Journalism memories

A trip to remember

In November 1979, Comrade To Huu, Politburo member, Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers, attended the 3rd Hai Hung Provincial Party Congress. He visited a number of establishments in the province. We journalists were able to visit Pham Kha Agricultural Cooperative (Thanh Mien), Dien Nhi Rice Breeding Farm (Gia Loc)...

Coming to Pham Kha commune, Comrade To Huu always observed the scenery and people on both sides of the road. Seeing a child bending over to carry water fern for pigs, the poet told us what to do so that children would not have to do such heavy work because they were too young. At the entrance of the commune, he saw “Uncle Ho’s fruit garden”, and seeing the apple trees laden with fruit, the poet said jokingly: “Please don’t send me apples because my family already has “early summer apple branches shaking with sweet fruit” (Spring Song 61). We all laughed happily.

The car stopped at the cooperative headquarters. Local leaders came out to welcome them. At the same time, a large number of children rushed over and quickly formed a circle around the poet. With a soft Hue accent, the poet asked: "Which child knows the poem Thirty Years of My Life with the Party?" Many arms raised: Children!... Children!... Then a girl innocently read: "Thirty Years of My Life with the Party/ Today I review the long journey/ Sweet and bitter, remembering the bitter/ Going to the river, remembering the stream, remembering the day and night...". The poet listened and then clapped his hands in praise.

Entering the office, he listened attentively and asked about the production situation and the lives of the members. He reminded the commune to try to boost production, improve management, apply intensive farming techniques to increase productivity and income for members; on that basis, there would be conditions to renovate roads, purchase agricultural tools, transport vehicles, free up the shoulders... Party members must unite to build "4 good" party cells, advanced cooperatives, fight against embezzlement, waste, drinking, save food... The poet turned to the reporters and said: The journalists who work at the grassroots level also need to properly implement the ration card system, to reduce difficulties for the collective.

Leaving Pham Kha, he visited the short-term new rice breeding farm. He went to the fields, kindly asked and encouraged the technical staff and workers in the farm to conduct in-depth research and practice to have good rice varieties, helping the province quickly reach 5 tons/ha...

A short trip with comrade To Huu but truly memorable. We journalists felt and learned useful things about both profession and humanity from a high-ranking leader of the Party, State and a great poet of our country.

NGUYEN THE TRUONG

The "nail" article in the special issue

The journey to Truong Sa archipelago and moving between islands was very difficult because of many days of heavy storms, heavy rain, and tropical depressions. Most of the reporters on the boat got seasick. Working on each island had to be very urgent. In some places, reporters and their working group only had 2 hours on the island and then had to go back to the boat to catch up with the journey. The journalists had to race against time to interview, observe, take photos, write articles, and send them to the editorial office in time. At that time, the islands only had 3G signals, so sending articles, especially photos to the editorial office was often slow. There were some photos that took me nearly 30 minutes to send back.

After visiting almost all the islands on the journey, I completed the series of articles "Beloved Truong Sa" consisting of 5 articles, and sent them to the editorial office. Surprisingly, the Editorial Board decided to start publishing this series of articles on January 8, 2011, the same day that Hai Duong newspaper added an additional issue on Saturdays, becoming the fourth local Party newspaper in the North to be published daily.

Knowing that the series of articles about Truong Sa was published in the issue marking a new development step of the newspaper, my heart was filled with joy. That joy gave me more motivation to carry out my mission well, ending 27 days drifting at sea with many unforgettable memories.

NINH TUAN

The times in the forest

For more than 5 years being assigned to be in charge of propaganda in the forestry sector, I have unforgettable memories of trips to the forest to collect materials for writing articles.

Unlike other professions, monitoring the forestry sector has its own difficulties. The remote area requires good health, endurance, and flexibility. Approaching and meeting the characters for interviews is also difficult because people live near the forest, and the phone signal is poor and patchy. Once, I could not contact them in advance, so I had to travel nearly 50 km to the character's house in Dong Chau village, Hoang Hoa Tham commune (Chi Linh) to meet him, but when I got there, the character had gone into the forest and would not return until evening, so I had to write a note to return and make an appointment to meet another day. It was difficult to meet, but once I had met him, going to find out the truth with the character was even more difficult. The road to the forest had many slippery, precarious, winding sections, and many thorny bushes. Many times I fell, and the thorns scratched my skin. Not to mention that I was not used to climbing the forest, so I could only walk a short distance and was out of breath, many times I was discouraged and just wanted to turn back. Although it was difficult, in return I learned useful information. That is the most authentic material for me to complete the reports and notes about the mountains and forests.

NGUYEN MO

"Reluctant Advisor"

At the end of August 2018, I was assigned to investigate a cry for help from a resident in Thanh Xa village, Lien Hong commune (Gia Loc, now Hai Duong city). This whole family always lived in fear because debt collectors continuously threw engine oil, rotten eggs, shrimp paste, paint, feces, etc. into the house. They said the reason for the incident was that their son owed money to bad people but was unable to pay. Their son had left home and the family could not contact him. In addition to this family, there were many other families in Thanh Xa village facing similar situations.

After the article "Living in fear of being attacked by dirty bombs" was published in Hai Duong newspaper, Gia Loc district police found the subjects who threw dirty substances into the house of the person who wrote the petition for help. The 4 subjects who threw dirty substances were administratively punished.

In the days after the article was published, the family was no longer bothered by debt collectors. They kept in touch regularly, sincerely thanked me, and asked me to come visit them when I had a chance. One time, they even called me to say that their son who had run away from home had returned home but still owed money. They asked me if I should continue to take care of their son's debt. I was very surprised by this question, but I was also very happy because they had to really trust me to ask me for advice on family matters like that. So I had to become an involuntary "advisor".

HA NGA

Good topic from sidewalk cafe

In the early days of working at Hai Duong Newspaper, due to my limited knowledge, skills, and understanding of the fields and localities, finding topics for writing was difficult. Therefore, after each field trip, I often went to some sidewalk cafes to think about topics and listen to people's life stories.

That day, while I was still in a daze over the numbers I got from my field trip, I suddenly heard some middle-aged men at the next table talking about a strange way of selling. Just buying rice, fish sauce, salt… from a company would give me many attractive benefits. Feeling that this might be a good idea, I immediately took it to heart to learn more.

After that day, I went to that coffee shop many times to get more information. And finally, I found out the address of that company. After many surveys, I decided to go deeper. With a pre-planned plan, I approached many customers, then the sellers. It turned out that behind the cover of attractive benefits, the customers had accidentally fallen into the "multi-level trap" set by the people behind the company. Finally, from the information at a coffee shop and the documents I had collected, my article about a strange sales network was born.

HA KIEN