Session I: Overview of the Vietnamese press (Monday, October 1)
Characteristics of the Vietnamese press. Relations between the press and state agencies. The change of the press. The difference between paper news and online news. Organization of a news agency. How newspapers collect information. The future of the Vietnamese press.
Readings:
1. Pen, paper and the stock market in a chasing game
2. Who makes the name of a newspaper?
3. Some thoughts on the June 21st
4. Where are the Vietnamese press heading to?
5. Newspapers will no longer exist but articles
6. A Journalist's diary on the Journalist's Day
7. A discussion on press freedom
8. Press Law, journalists and the people
9. Who let me write with dignity?
10. Does Vietnam have private news?
Discussion Questions:
1. Is there any contradiction between the freedom of the press and a state-owned media?
2. Assuming your agency has a corruption problem, do you use the media as a channel to speak up?
3. Do you think ministries should have their own news or not?
4. What is the role of these mouthpieces? How do you feel about journalism in general and journalists in particular?
5. In your opinion, have think the state agencies made use of the press as a communication channel? If not, how should it be?
6. Assume your organization holds an important workshop. What will you do to coordinate with the media to do the communication for the event?
7. How did the internet impact the press?
8. Do you believe in mainstream media? Do you have the habit of verifying information before sharing an article?
9. Do you enjoy reading online news or paper news? In your opinion, what are the strengths and weaknesses of each category?
10. For the same thing you read in mainstream newspapers and on social networks, which source you believe in?
Session 2: Working with the media
How to respond to the press (what to do when the press is wrong about you); The use of the press (writing press releases, holding press conferences); build relationships with the press. Ahead of the press. Journalistic writing. Communication strategy for public agency. Policy Communication. Communication with the public through the media. Communication crisis management.
Discussion questions
1. Select any article, comment whether the article is of satisfaction. Why?
2. Suppose you have an activity that you want to communicate to the public. Try writing an article about that activity.
Writing exercise from a press release
Communications are organized into four themes. (1) Overview of the Vietnamese press; (2) social media in Vietnam; (3) Basic skills related to journalism and (4) Leveraging social media for work. In each topic, case studies will be of focus. The idea of the course is that students already hold some beliefs about the press and social media from real life, thus through presentations, questions and answers, case studies discussion, any myths/misperceptions will be corrected, and correct perception of the press is consolidated.
Therefore, lecture only takes about 45 minutes in a 90-minute session. The rest is used for discussion and answering the suggested questions.
There will be group presentations on the topic assigned in class (class divided into 5 or 6 groups). Each group presents in 10 to 15 minutes with another 10-15 minutes for Q&A.
In a sense, communication is like a microphone that helps individuals in an organization amplify their voice or message. Newspapers are professional microphones, difficult to use but highly effective; Social media is personal mic that has a great connection and is wide spread. The first half of the course focuses on helping participants understand these two types of microphones and how to use them effectively at work, in dealing with the media crisis.
In the Negotiations section, the first 45-90 minutes will consist of a general lecture about the theme of the class session and covering any basic information. During the first part of class, I will answer any basic questions about the reading assignment, broad themes, and language questions.
Next we will have a student presentation of approximately 10-20 minutes about theme for the week with approximately 10-15 minutes of questions and discussion on the readings. The presentation should work to help make themselves and other students better negotiators by preparing and educating on how to better handle specific weaknesses or strengths. The presenters should not simply restate the readings and assume that everyone is familiar with the reading.
We will then have a negotiation simulation and then conclude the class with approximately 20-30 minutes of case study discussion to be led by the professor analyzing the common elements of the case studies and answering any final questions.
