Việt Nam tops the list of countries where the media is most trusted in terms of COVID-19 coverage, according to the YouGov survey. Photo chinhphu.vn

Paul Kennedy

Việt Nam has received plaudits from around the world for the way the country, its Government an🌜d people have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the country returns to some sort of normality, elsewhere in the world people are looking on in envy a💮t how well we are doing.

This week another huge pat on the back was dished out, this time t𒉰o the country’s media outlets and journalists after a  put Việt Nam top of the list of countries where the media is most trusted in terms of COVID-19 coverage.

High praise indeed in the social media-driven world we l♍ive in for the hardworking and dedicated staff in newsrooms nationwide entrusted with the job of reporting the news.

Rewind three years to 2017. This was a momentous year for wordsmiths. Collins, publishers of the dictionary, voted the phrase of the year to be “fake ♍news”.

Lexicographers said usage of the term had increased by 365 per cent since 2016. Today those two words are v꧟ery much part of ꦚour everyday language.

෴But really it’s nothing more than a cop-out. An excuse used if something you are reading, watching or listening to doesn’t fit🅘 in with your usual way of thinking. If you don’t agree with what’s being said, then it is simple to dismiss it as nothing more than “fake news”.

Its origin doesn’t ne✃ed explaining. We all know who coined the phrase and helped elevate its usage.

But really, if you th꧂ink long and hard about it, it’s a dangerous and almost la🐻zy expression to use.

I don’t like this, it's fake news.

I don’t agree with this, it's fake news.

This doesn’t comply with anything else I believe in, no matter how wrong I 🀅am, therefore it has to ෴be fake news, right?

Today, as the world desperately tries t🌜o deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, news needs to be anything other than fake.

Journalists in what🐲ever medium they work must strive to provide accurate information to keep the public abreast of exactly w𒊎hat’s going on. There is no room for fake news.

St🍒ories need to be on-point. Reports need to be clear, transparent and paint the entire picture.

That’s why the YouGov survey result is not just a feather in the caps of the country’s prꦬess, it’s a big, shiny badge of honour that should be worn with pride.

Journ♋alists often, for want of a better phrase, get a bad press. We ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚare an easy target, more so now because of the ease at which our reports can be dismissed using the above-mentioned phrase.

But let’s face facts here. We are not employees of a company that clocks on atﷺ 8am and finishes at 5pm with an hour’s lunch in-between.

We are the guardians of accuracy. We have a duty to educate, entertain andꦅ inform the world exactly what’s what.

We do not have a job, we have a res💎ponsibility. And for those looking in from the outside, we don’t just make things up. We don’t just report what we think you want to hear and we don’t just take a slap-dash approach when it comeꦑs to writing stories.

We are up at🥀 the crack of dawn and in the office long after the sun has set.

The entire world right now has one thing on its 𝔉mind. Whether you are locked dဣown in a favela on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil or staring out of your window in downtown Liverpool in the north of England, there is only one thing you are thinking about – COVID-19.

These are unprecedented times that require a completely honest style of reporting. Thaꦯt’s why we are not here to sensationalise, exaggerate or provide misinformation.

Việt Nam’s National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control needs our help. They tell us twice a daဣy, every day, how many new cases have been detected, where those cases came from, and where those individuals 🧜have been.

We then become t🧔heir mouthpiece, giving the country vital information they need to know to help reach our one common goal – winning the war against coronavirus.

And then there is the human side of the COVID-19 coverage that needs reporting too. The elderly woman who, despite being in her 90s, gives up her free time to make face masks for the poor. The deaf and dumb teenager who paints𒉰 amazing pictures to sell to raise money for the cause.

And, of cou▨rse, the frontline staff. Those heroes without capes serving and protecting a nation in the face of a deadly enemy. Putting their lives on the line so we can all sleep soundly at night.

These stories are uplifting, heart-warm༒ing and must be told.

There is no room right now for fake news and we at Việt Nam News, just like everyone in newsrooms from Hà Nội to HCM City are not in the business of misleading y✱ou just for the sake of clicks and likes.

If you don’t believe us, just che꧅ck the statistics from YouGov, which put this great nation at the top o♛f the world when it comes to trustworthy journalism on COVID-19.

And there’s nothing fake about that. — VNS