30th Anniversary of Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper's First Issue (August 20, 1994 - August 20, 2024)

Exactly 30 years ago, August 20, 1994 marked a milestone in the development history of Vinh Phu Newspaper (currently Phu Tho Newspaper) with the publication of its first issue of Vinh Phu Saturday Newspaper (now Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper), creating a breakthrough and new color for Dat To Newspaper. This is the result of the creative, dedicated and responsible work of the collective of cadres, editors, reporters and employees of Vinh Phu Newspaper in practically celebrating the August Revolution and National Day September 2.

Over time, the tradition of creative work and innovative thinking has been increasingly promoted by generations of Phu Tho Newspaper staff, raising it to new heights. The quality of content and form has been increasingly improved, the Phu Tho Weekend newspaper has affirmed its "brand", becoming an attractive spiritual food, meeting the increasing needs of readers.

Vinh Phu Saturday Newspaper first issue and Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper now.

In a letter to cadres, reporters, editors, and staff of the provincial Party newspaper before the first issue of Vinh Phu Saturday newspaper was published, comrade Tran Van Dang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Vinh Phu Provincial Party Committee reminded: “To fulfill the task of Vinh Phu Saturday newspaper assigned by the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, the newspaper must not only be responsible for propagating and informing fully, truthfully, and promptly the guidelines, resolutions, and policies of the Party and State; honestly reflecting the aspirations of all classes of people in the province; but also must contribute to raising the intellectual level, aesthetic level, and contributing to the spiritual entertainment of readers. Therefore, Vinh Phu Saturday newspaper must be very creative, diverse in genres, rich and attractive in information content. The content must be close to life, sensitive to current events, constantly improving and enhancing the quality of content and form of the newspaper, meeting the increasingly high demand for information for all readers...”.

The advice and reminders of the then Provincial Party Secretary were also the tasks and goals that the collective leadership, cadres and employees of Vinh Phu Newspaper set for the Vinh Phu Saturday Newspaper. Published as the first issue in a total of 2,741 issues of Phu Tho Newspaper since the first issue on May 1, 1962, Vinh Phu Saturday Newspaper had 8 printed pages, each page measuring 29.7x42cm, including two pages printed in 4 colors and six pages printed in 2 colors.

The Editorial Board has determined to create a unique identity from content, style, writing style to presentation and printing techniques for the new publication compared to the regular Vinh Phu newspaper, enriching Party newspaper publications.

Along with experienced writers, the editorial office has connected and gathered a strong team of collaborators with many famous artists, journalists, teachers, and scientists. Thanks to that, the pages on politics, economics, security-society, culture-arts-sports...; the columns: People's Forum, Weekend Stories, Heroes of Our Country, Old Stories Retold, Culture from All Over the World, Business Faces, Detective Stories... have gradually taken shape, creating a strong impression, attracting the attention and interest of readers.

In 1997, along with the re-establishment of the province, the Vinh Phu Saturday newspaper changed its name to Phu Tho Weekend. Exactly 5 years after the first publication, in August 1999, the Phu Tho Weekend newspaper increased from 8 pages to 12 pages. Maintaining the existing topics and columns, the newspaper added Family - Society, Security - Society pages; added sections such as Commune - Ward Stories, Village Heads and Streets, Weekend Lens, Weekend Relaxation, etc.

The characteristics of a weekly newspaper have been defined, the number of publications is increasing, special issues commemorating major holidays, Party congresses, Hung Kings' death anniversary - Hung Temple Festival, Spring newspaper, and annual Tet newspaper are all made in the "form" of Phu Tho Weekend.

The Special Topics Department - Phu Tho Newspaper is assigned to be in charge of publishing Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper, holding meetings to develop plans for each issue.

Exactly three decades since the first issue was published, Phu Tho Weekend newspaper has now increased to 16 pages, printed in 4 colors on 8 pages, and distributed 6,500 copies per issue. Nearly 1,500 issues of Phu Tho Weekend newspaper have been published out of a total of more than 10,600 issues of Phu Tho Newspaper, the result of dedicated and responsible work with the spirit of constant innovation and creativity of generations of leaders, cadres, editors, reporters, and employees of Phu Tho Newspaper.

Strictly implementing the principles, functions and tasks of the Party's press agency, Phu Tho Weekend focuses on informing and propagating the Party's guidelines, policies and resolutions, the State's policies and laws, resolutions, directives and decisions of the Party Committee and local authorities. At the same time, it is also an information bridge between the Party Committee and the local authorities and the local people; participates in launching and organizing patriotic emulation movements, discovering and setting examples of typical and advanced collectives and individuals; participates in summarizing practices, drawing and disseminating experiences, contributing to supplementing, perfecting and realizing the Party's guidelines and viewpoints, the State's policies and laws and local regulations; is a forum for the people; fights against the plots and sabotage activities of hostile forces, protects the Party's ideological foundation...

As a weekly newspaper, Phu Tho Weekend has the advantage of a relatively large number of pages, and can publish research articles, assessments, and in-depth discussions on all aspects of social life from politics, economics, culture, society, national defense - security to the fields of arts and entertainment, meeting the information needs of readers every weekend.

The gentle writing style and the use of many beautiful illustrations are also strengths for Phu Tho Weekend newspaper to propagate and promote cultural values, political and ideological education, and moral and aesthetic education, enriching and enriching the spiritual life of ethnic minorities in the province, practically contributing to preserving and promoting traditional cultural values, promoting the tourism potential of the Ancestral Land to domestic tourists and international friends.

Taking the quality, effectiveness of propaganda, and readers' trust as the standard measure and guideline for its activities, over the past three decades, Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper has always strived to innovate its content and form to create impressive, unique and attractive press products for readers. For many years, Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper has maintained each issue with a separate topic, focusing in depth on an issue, event or phenomenon of social interest.

The columns are built, maintained and changed on the basis of both upholding the principles and propaganda purposes of Party newspapers and being consistent with objective reality and the development trend of modern journalism, meeting the information needs of readers. Currently, the columns: "Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style"; "Maintaining sovereignty - border and island security"; "Reportage, notes"; "Life through photos", "Weekend chat"; "Resolutely and persistently fighting against corruption and negativity, building our Party and State to be increasingly clean and strong"; "Experiential tourism"; "OCOP Land of Ancestors"... have been and are being maintained, attracting the interest and attention of readers.

Consistent with the criteria of “Correct, accurate, good, fast, beautiful”, Phu Tho Weekend newspaper has become a reliable information channel for a large number of readers in and outside the province. Along with that, right from the first issue, Phu Tho Weekend newspaper has been identified as an entertainment publication with a literature and art page introducing short stories, essays, poems, and literary commentary by many artists and authors from all over the country.

Currently, Phu Tho Weekend newspaper has a strong team of collaborators who are writers and poets from the northern border provinces to the southern provinces, as well as overseas Vietnamese who regularly send their works to collaborate. Along with that is a team of managers, scientists, leading experts, intellectuals in many fields with many in-depth articles, containing high knowledge and intelligence published in Phu Tho Weekend newspaper, helping to improve the effectiveness of propaganda, quality and reputation of the newspaper.

Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper has become an important information channel, widely received by readers in the province.

In the context of the strong development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, facing the intertwined opportunities, advantages and difficulties, especially the challenges of technology platforms, digital transformation and information competition with social networks, promoting the achievements gained in the past 30 years, Phu Tho Weekend newspaper will continue to be creative, innovative, focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of propaganda, affirming the prestige and position of Party newspaper publications in the hearts of the public.

Implementing the Phu Tho Newspaper Development Project for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030, Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper continues to proactively approach and use modern journalism technology, constantly innovate content and form, improve the overall quality of topics, open special pages and columns suitable to the practical information needs of the social community, increase attractiveness, enhance combativeness, and orient public opinion.

The tradition of solidarity, creativity, innovation, dedication and responsibility of the staff, editors and reporters of Phu Tho Newspaper together with the achievements gained over the past three decades will be a solid foundation, creating motivation for Phu Tho Weekend Newspaper to continue to develop strongly, consolidate and be worthy of the affection and trust of the Party Committee, Government and people for...

Vu Xuan Chuong

Member of the Central Committee of Vietnam Journalists Association, Editor-in-Chief of Phu Tho Newspaper, Chairman of Phu Tho Provincial Journalists Association