1. How do most people get their news in your country?
well, a large majority of Vietnamese people assess current events from their digital devices, like smartphones, laptops, or tablets /ˈtæblət/, rather than TV. Their devices are like the world’s biggest news report channel on hand everywhere they go. They can keep up with any latest news in any situation as long as they have a connection. So they prefer keeping up to date with news and current events by using social media, like Facebook and Twitter, but social media is not really a credible news source as there are so many/ a proliferation of fake news online, so I think we need to fact-check sources of information.

2.    How do you think people will get their news in the future?

Well, I’ve never thought about this before, but I suppose they will still assess breaking news from social media, as it will still be the leading source of news. The reason is that people are obsessed with their social media accounts rather than traditional forms of media, like TV, radio or print. For example, young people are more likely to use their smartphones to keep up to date with the news on the go, while abandoning print newspapers as they won’t love the idea of carrying a newspaper around and most of what is printed is already on the Internet yesterday.

3.  Do you believe everything you read in the newspapers?
Well, after the Ex-President of the US Donald Trump accused all mainstream media of dishonesty, spreading falsehoods, misrepresenting facts, distorting news, and passing on inaccuracies, I’ve lost my trust in newspapers. The reason is that I’m quite concerned about the political bias, spin, and hidden agendas in most kinds of newspapers. The news media and the government as well as big companies have created a charade /ʃəˈrɑːd/that serves their own interests but misleads the public. For example, there has undoubtedly been a proliferation of fake news stories around potential cures for COVID-19, the origins of the outbreak, and authorities’ responses to the pandemic.

4. How has social media changed the way we get and share the news?

Well, these days the majority of the population tends to shift away from traditional media sources for their news and are moving more towards social media and messaging services to find the news. Long gone are the days of people getting most of their news from a local TV station, local newspaper or the national newscast from one of the networks. Now we often use different social platforms, like Facebook, Twitter to gather news information. But most people who share what is happening on social media never stop to check the facts. People tend to trust what they read in the news, because low and behold, it’s the news, which is written by trained journalists, which might spread a series of hoaxes /həʊks/ in public.