Press agencies should exert more efforts to prevent and combat corruption along with protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, said member of the Politburo and the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption Vo Van Thuong.

An overview of the working session  

Thuong, also head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission of Information and Education, made the call during a working session with leaders of the State-owned Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on August 15 on anti-corruption activities.

 He stressed that amidst the increasingly fierce combat against corruption, communications work should be strengthened. He noted that the press is one of the effective tools in the fight.

 For the VNA, a main supplier of source information, the requirement is even higher, he said, adding that the corruption fight must be in parallel with strengthening protection of the Party’s ideology and rejection of wrongful arguments.

 Thuong lauded the VNA for showing strong performance in the work with many new and attractive communications methods.

 As a major news agency covering all localities in the nation and many countries, the VNA has paid attention to fighting corruption, while enhancing its leadership, direction, inspection and monitoring of its own system, he noted.

 The official asked the agency to focus its coverage more on combating corruption at the local level, reminding VNA reporters to stay steady and conscious, thus not becoming a tool for those who wish to abuse politics and the press for their own illegitimate purposes.

 For his part, VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi pledged that the agency will continue promoting its role as a State news agency and fulfilling all assigned political tasks, including corruption prevention and combat.