With collaborators, considerate and respectful

Because I am a contributor, outside the newspaper, sometimes what I think is good and right, when the article is sent to the editorial office, it has already been published, so I don't use it anymore. The article is not used, which makes me feel inferior and embarrassed. But also because the newspaper is considerate and exchanges information, the contributor becomes more excited.

The press has gone through many stages, with ups and downs, but the most valuable thing is that Hai Duong Newspaper always cares about its team of collaborators. Not only does it send free newspapers and pay royalties quite regularly, but it also has the idea of ​​nurturing the "source" for the immediate and long term.

I still remember in 2001, I went on a business trip to Laos. Before leaving, I went to visit and "show off" to the Editor-in-Chief of Hai Duong Newspaper, Ha Cu. He was very happy and enthusiastically told me: "When you go there, pay attention to see if there is anything interesting and write it down. Newspaper reporters cannot always go there."

Remembering his advice, on that trip I was able to approach the production and business establishments of Hai Duong businessmen in Vientiane, our brotherly land, and write two timely articles with illustrations. I also composed a poem, which was read out with an interpreter during the farewell ceremony, and the Lao friends were very moved.

Those were the times when collaborators searched for documents themselves, but there were many times when leaders of Hai Duong Newspaper discovered typical examples and bright spots and informed collaborators.

I am a contributor who likes to write articles for the column "Good people, good deeds", or to find thorny stories in everyday life without hesitation. I can sit in a canoe for half a day on the rivers in the province, experiencing them to write articles about "River profession". Once, I went to Hoang Tien Prison, wrote a reportage "Red flowers in the black mud", went all the way to Chi Linh mountain, wrote an article "People who avoid housework, are passionate about village work", and was awarded a journalism prize by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee...

I was really moved when I remembered that there was a time when I had to go to a place quite far from the city to work, when the weather was harsh, the editors arranged transportation for me to go to the base with the reporters to reduce the hardship and difficulty. We went to a remote area, bordering Quang Ninh province, to write the article "Ken Giang, spring comes early". Another time I went to Cam Giang, Nam Sach to work for the launch of "Duc Chinh gets rich" and "Nam Tan ngay moi"... The most interesting time was when I went to write the story of a farmer in Tu Ky, who only studied in grade 7 but invented machine tools to serve farmers, and sold them abroad, with the article "From driving a cow-tail cart... to becoming an inventor" which won an award. After the trips, I knew that the editors wanted more contributors to join, so that the newspaper would have more tone, color, and liveliness.

In the following years, Hai Duong newspaper still maintained that habit. Seeing me working in Hanoi for a while, Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Hai Binh called me and told me that if I had the opportunity to meet typical figures, Hai Duong people living in Hanoi, I should write an article and send it back to introduce successful children of my hometown in other lands... I wrote an article about Dr. Tran Dinh Ngon, a famous Cheo composer, about Professor Van Tao, originally from Tu Ky but working all his life at the Institute of History. I wrote about the Director of Trang An Bookstore, dedicated to the profession of publishing and distributing all kinds of cultural publications in Hanoi... Most recently, during a trip to the northeastern border to make a TV series with Military Region 3, in addition to my main task, I spent time learning about soldiers from Hai Duong, who were working day and night in the remote border area of ​​Binh Lieu, to write an article "Hai Duong people on the frontier".

Only a few years have been caught up in the Covid-19 pandemic, but every year the newspaper organizes meetings and honors its collaborators to show its appreciation. Many friends in the central press have to admit that Hai Duong Newspaper is the most meaningful and emotional among the newspapers in the region.

Every time the province launches a writing campaign on a particular topic, the leaders of Hai Duong newspaper also widely inform the contributors. Sometimes they send it via email, sometimes they send a text message, sometimes they call directly to invite the contributors to participate, even suggest topics, introduce addresses to write to meet the campaign's goals. Recently, when a new newspaper is released, while waiting for the free newspaper to arrive later by post, the editorial board has taken the initiative to send a PDF version via email for the contributors to read in advance. How convenient.

With care and respect for its collaborators, Hai Duong Newspaper has done the work of someone who "wants honey, must plant flowers"...

HA LINH SONG