five cadres and war correspondents actively contributed to anti-French resistance war. Besides, during the resistance war against American invaders for national salvation, the PAN focused on highlighting the building of socialism in the big rear-the North and updating any developments on the big front in the South.
With its great achievements, the PAN was conferred the titles of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces in 2000 and Labor Hero in 2010 by the Party and the State. Nine of its reporters have laid down their lives during the national salvation and protection cause and two of them were bestowed Hero of the People’s Armed Forces title.
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PAN's Editor-in-Chief Major General Pham Van Huan introduces the PAN's articles to the US guests at the newspaper's hall of fame |
At present, the newspaper has different publications, namely, the daily, the weekly, the Events and Witnesses Magazine, the internal journal called Correspondents, and the online newspaper of Vietnamese, English, Chinese, Lao and Khmer languages.
Gen. Huan added that as a prestigious newspaper of Vietnam, the PAN is realizing the Government’s project of building the newspaper as a multimedia press agency tasked with orienting public opinion. It has been building and effectively running two programs of video and audio on the online newspaper with improved quality and receiving high appreciation from readers.
The newspaper, according to Gen. Huan, has paid due attention to covering developments in the world and especially the Vietnam-US relationship and politico-economic situations in the US.
The PAN’s Editor-in-Chief said that in the resistance war against foreign invaders, the PAN’s war correspondent updated readers on developments on the front and daily lives of Vietnamese troops as well as encouraged people and troops to fight against the enemy in a timely and lively manner.
He thanked foreign reporters, including those from the US for featuring precisely the struggle of Vietnamese people against foreign invaders, so as to help people all over the world properly understanding the war in Vietnam.
At the meeting, the PAN’s war correspondents of different periods shared their journalistic experiences with the US instructor and students.
Veteran journalist, Colonel Pham Phu Bang, who directly wrote articles for the PAN on the Dien Bien Phu front in the resistance war against French colonialists, stressed that at the front, the PAN was a precious spiritual dish for troops and the only information resource for them at that time. What correspondents were rewarded with for their articles were just blank sheets of paper.
“Having completed their articles, reporters ran across the front to deliver them to combat units. Right at the combat trench, before each battle, political commissars read the PAN for troops to heighten their spirit of combat against the enemy,” said journalist Bang.
On behalf of the visiting delegation, Ms. Mary Beth Marklein thanked the host for valuable experience sharing and a warm welcome. She wished the PAN further development.
Translated by Mai Huong