Urgently 'erasing' blank spots in Party newspaper

Many places have "white" Party newspapers

Early in the morning of a mid-November day, we were present at the headquarters of the Party Committee, People's Council, and People's Committee of Lai Vu Commune (Kim Thanh). In the hands of Mr. Nguyen Duc Bien, a People's Council delegate, was a copy of the Hai Duong News newspaper. Mr. Bien said that out of the 22 delegates of the Lai Vu Commune People's Council, only 3 people were provided with the Hai Duong newspaper every day. The remaining delegates of the People's Council were not provided with their own newspapers, and if they wanted to read them, they would have to borrow them.

According to data from the Hai Duong Province Post Office, in 2023, only 9 out of 18 commune-level administrative units of Kim Thanh district subscribed to Hai Duong newspaper through the postal system. Among the 9 units with "blank" newspaper subscription data in this district is Lai Vu commune.

Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Thao, Chairwoman of Lai Vu Commune People's Committee, said that the commune has subscribed to the following newspapers: Nhan Dan, Dai De Nhan Dan, Quan Doi Nhan Dan and Thanh Nien newspapers.

The budget estimate for newspaper subscription activities of Lai Vu commune is 10 million VND/year, equivalent to 2.5 million VND/quarter, more than 833,000 VND/month.

In Cam Giang town (Cam Giang), the situation is similar. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Chairman of the town's Fatherland Front Committee, one of 26 delegates of the town's People's Council, said that after reading each newspaper, it will be passed on to other officials. Here, every day, there are only about ten Hai Duong newspapers provided to the contact points such as the Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, organizations, reporters...

Cam Giang town is also a locality that does not have data on Hai Duong newspaper subscriptions through the provincial post office. According to the town's budget accountant, the budget of more than 9.5 million VND in 2024 was used to order some newspapers to send to veterans, the Village Front Committee, residential areas and senior citizens' associations.

The spirit of Directive 11-CT/TW dated December 28, 1996 of the Politburo clearly states that each Party cell, each People's Committee, and each People's Council at the commune level has the daily Nhan Dan newspaper and newspapers of its local Party Committee. On October 29, 2021, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 06/2021/NQ-HDND stipulating a number of regimes and expenditure levels for the activities of People's Councils at all levels. This Resolution clearly states that People's Council delegates at all levels are provided with Hai Duong newspaper.

The directives and resolutions are like that, but the story in Lai Vu commune or Cam Giang town mentioned above has pointed out a reality: the implementation of Directive 11 of the Politburo and Resolution No. 06 of the Hai Duong Provincial People's Council on buying and reading Party newspapers is not strict.

Party Newspaper - necessary Party activity document

The Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department is ordering and distributing Hai Duong newspaper to pre-uprising cadres, retired Provincial Party Committee members, commune-level contacts including the Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, Fatherland Front Committee, Veterans Association, Women's Union, Farmers' Association, Youth Union, Radio Station Head, reporters, Party cell secretaries, village and residential area heads. Each of these contacts receives 1 Hai Duong newspaper/issue. This quantity of newspapers does not meet the demand for reading Party newspapers of each locality and each provincial People's Council delegate.

On April 6, 2020, the Party Central Committee issued a notice of the Secretariat's conclusion on continuing to implement Directive 11, stating that the purchase and reading of Party newspapers and magazines in some Party cells and Party committees has not yet become routine and is not yet effective. The Secretariat requested to raise awareness of the role and significance of Party newspapers and magazines, considering them as Party activity documents.

In addition, Party committees, authorities, the Fatherland Front, and socio-political organizations need to pay attention to the work of inspecting, supervising, and urging the purchase and reading of Party newspapers and magazines at all levels. Improve the effectiveness of state management of the purchase and reading of Party newspapers and magazines.

On September 14, 2023, the People's Council of Hai Duong province sent a document to the Standing Committees of the People's Councils of districts, towns and cities in the province regarding the subscription of Hai Duong newspaper for People's Council delegates. Accordingly, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council requested the Standing Committees of the People's Councils of districts, towns and cities to review and implement the subscription of Hai Duong newspaper for their People's Council delegates; guide and urge the People's Councils at the commune level to regularly and fully subscribe to newspapers for People's Council delegates in the locality.

However, according to data from the Provincial Post Office, by the end of the third quarter of 2024, only 160/235 commune-level administrative units in the province had subscribed to Hai Duong newspaper.

In the flow of digital technology, Hai Duong newspaper or Nhan Dan newspaper have recently developed strongly online newspapers. But this is not the reason to think that "having online newspapers, there is no need to read printed newspapers". Localities need to seriously implement Directive 11 of the Politburo, Resolution 06 of the Provincial People's Council.