Bulletin

Issue: September 2004

News

GOOD news in Vietnam with a little help from La Trobe

The news is getting better in Ho Chi Minh City - thanks to La Trobe University. Events that make news are not necessarily happier, but the quality of television news presentation is certainly on the rise.

This is due to the nine courses in television production and presentation that La Trobe has organised in Vietnam over the past three years. Managed by the co-ordinator of La Trobe's Media Studies Program, Dr Peter White, and Ms Jane Tran of the International Programs Office, the training programs ranging from one to two weeks have trained more than 250 employees of Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) and other regional stations in the south of Vietnam.

With an audience of 40 million viewers, HTV operates in the south of Vietnam and is independent of the nation-wide Vietnam National Television (VTV) network operated from Hanoi.

Normally the courses are for people already employed by HTV but the most recent course in July was for 20 young people seeking careers in television who won a national competition. Dr White said senior managers of HTV were keen to improve the skills of their staff and to modernise their program output. 'Construction of a new studio complex is underway and the television station will be able to move out of the facilities they currently occupy - rather outdated premises left behind by the Americans.

'Many of the older television managers were trained in Russia using rather old fashioned techniques. Our courses expose Vietnamese television station staff to new ways of making and presenting television programs in keeping with the updating of HTV's technical facilities,' Dr White said.

'Given that media studies and journalism training are in their infancy in Vietnam, these courses provide a significant entry point for co-operative activities with other educational and media organisations in Vietnam. As a result of this activity, memorandums of understanding have been signed with the Ho Chi Minh Political Academy, Institute of Journalism and Communication and the national government television network, VTV. We have already completed one documentary television course for VTV,' Dr White said.

La Trobe often recruits well-known Australian television personalities to assist with courses. For example Peter Adams, director of the musical The Producers currently running in Melbourne, and an experience television producer, conducted the course in Ho Chi Minh City in July.

Earlier this year, La Trobe Media Studies Program recruited National Nine News presenter, Hugh Riminton, to conduct a five-day training course on 'Television News Reporting' for HTV. Courses on computer animation and documentary film production have also been presented.

Dr White said the training courses were regularly reported on HTV news. 'This means that La Trobe University activities are being promoted to a population of approximately 40 million people,' he said.

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