Primary challenges
Press students feel highly enthusiastic when being asked about their future occupation. Trang, a press student specializing in photo journalism declared, “You should be daring to be a reporter!”. She recalled an event she experienced in reporting the visit to Vietnam by the music band Baby VOX. Trang had no press card but tried to push through security guards to approach the stage with a specialized camera. As a result, she was able to take a lot of pictures. Trang also recalled some bitter memories. She came to a fashion show with a certain number of photo-digital memory cards. During the show, she shot continuously. But the camera memory ran out in the middle of the show, and she had not enough time to erase the images before the end of the show. If she had known that many fashion collections were presented at the show, she would have brought along more memory cards, or at least, have not shot so many pictures early in the show.
Vu Minh, a press student specializing in on-line newspaper, and currently working as a stringer for a newspaper said, “It was in the afternoon of the last day of the Lunar Year, I received a phone call from the editorial office ordering me to write a story about the Lunar New Year (Tet) atmosphere. I headed for the market, strolling about it, scrutinizing things and talking to sellers. Some hours later I came home and wrote a story about the flower market, prices at Tet, and the feeling of sellers when they were busy working at the end of the year. My story was put on the front page and I received an award from the chief. This event helped me understand that to write for the press means to write about everyday life, but the reporter should know how to generalise a conclusion from daily issues”.
Meanwhile, Phung Kha, a press student from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said detective ability is indispensable to a journalist. One day Kha went to Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province, to collect information about a farmer who had built six pontoon bridges for his locality. After arriving at the site, Kha also heard about a garbage treatment company director who had been a member of the underworld. He tried to find out and write about him. In that working mission, Kha could write more than the story ordered by the newspaper. Kha said when he detected a new story, he contacted the editorial office immediately to avoid an overlap. The experiences collected from the field made up more than half of his knowledge and experiences. He maintained that a journalist should be dynamic, throw himself in danger spots, study the facts and learn writing styles from major newspapers”.
“Why did I choose…”
Most of the press students are inexperienced and do not fully understand about their occupation, but they all love their career although they know it is hard and challenging. Vu Minh said, “Any job is hard if you have a real passion for it. If you want to find a good job, you should improve your knowledge and skills. I have loved to read newspapers since my childhood and I thought it was an interesting career as you can go out and continue to learn more. Now, the more I learn, the more interesting I find this job”.
Meanwhile, Trang maintained, “A journalist must travel a lot. If your boyfriend sympathises with you, your job will be less difficult. I am very enthusiastic about travelling, learning and writing for the press”.
A last year student of the Academy of Journalism and Communication, Thuy Nga, has a broader view. She said, “I like social work, and by working for the press I can realise my wish. As a journalist you get first-hand information. Learning and competing with friends will help you grow up. I can learn from them wisdom, tact, daring and determination. However, it is not necessary that a press graduate will automatically become a journalist. Many other occupations also require journalism knowledge and skills such as Public Relations (PR), advertising or website editing”.
How to work for the press?
Experiences gained in the field helped many press students become aware of how to write for the press.
Thuy Nga said, “Literature and the press are related but are not the same.” Nga remembered she had told her head teacher about her poor performance in literature in secondary school and hoped for her help. However, the teacher told her that literature and the press were different”.
Another press student who specialized in TV, Hoang Nga, self-confidently affirmed, “I am in the third year and I can assert that I have embarked on the right route. I think besides the writing capacity I also have other qualities needed for the press”.
Pictures are important in transmitting information. Trang held that pictures made the story more vivid. Pictures help condense the story and reduce the number of words.
The press students are eager to apply their knowledge to reality. Experiences collected during their probation help them better understand the importance of their job. So they feel honoured and happy every time they detect and share information with the community./.
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