(VOVworld) – Huu Tho always wanted to be considered a journalist, even when he was a teacher or a politician. He was widely considered a talented and dedicated journalist by his colleagues and the Vietnamese public.

 

 

 

 

Huu Tho joined the revolution when he was 13 years old. He held different political positions in the army and began his career as a journalist in 1957. He was editor-in-chief of the People’s Daily, head of the Journalism Department of the Academy of Journalism and Communications, a member of the Party Central Committee, a National Assembly deputy, assistant to the Party General Secretary, and head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission on Ideology and Culture. He contributed significantly to Vietnam’s revolutionary press. Professor Vu Hien, Vice President of the Central Theoretical Council and former President of the Voice of Vietnam, said Huu Tho was one of Vietnam’s most experienced journalists. He was among those who frequently wrote about agricultural production in the early days of renewal. Mr. Hien says: “Huu Tho had little to do with economics yet his pragmatic articles were valued by economists. He detected many shortcomings in economic management that hindered production. He was considered one who liked to argue for the truth.”

 

Journalist Huu Tho was also a revolutionary. Duc Luong, fFormer editor-in-chief of the People’s Daily said Tho attended a meeting at the Hanoi Opera House as a display of power during the August Revolution, joined the army to defend the nation, and was a member of the Party committees of Hai Duong and Thai Binh province and the Central Party Committee. Journalist Duc Luong recalls: “Journalist Huu Tho argued not for himself but for the people, the truth, and the right direction in Party guidelines. His arguments helped to address many issues in life.”

The public and Tho’s colleagues admired him for his firmness as a journalist, a press manager, an ideologue, and a cultural activist. He is best remembered for his motto “Iron pen, pure heart and mind” and for consistantly following President Ho Chi Minh’s moral example. He was considered a role model for Vietnam’s contemporary revolutionary press. His passing was a great loss to generations of Vietnamese journalists.