Cuban and Vietnamese press committed to communication sovereignty

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 3 (ACN) The Cuban Journalists Association (UPEC by its Spanish acronym) received today at its headquarters in Havana a delegation of reporters and members of the Vietnamese Journalists Association (VPA by its Spanish acronym), who are on a working visit to the Caribbean nation.

Ricardo Ronquillo Bello, president of the UPEC, explained during the talks the transformation process through which the Cuban press is currently going through, from the economic, technological and editorial point of view.

These necessary changes for revolutionary journalism have not been easy, since the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government on Cuba prevents, for example, the technological development of the media to be more accelerated, he said.

Despite these limitations, he said, 17 media institutions are part of an experiment for their transformation, which shows palpable results.

The UPEC president also stressed that in the legal order in the Caribbean country have been approved regulations such as the Law on Social Communication and the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, which bring benefits to the communication scenario and pursue the protection of information of the media and people.

He considered that Cuba and Vietnam are going through common challenges in communications, victims of campaigns on digital platforms accessed by both populations, but remarked that it is necessary to promote joint work on issues such as technologies and innovation, the use of artificial intelligence, big data and tools to detect fake news.

For his part, Trân Trong Dung, vice president of the Vietnam Journalists Association (VPA by its Spanish acronym), stressed that meetings have been organized in the Asian nation on the digital transformation of the media and the proper management of social networks, and that this knowledge will also be transferred to the Vietnam-Cuba Seminar: Socialist Press in transformation, which will take place in Havana on September 5.

He emphasized the need to protect information, citizens' data and sovereignty in social networks.

Ta Thi Bich Loan, member of the VPA Executive Committee and head of the Department of Entertainment Programs Production of Vietnam Television, recalled the training of professionals from her country in Cuba to later work in the press media of the Asian nation.

From the APV membership, a donation of technological materials was made to support teaching and the work of professionals in the sector in Cuba, as well as a visit to sites such as the Fidel Castro Ruz Center, the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the Institute of Information and Social Communication.