1. Leaders at press agencies

According to the Press Law of 2016, the head of a press agency is the EditorinChief (for printed and electronic newspapers) or the General Director or Director (for radio and television stations) whose duties are numerous. They include:

– taking responsibility for all activities of the press agency within the scope of its assigned tasks and power.

– developing and running the press agency.

– approving content of the publication, specialized pages, radio and television channels and programs.

– directing the appropriate implementation of the principles, purposes and regulations stated in the license.

– monitoring human resources, training and fostering journalists, reporters and employees, managing assets and facilities of the press agency.

With the above tasks, the heads of press agencies (hereinafter referred to as the “EditorsinChief ”) perform the role not only of leaders bearing responsibility for all activities of the press agency within the scope of their duties and power, approving and directing activities, etc., but also senior managers who are responsible for constructing, organizing, managing human resources and facilities, etc. In other words, they perform a 2in1 function, both as leaders and managers.

“A leader is the head of an organization as well as a decision-maker whose power and position are regulated by the constitution and law, coordinating with non-powerful factors to direct, create changes and achieve the set goals”(1).

The EditorsinChief of a press agency holds the top position, and bears responsibility for issuing political decisions, inspiring and motivating subordinates to perform their tasks in order to bring positive changes to the press agency.

Unlike the leader, the director clears the way and organizes activities to achieve the goals set by the leader.

In a Vietnamese press agency, although Editors-in-Chief are both leaders and senior managers, they perform different functions in each job position. From a scientific perspective, the similarities and differences between leaders and managers of a press agency can be distinguished as follows.

As for similarities, both leadership and management are processes of thoroughly mobilizing all resources to implement strategies and goals. Leaders set out strategies, goals and visions while managers turn them into reality. Leaders and managers must both rely on each other to accomplish the agency’s goals. Whereas managers rely on leaders for direction and implementation, leaders rely on managers to realize ideas and goals.

Differences Leaders Managers

2. Leadership content

With the aforementioned distinction in leadership and management, the EditorinChief or leader in a press agency is mainly responsible for the following tasks: making political decisions, building and connecting strong human resources, inspiring and motivating subordinates, developing values and fostering agency culture.

2.1. Making political decisions

Every decision serves as a political foundation for the development of the press agency. There are different types of strategies and decisions at each stage of the agency development. In order to reach practical and feasible decisions, leaders must have the following skills:

Resources needed for the agency development are generally divided into such groups as human resources, financial capital, scientific and technological resources, and social capital which would include social relationships with partners, traditions of coordination and cooperation, policy environment, etc.

To connect external resources in decision-making, leaders need to:

– Analyze, identify and accurately assess the current resources of the press agency based on advantages and challenges. Thereby, the leader clearly determines the deficiencies that need to be supplemented or improved via linking resources with external parties.

– Recognize opportunities and challenges of policy environment, economic environment and science-technology for the development trend of the press in general and the press agency in particular to consider whether it is possible to apply any policies and advances.

– Have a clear direction in building internal and external relationships, seeking alliances and support from external members based on the activity. For example, they may take advantage of existing relationships with other press agencies, businesses, partners, governing bodies, or state management agencies in order to facilitate their strategies.

– Distribute human resources to carry out activities of external cooperation. The same process holds for connecting internal resources to make decisions. A leader can adjust his direction to:

– Check whether the capacity of resources meets the requirements for implementing decisions.

– Build appropriate human resources to implement decisions.
– Regularly monitor and evaluate the implementation of the decisions.

2.4. Developing the agency’s values

Each press agency has its own values and unique brand. The leader’s responsibility is to understand the core values of his agency and make decisions to maintain and develop its values, brand, reputation and influence. To do so, a leader’s development strategy needs to focus on the following key issues:

– Ensuring that the agency operates in line with t he principles and purposes licensed by the governing body and the Ministry of Information and Communication.

– Focusing on human resource development while building brand journalism. – Focusing on researching and meeting the needs of the modern public market. – Focusing on applying new and innovative communication methods to

increase product quality and efficiency.
– Expanding social charity activities for the community.
– Connecting resources and the public to solve social problems (e.g. the

Covid-19 epidemic, poverty, violence, environmental pollution, etc.)
– Focusing on social values: the press agency must contribute to socio-political stability, promote national economic development, enhance people’s knowledge, develop culture, improve people’s spiritual life, improve the right of public access to information, widen freedom of speech, praise good deeds, criticize bad deeds, support the disadvantaged in society, etc.

Leaders who talk too much and do too little, say but do nothing, or say one thing but do another will lose the trust of their subordinates and encourage others to imitate them. Editors-in-Chief who do not obey the law or journalism ethics will attract reporters who write fake news or exaggerate things to pursue their personal interests. Therefore, leaders of press agencies must strictly train themselves in ethics, professional competence and leadership skills to set an example for their staff to follow.

3.4. “Holding-two-ends” methods

If the journey to the achieved outcome has a departure, a road and a destination, leaders should “hold the two ends.” In other words, they had better know the starting point and the accomplishment they should gain whereas managers and subordinates organize the journey by clearing bushes and overcoming obstacles. For example, leaders of the Hanoi Radio and Television Station have set a deadline for their goal of completing their digital transformation by December 2023, but the responsibility to turn that goal into reality belongs to the deputy directors and heads of departments.

The essence of this approach is decentralization, delegation and empowerment. Leaders improve the autonomy, self-determination and self-responsibility of subordinates and avoid being overworked which can quickly lead to mistakes in decision-making.

Decentralization is achieved by giving authority in an orderly manner across all levels of management in an organization. Power is distributed among different levels in the organizational hierarchy.

In press agencies, leaders can choose among the following four main approaches to decentralize power. Based on the organizational structure, these are:

– Vertical decentralization: giving power to subordinates. For example, the Editor-in-Chief assigns authority to the deputy Editor-in-Chief.

– Horizontal decentralization: giving power to different functional departments and divisions to perform tasks.

Based on the level of tasks, there are:

– Selective decentralization: the Editor-in-Chief appoints a certain department to make decisions on certain tasks in the package. For example, when the Editor- in-Chief wants to digitize the publishing process of an online newspaper, each department in the press agency is responsible for a part of the project.

– Overall decentralization: the Editor-in-Chief assigns one department to make decisions on the entire task package. For example, he designates the personnel department to deploy the digital human resource recruitment project for the press agency.

Delegation is entrusting one’s authority to another person to make decisions. Delegates perform duties and authority on behalf of the leaders but should adhere to the principles that they just perform supplementary jobs that fit their capability.

Empowerment is a way of doubling a leader’s influence by maximizing others’ work potential. Empowerment is an art, allowing the leader to control tasks rather than doing them by himself.

Leaders check on the subordinates’ performance during meetings via regular reports on the quality and progress of the assigned tasks. Leaders provide advice, make suggestions, and give more information or consider additional financial or human support if they are needed.

3.5. Methods of inspection, supervision and evaluation

Inspection, supervision and evaluation are important to ensure that press agencies are operating in line with their license. These methods are carried out from the early stages of policy formulation and decision-making as well as during the process of organization and implementation. Inspection and supervision help leaders identify unusual situations or manifestations of errors so that they can take timely measures to guide each situation. Inspection and supervision enable leaders to give accurate feedback on the subordinates’ performance and to reward and recognize their contributions. Positive feedback motivates employees to improve their knowledge and skills and give their best effort to complete the work.

In order to properly monitor and evaluate, leaders have to use qualitative and quantitative survey methods such as observation or document analysis.

3.6. Democratic methods

President Hồ Chí Minh had a high appreciation for people’s role as the great power in any revolution. Therefore, leaders must know how to rely on the strength, will and aspirations of their staff.

In press agencies, leaders need to uphold democratic methods by respecting their subordinates, promoting them, and relying on collective opinions when making decisions. Every important policy related to the agency’s destiny or the staff’s livelihood needs to be raised for discussion and there should be a general consensus before making it official. Leaders must set clear and specific goals so that subordinates can understand and seek consultation.

This method not only gives opportunities for staff to thoroughly understand the mission, vision and strategic plans issued by their leaders but also helps them to feel valued and respected.

Democratic leadership methods are the opposite of an authoritarian approach which occurs when leaders decide everything rather than listening to others. Autocracy is the acquisition of all power, doing whatever you like without thinking about the organization. Authoritarian dictatorship is associated with orders and coercion, which will easily lead to breaking the law, while disregarding the leaders’ directions or setting up interest groups to manipulate others.

Democratic methods require leaders to thoroughly grasp the principle that all decisions need to take the interests of the agency into consideration. Leaders need to be constantly close to their staff, while trusting their intelligence and creativity. A leader, no matter how talented or experienced, cannot fully see all aspects of the problem, or be wise enough when deciding all issues related to the agency’s development.