Entertainment as Wall Breaker
I started my journalism career as a trainee reporter for a weekly newspaper owned by the Vietnam Journalists Association, Journalist and Public Opinion. This was my first newsroom, where I learned fundamental journalism skills and where I was trained to write orthodox, political reports. Two years in that newsroom, with directions from my boss and advices from my colleagues, gave me a thorough grasp of mainstream media concepts. And I set up a goal for myself: to be a big, reporter, writing big important stories.
Ten years ago, I left Journalist and Public Opinion to move to VnExpress, holding the position of Managing Editor for the first online newspaper in Vietnam. At VnExpress we also gave a lot of effort to political and social stories as those always take the top position in our website. I worked hard and most of the time it was stressful. After some time I realized that working on “big stories” was simply not my bag and that the reason I was always stressed was that I was involved in mainstream political or economic serious stories.
By 2004, after a long discussion among our staff, my boss at VnExpress decided to run a lifestyle and entertainment online newspaper – Ngoisao.net. In Western countries these kinds of papers and magazines with a mix of news, social stories, entertainment and sports are very popular. Some years ago in Vietnam there was no such media.
I immediately found the new section of our publication very interesting and joined it, with a lot of ambition. One reason was to find my way out of very heavy political reporting, but the key reason then, and still today, is that I think it is a new way of doing journalism in Vietnam.
During the very first days of Ngoisao.net, I learned and adapted to a lot of styles that are popular in western countries’ lifestyle magazines. Consequently, many hot stories like reports on Britney Spears, sexy photos of Jennifer Lopez, local celebrities’ private stories etc., were splashed across the main interface of Ngoisao.net.
Our newspaper was instantly criticized by other media in Vietnam as well as by government agencies. They even wanted to close Ngoisao.net. Back home, my father-in-law, who held a senior position in a government media watchdog, was so angry he did not talk to me. By that time I didn’t understand why we couldn’t do what western countries could do. Readers loved our reports. So what was wrong? Facing such criticism we had to find a way out, to keep the newspaper going. We reduced the number of so called “rag reports” and gave more space in the website to serious stories, even though they’re all about entertainment, lifestyle and society. We survived.
Today, Ngoisao.net is developing strongly and we are not the only lifestyle newspaper in Vietnam like we were six years ago. Many local media groups are licensed by local authorities to join the lifestyle media industry – from local TV stations and print media to online newspapers. Authorities now attack us less for “sexy stories”. I hope and think that the birth and growing of life style media in Vietnam reflects a change in the minds of local readers and local authorities, a change towards more freedom in Vietnam’s media.
Huong Nguyen,Managing editor
VnExpress, Ngoisao.net
Hanoi, Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam
