04/08/2016
Environment protection is an essential, urgent issue that needs people in the local and global community to take action. Among many different missions and challenges arising in environment protection, media communication is still an important part and an indispensible link, due to its ability to gather people in the widest range to act together.
Newspaper is a major means of communication. Though the world media is moving more dynamically, with plentiful social networks and information resources, newspapers have still been able to maintain a stable position in the society for its work ethics and political awareness, which helps gain people’s trust and confidence in newspapers. It is obviously difficult to earn confidence from people and preserve it from being affected by other rising information resources. There are various aspects of life, so journalists must be able to expose the truth and drive readers to it while having to suffer “time” pressure.
Therefore, journalism is not only an hournorable job that is tied to life and creativity, but also a difficult career with a number of challenges. The late Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng once said that journalists should “live deeper and more passionately”, which meaned they should experience life more to learn lessons from it. Also, the late General Secretary Nguyễn Văn Linh showed the important and helpfulness of his series of “Things to do now” articles in the Nhân Dân to boost economic and societal reforms. He said that it was easy to issue any resolution or directive to solve the problems, but real problems came from inside our agency system. The articles were written to boost pressure from the public and put it on the agency system so the agencies could reform themselves in order to satisfy new requirements and new missions in a new era. The power of publicity makes newspapers more powerful, pushing the society forward. Individuals, even senior-level government officials, junior-level government officials, businessmen, students or workers will pay more attention to newspapers - especially the papers and media channels that focus on environmental protection - if they show concern about the country’s development and people’s living conditions.
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Journalists must consider some ideas while performing their duties:
First, journalists should stress the benefits and obligations that each individual and organization should have in environmental protection and sustainable development
Journalists must stress the benefits that people receive from the environment, as people always care about their interests as individuals and as communities. There are some benefits in environment protection listed below:
Each individual must be responsible for the future of the community and younger generations, as it is the honour and the cause of life. Vietnamese people should be ashamed for failing to protect the country’s environment, as a part of ethics, education and culture in a civilised society.
For businessmen, protecting environment goes with better profit. It means that a company spending more money on environmental protection methods could sell a large amount of products and services. On contrary, products polluting the environment or are not environmentally friendly will be ignored in the market. In developed countries where the society is aware of environmental protection, people often favour businesses that notice environmental issues in production. Products that are certified by environmental agencies are more attractive, though their prices may be higher. Any businesses that want to develop further should pay attention to this kind of customer taste.
There are many regulations on industrial production in terms of hygiene, labour safety, packaging processes, food safety and environment effects to assure consumers’ health. Customers now are more aware of how clean the products are - especially how they affect the environment. Spending some more of the budget on environmental issues will help producers overcome the legal framework in overseas markets and improve the competitiveness for their products. Companies will be eliminated from the market if they only want profit and do not want to take care of environmental issues.
Second, journalists should focus on the legal system for environmental issues
Individuals and businesses may face harsh punishments from the legal framework, in addition to some administrative fines, including:
Making compensations for environmental pollution: According to the Civil Procedure Code 2005, the side asking for compensations for environmental pollution must provide evidence for the damages. This side can request an amount of compensation from the side that causes the damage and the two sides will negotiate to reach an agreement. If no agreement is reached, they can bring the case to court and the court will make the final decision after investigating and assessing the damages.
Decree No. 117/2009/ND-CP on administrative fines for environmental pollution and the Law of Environment Protection also state that the factory or company must shut down if it commits serious violations of environmental issues.
The civil procedure code should raise administrative fines to equal the profit that businesses earn from their production. The Criminal Procedure Code should include criminal proceedings in Chapter 17, in addition to administrative fines against those who commit serious environmental damages. However, legislative bodies must differentiate between criminal cases and civil cases.
Third, journalists should praise achievements in environmental protection and criticize wrongdoings in this issue
A lot of Vietnamese individuals and companies taking care of environmental issues have developed and operated efficiently. Many FDI businesses, with comparative advantages in capital, technology and management, have successfully used waste treatment systems before disposing of industrial waste in the environment. These are recognized by Vietnamese government agencies and the society. Some local businesses have been able to operate waste treatment processes in their production and improve their business performances.
In addition, local companies are able to develop “green” products so they can compete in domestic and international markets. When they apply advanced technologies and green production methods in the production process, Vietnamese firms become stronger and win more domestic market shares, and increase their exports to other countries, where they are highly appreciated by overseas customers.
A lot of firms are able to minimize the impacts of industrial waste on the environment by improving their waste treatment systems and production chains, as well as using environmentally friendly materials. The award for “Green Business” was granted to 11 firms in 2006 and 15 firms in 2008. This award will improve the confidence domestic and international consumers have in those companies. The companies, therefore, will gain more reputation and prestige. They have successfully neither improved their competitiveness, nor preserve the environment.
There are still a lot of things Vietnamese individuals and businesses need to do when it comes to environmental protection issues. In the context of global integration, especially after Việt Nam became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Vietnamese companies now have to face highly competitive players from all around the world. In that context, “green” businesses with “green” products will have the best chance in the market.
Though some businesses have performed very well when it comes to environmental issues, the public still needs to worry about environmental pollution. The media reports those cases almost everyday, most of which are caused by companies disposing waste into water, producing too much smoke and dust, and using backward technologies, having bad effects on the society.
The public’s strong reactions toward those environmental violations prove that the media have performed well in the fight against those violations, and to prevent similar cases from happening. The media here also highlights the role of the online newspaper, which is a favourite means of communication for businesses. Online newspapers provide lively visual effects in the minds of business owners, and can make them change their attitudes and actions on environmental issues.
However, journalists should pay attention to how the subject feels when they try to highlight a specific case. The articles must be written with accurate information and speak the truth. If not, businesses will be angry at and disappointed in the media.
Particularly, the online newspaper, which is the fastest news channel, can create different public reactions and arouse wrong and untrue facts that are not good for the public. Too much information about the bad aspects of the story, based on the writer’s preconceived ideas, may cause disorder in the public. Entertainment news not only reflects a personal view, but also reflects the strategies in some papers that want to win the “market shares” whatever the cost. While, the readers clearly cannot be optimistic about life if the balance between negative and positive news does not exist.
Recommendations
We highly recommend some solutions to improve the quality of the media based on its activities concerning environmental issues.
First, we need more media channels, which specialize in environmental protection and sustainable development, for different types of readers.
Second, we need to organize more press competitions, and encourage people and journalists to create slogans and videos on environmental protection so people can join in. We can organize competitions and give awards weekly or monthly to create good effects on the society.
Third, we need to improve environmental protection initiatives and technologies, which are compatible with current business conditions.
Fourth, we need to avoid criticising the violators too harshly. We should understand this issue as a long-term process and pay attention to the conditions of each individual and organization so all stakeholders can find solutions for environmental protection and sustainable development■
Assoc. Prof, Dr. Đỗ Chí Nghĩa
Editor in Chief - The People’s Deputies Newspaper
