The event was attended by representatives of several leading online newspapers in Vietnam such as Vietnam Plus, Dat Viet, and Dan Tri.

The chief editor of Dan Tri, Pham Huy Hoan, said online newspapers have made rapid progress to better meet the public’s demands, and news updates play a crucial role in attracting the audience.

Mr Hoan pointed to the fact that technology has increased the interactivity of websites and given the audience greater opportunities to become journalists.

Le Quoc Minh, head of the Vietnam Plus site, underlined the importance of research into and application of information technology. He said many domestic websites have launched services allowing mobile phone users to read and share news stories on their phones.

Online journalism has the advantage of being very quick, but this also poses the danger of unverified news, warned Bui Thuy Lieu of the Department for Broadcasting and Electronic Information. She also cited unauthorized copying among news sites as a big problem.

At the seminar, VOV Deputy Director General Hoang Minh Nguyet said the internet has supplemented the radio channels of VOV, which has now become a multimedia agency with multiple forms of journalism - radio, TV, print and online. She said the crux of the matter is how to make the most of its advances, existing infrastructure and human resources to develop the online newspaper into a strong genre of the media.