The role of media in the hole society

"Thank you very much. Hello and good afternoon. I'm delighted to be here, in Vietnam and at this Academy. Delighted too to have been welcomed by Vice Minister of Information and Communications Doan, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in the UK last October, when we discussed the development of the media sector in Vietnam and further UK-Vietnam cooperation in this field.

This is my first visit to Vietnam, though not to the South East Asia region.

I first visited the region as a student, twenty-two years ago when I was 18 years old.

On my return to the region, it has changed more rapidly than anyone twenty years ago could have imagined.

On Monday, I was at the top of the fourth highest building in the world when I visited Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, I was visiting a campus of my own university that I attended, Nottingham University, but this time the campus was in Malaysia.

And it is particularly true of Vietnam. I have already been struck by the dynamism and energy of Vietnam and its people. This country is on the rise and developing rapidly.

Yesterday, I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and met representatives from British business and Vietnamese entrepreneurs who together have helped to increase bilateral trade to £1.4 billion in 2010, an increase of 15% on 2009. And on the drive into Hanoi from the airport I had a chance to see the Thang Long Industrial Park, a visible sign of economic growth.

Central to that rise and development are Vietnam's young people. So I am extremely pleased to see so many young faces here, who are keen to become the next top journalists of Vietnam.

As journalists, you will have a central role to play in this country's development.

And in my remarks today, I would like to focus on how central the media is - and therefore how important you will be - to social and political development and economic opportunity, both in developing countries such as Vietnam and developed countries such as Britain.

Media in Vietnam

I have already referred to changes that have taken place since I first visited this region. It is worth looking at the statistics. For Vietnam, they are particularly impressive.

In the 1990s there were fewer than 400 newspapers and 70 TV channels. Today, there are 728 media organisations nationwide, publishing nearly 1000 publications and online newspapers.

Internet use has grown rapidly. In November 2010 the number of internet users reached 26.8 million, as the Minister said, over 30% of the population, double the number in 2006 and ten times more than in 2003.

The number of personal blogs stands at 1.5 million - maybe some of those bloggers are in this room today.

And the way people are consuming their media is changing in Vietnam too, like the rest of the world. There are now more than 150 million mobile phones in use in Vietnam - almost double the population of the country.

But these are more than just statistics. They are evidence of a profound and dramatic shift in the world over the last two decades.

As media students today, and journalists tomorrow, you will be at the forefront of that change.

First, new media

As I mentioned, the way we all access the media in today's world has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. We now expect, and even demand, to have the latest information at the tips of our fingers wherever we are.

The internet, with its incredible connective power, has created opportunity on a vast and growing scale; unlocking potential, revolutionising access to information and transforming people's lives.

The explosion of social media has also changed the way individuals and groups share information and ideas.

Facebook and Twitter may have started out as a way of keeping in contact with friends and family. But their outreach is now phenomenal.

One of the key lessons from recent events in North Africa is that governments that try to restrict the media actually risk being destabilised by it. Enabling the media to become more open, more effective and more independent actually serves to improve the environment for social political stability.

A responsible government might therefore work hard to improve the professionalism, accountability and freedom of the media. I am proud that the UK has been working with the Vietnamese Government to build professionalism and accountability in the media sector.

This has included training for government spokespersons to give them the opportunity to learn about international experience of encouraging transparency and enhancing communications between government officials and the media.

And new media can also play a crucial role in times of crisis, such as the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan where people were able to find missing relatives and keep in contact through Facebook and Twitter. And much of the devastation we saw was from mobile phone footage that was uploaded onto the internet.

New media, old messages

But while the way we all access the media may have changed, it still, I believe, undertakes fundamentally the same role.

In democracies, the media is fundamental to political life.

It provides facts to allow us to be better informed about the issues that matter to us.

It provides criticism and debate to ensure that that information is tested and examined from all points of view.

And it provides investigation and examination to ensure that power is checked and decision-makers are held accountable.

All that applies from small-scale local media to the biggest issues of the day. Whether it is domestic or international news, financial advice or even match reports of the latest English Premier League football games.

This flow of information and ideas will then lead to debate and discussion, crucial in any society if it is to grow and flourish, both socially and economically.

There are examples here in Vietnam of the media playing an active role in promoting issues of concern. In the case of Thi, media reporting not only highlighted the issue, but also forced the manufacturer to stop polluting the Thi Vai river and to pay compensation to the affected local residents and businesses.

The media is also a driver of economic growth. Investors look to establish themselves in countries where there is a free media so they have unhindered access to reliable and credible sources of information, which in turn allow