Impressive results after two years of Digital transformation training for news organizations

These are some impressive results that the Google News Initiative’s Digital Growth Program has achieved after two years of implementation in Vietnam. This year's program is jointly organized by the Press Authority (Ministry of Information and Communications) and Google, IPS and Anymind Group are the implementing agencies. 

  

The 2023 program includes 2 in-depth training courses on Digital Transformation of the Press, focusing on Digital foundation for digital business, held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with one-on-one training sessions with experts in journalism development. Realizing that optimizing websites and increasing the application of data in operations are the main priorities of Vietnamese news organizations, the Program focuses on supporting newsrooms to optimize and master essential digital platforms, build a process for using data in operations and build a culture of experimentation. 

  

100% of participating news organizations have given positive reviews about the Program, saying that the information from the courses is very practical and useful and is the foundation for the sustainable development of the newspaper in the future. Mr. Le Quoc Minh - Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, said that initially, awareness of Vietnamese news organizations about digital transformation has increased significantly after participating in the Program. Mr. Le Xuan Trung, Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre Newspaper, affirmed that participating in the Program has "reinforced our confidence in the newspaper's development direction" and is an opportunity to place the newspaper in comparison with domestic and foreign colleagues. 

  

Sharing about the results that the newspaper has achieved after the Program, Ms. Phan Vu Thuy Trang, Managing Editor of VnExpress, said that the newspaper has gained a lot of knowledge after 3 months of participation and has applied understanding user needs in content production. "The program is very inspiring, helping us see that the path chosen by VnExpress is very feasible, despite the many challenges we may encounter." 

  

Mr. Ngo Duc Kien, Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper, provided some impressive numbers achieved by the newspaper after the Program: "User experience scores increased by 30%, page downloads increased by 40%, and the overall score and rating of Nghe An Newspaper increased by 45%, especially in the mobile version. This helps bring a very good experience to readers when accessing the electronic version of the newspaper." 

 

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The wrap up event of the 2023 Digital Growth Program takes place on the evening of November 30, 2023, in Hanoi. The event was honored to welcome Mr. Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the CPV Central Committee's Publicity and Education Commission, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam - Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, and representatives from Google. Launched in 2018, the Google News Initiative (GNI) is part of Google's efforts towards supporting news organizations to thrive in the digital era.