Over the past eight decades since its foundation on September 15, 1945, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) has transmitted millions of pieces of news and stories across the world, chronicling the nation’s heroic struggle for independence, defence, and development.

Vietnam’s leading national multimedia news organisation

Today, it has grown into Vietnam’s leading national multimedia news organisation with regional and international reputation, providing timely official information for domestic and foreign media outlets. As a trusted and strategic information supplier of the Party, State, and people, the agency continues to accompany Vietnam as the country steps into a new era – that of the nation’s rise.

The VNA has made active contributions on the information front when covering the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day (September 2, 1945 – 2025). In the photo: Journalist Manh Linh of the VNA’s Tin Tuc and Dan Toc newspaper on assignment at the National Day ceremony. (Source: VNA)

Photo series: VNA reporters working on the ground in flood-hit areas.
(Source: VNA)

Left photo: Photo reporter Quoc Khanh covering the AFF Suzuki Cup 2009 in Phuket, Thailand, under the rain; Right photo: Reporter Quoc Khanh (L) photographing athlete Nguyen Dinh Cuong winning the gold medal in the 800m race at the 25th SEA Games in Laos, December 2009. (Source: VNA)

Photo series: VNA reporters cover the 31st SEA Games (2022).

On September 15, 1945, from the Bach Mai radio station in Hanoi, the VNA – then called Viet Nam Thong tan xa (VNTTX) – broadcast the full text of President Ho Chi Minh’s Declaration of Independence and the list of the Provisional Government members in Vietnamese, English, and French. That historic transmission marked the official birth of the news agency of the State of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Since then, September 15 has been celebrated as the VNA’s traditional day.

80 years of companionship with the nation

For 80 years, generations of VNA journalists have also acted as soldiers, documenting history while directly taking part in and contributing to the nation’s historic milestones.

During the nine-year resistance war against French colonialists (1945–1954), VNTTX reporters and technicians endured hardships, relocating its base 21 times, breaking enemy sieges, carrying equipment on their backs while fighting to protect the agency’s lifeline of information. Many laid down their lives in the line of duty, including Tran Kim Xuyen, Deputy Director of the Information Department and also the first to be in charge of the agency, who became its first martyr in 1947.

The Dien Bien Phu Victory in 1954 was a brilliant milestone of Vietnam’s revolution and also marked a turning point for VNTTX, which used mobile transceivers to deliver news directly from the battlefield. Its reports on the capture of French General De Castries and the surrender of the entire garrison on May 7, 8, and 9 shocked audiences both in the country and around the globe.

The VNA Publishing House launches the book “Dien Bien Phu – Diem hen lich su” (Dien Bien Phu – Historic Rendezvous) on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory (1954–2024). (Photo: VNA)

After 1954, VNTTX entered a new development phase, expanding its coverage to both the recovery and socialism building in the North and the struggle by the people in the South. Despite US bombings in the North, the agency kept its news flow uninterrupted, building backup bases, enhancing technical capacity, and expanding the scope of news for both domestic and external services.

Photo series: The parade marking the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day (September 2). (Source: VNA)

The establishment of the Liberation Press Agency

On October 12, 1960, the Liberation Press Agency (LPA), the official voice of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, was established.

Throughout the resistance war against the US and the period of building socialism in the North, VNTTX never missed a single important event, either domestic or international, even in the fiercest circumstances. Its reporters, undeterred by danger, bravely ventured into the most intense and arduous battlefields to promptly capture heroic and courageous images of local armed forces and people.

The first news bulletin of the LPA was released on October 12, 1960 (left). Training LPA telegraph operators to serve the battlefield (right). (Source: VNA)

VNTTX also sent reinforcements of more than 450 key personnel, reporters, editors, and technicians to the southern battlefield, not to mention hundreds of additional cadres, reporters, editors, and technicians from the North who advanced with the troops and took part in campaigns across battlefields in the South, Laos, and Cambodia.

On the southern battlefield, LPA cadres, reporters, and telegraph operators held their ground with resilience in extremely fierce areas, promptly delivering news and photos of resistance movements, thereby strongly encouraging the people nationwide in the struggle against US aggression.

“Even under relentless bombardment, despite countless hardships, we were determined to stay, ensuring that the latest news from the battlefield was transmitted without delay. The news flow of the LPA never ceased…,”

journalist Bui Thanh Liem (77, former LPA war correspondent) recalled on August 26, 2025.

On April 30, 1975, VNTTX had the honour and pride to publish the historic news and images of the great victory of the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising, which ushered in a new era of independence, freedom, reunification, and socialism building across the nation.

Contributing to those victories, nearly 260 journalists and technicians of the agency laid down their lives as true soldiers, many left part of their bodies on battlefielda, and not a few continue to suffer from illnesses caused by exposure to chemical toxins.

“There were no battlefields, no major campaigns, no locations without correspondents from the news agency,” recalled former VNA General Director Tran Mai Huong, about the time when he was a war correspondent of VNTTX and also the photographer of the historic image of the liberation army tank entering the Independence Palace on April 30, 1975.

The photo “Tank No. 846 entering the Independence Palace” taken by journalist Tran Mai Huong on April 30, 1975 (left). The image has been digitally restored by Phung Quang Trung of the Skyline group (right).

After the country’s reunification, VNTTX and LPA were merged into the national news agency under the name Thong tan xa Viet Nam – Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

VNA leaders through periods

• 1945–1947: Journalist and Martyr Tran Kim Xuyen

  

  

  Tran Kim Xuyen, deputy director of the Information Bureau, who was in charge of VNTTX (far right), disembarks to cover the welcome ceremony and interview President Ho Chi Minh upon his return from France, following the leader’s visit and the signing of the provisional agreement between Vietnam and France (September 14, 1946). (File photo: VNA)

  1962-1965: Journalist Hoang Tuan

  

• 1977-1990: Journalist Dao Tung

  

• 1990-1996: Journalist Do Phuong

  

  

• 1996-2001: Journalist Ho Tien Nghi

  

• 2001-2006: Journalist Le Quoc Trung

  

• 2006-2008: Journalist Nguyen Quoc Uy

  

• 2009-2011: Journalist Tran Mai Huong

  

  

  

• 2011-2021: Journalist Nguyen Duc Loi

  

• 2021-Present: Journalist Vu Viet Trang

  

  

Relentless efforts to keep unceasing news flow

At present, the VNA is the “National News Agency – a core and multi-media press agency responsible for publishing and broadcasting official information and documents of the Party and State; announcing the State’s official viewpoints on current affairs; orienting information that is inconsistent with national interests; refuting and correcting false information; and, when necessary, issuing statements rejecting deliberately distorted information.”

“Journalists of the VNA must carry forward the proud tradition of a three-time holder of Hero titles…, renew their thinking and vision, and be creative in programmes and actions, with long-term perspectives, deep insight, bold ideas, and decisive actions, worthy of the Party’s trust, the people’s support, and the tradition built by previous generations,”

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh instructed at the 27th Congress of the VNA Party Organisation, the 2025–2030 term, held on July 17, 2025.

Currently, the VNA is the press agency with the largest number of products and information types in the country – over 60 information products across all media forms (print, radio, photo, television, and online news), produced by a contingent of nearly 1,000 reporters and editors at home and abroad (out of a total workforce of more than 2,000 staff). With 34 domestic bureaus across all provinces and cities and 30 overseas bureaus in five continents, the VNA maintains correspondents working nationwide and in most of the world’s key locations. This unique advantage also represents the responsibility entrusted by the Party and State.

Some VNA special publications marking the 80th National Day, September 2, 2025. (Photo: VNA)

“Always remember and act upon Uncle Ho’s words: ‘The faster the news, the sooner the victory’,” said VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang in Tuyen Quang province on August 22, 2025, expressing her confidence that the VNA will continue to excellently fulfill its information duties in upcoming major assignments.

For nearly 40 years accompanying the country during the Doi Moi (renewal) process, the VNA has consistently and promptly disseminated the Party and State’s policies and perspectives on economic reform, encouraged industrialisation and modernisation, and reported extensively on the nation’s remarkable achievements.

Through its information products, the VNA has effectively contributed to strengthening public trust in the Party and State’s leadership, combating negative phenomena and rhetoric of hostile forces both at home and abroad, safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity, and maintaining socio-political stability.

The VNA has comprehensively and accurately covered a series of major “hot” events in Vietnam and the world – from the COVID-19 pandemic, the defence of Vietnam’s maritime sovereignty, the fight against corruption, the merger of provinces and cities, the restructuring to form a two-tier local administration system, to major regional and global sporting events – helping the public to understand fully and correctly various aspects of social life in Vietnam and beyond.

VNA photo series: VNA reporters on assignment during the 2019 US–DPRK Summit.

The VNA is also the custodian of the nation’s largest photo archive, with one million valuable documentary photographs, including tens of thousands of original negatives on the history of Vietnam’s revolutionary struggle, more than 5,000 photos of President Ho Chi Minh, and thousands depicting the country’s 54 ethnic groups.

Throughout its eight-decade development, the VNA has always fulfilled its mission as the country’s key external relations information agency. Its news is provided for the world in six languages – Vietnamese, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, and Russian – helping bring Vietnam’s official voice to the global community and promote the country’s international standing.

The bilingual photo book “80 Years of Vietnam News Agency (1945–2025)” published on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of VNA’s traditional day.

Today, the VNA is a partner of more than 40 news agencies and media organisations worldwide, and a member of the Executive Board of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), as well as other regional and international press organisations. This affirms its steadily growing role and reputation at international media forums.

Strong integration into digital transformation trend

Despite the growing emergence of diverse sources and new formats of information in cyberspace, the VNA continues to firmly maintain its role as the official, authoritative, reliable, timely, and comprehensive provider of information for other press agencies as well as for people both inside and outside the country.

It is now a multi-media agency producing information across various formats and supplying them on modern technological platforms. At the same time, the VNA is actively expanding its presence on social media, enabling its official information to quickly outweigh and counteract misleading and harmful content online. The public not only consumes information but also serves as an effective channel for amplifying the VNA’s content.

The VNA’s anti-fake news project won the Best Project for News Literacy category at the 2020 WAN-IFRA Asia Digital Media Awards.

Moreover, the VNA has for years promoted the digitalisation of its archives and gradually built digital databases. The agency has also proactively experimented with and developed artificial intelligence (AI)-based products to create added value for different types of journalism.

In this era of the nation’s rise, the VNA continues to uphold its position as the authoritative and trustworthy source of information that is widely used and cited by both domestic and international media. In doing so, it further enhances its role as a key pillar of Vietnam’s national media system./.