The first journalists I met

In the winter of 1961, when I returned to the collaborators' meeting, I went to the editorial office. It was a corner of the Provincial Party Committee's house that still had traces of the Japanese bombing before the August Revolution in 1945. There were very few people left in the editorial office. A few years later, when it had officially moved fromHai Duong NewsCity NewspaperNew Hai Duong, The Provincial Party Committee had just transferred some cadres. However, the meeting and working rooms were still partitioned with plywood or bamboo. A few tables and chairs made of mixed wood. A hand-cranked telephone. An Optima typewriter. A Chinese car. Only the person in charge and a few reporters had bicycles.

The newspaper had four pages, published on the 5th and 10th of each month, and was typographically printed in a small workshop near the Beijing Market (now Minh Khai). Each page contained four thousand words, but it had to be made from tens of thousands of lead characters, arranged by the hands of printing workers.

Fifty years, then sixty years, Hai Duong Newspaper has grown and matured. Reading the newspaper again, I remember the brothers from the time of "starting a career". Editor-in-Chief Bui Quang Thu was a member of the Party Committee in charge of many tasks, but he did not forget his responsibility of reviewing articles. He also came up with a writing column. His writing style was cheerful, witty, and highly combative. Mr. Nguyen Thi was both thin and tall, the one who took the lead. He had been in the journalism business since the resistance war, and now he was busy day and night grasping the intentions of his superiors, and learning about the grassroots movements... so that the newspaper could become a "handbook" to popularize good experiences and things to do. Mr. Nguyen An was in the inter-agency Party Committee (*), monitoring the Industry and Trade sector. He was from Quang Ngai, and later responded to the call to support the South and returned to work for his hometown's "Liberation" newspaper. Mr. Hong Trung (Van Dau) had many articles on the central radio, writing diligently like a bee searching for honey. Nguyen Huu Phach was the youngest reporter. His pen name was Vuong Bach (a derivative of the word "Phach"). As a writer who was both a writer and a poet, he traveled everywhere on his "iron horse". Many of his works became typical examples for the whole province to follow. Then Mr. Tran Lam (Ho Sen) who often wrote folk songs; with that knowledge, he later took charge of the provincial Cheo Troupe. Mr. Nguyen Kha was the first person to take care of photography. Mr. Le Nguyen was both a reporter and an office worker. The person who was a typist, a treasurer, and a painter, used Thu Huong as a pen name, causing some newspapers to mistake "her"... for Mr. Ngo Duc Tao.

After thatNew Hai DuongThere were many other journalists. But the first people I met… I will never forget.

*Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department Party Cell,including Hai Duong Moi newspaper and radio stationand the resident reporter team of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Vietnam News Agency