Vientiane Times, a bridge to the world

Today marks yet another anniversary of Vientiane Times, the first English language newspaper of Laos. This special occasion is not just a time for us to celebrate, but also a good opportunity to look back and reflect on our past and discuss a new strategy for a bright future.
The first issue of Vientiane Times was printed on April 7, 1994, under the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism. Vientiane Times was mandated primarily to serve as a bridge to facilitate greater understanding between Laos and the international community in line with the opening-up policy, which was established in 1986.
Under this policy framework, the newspaper served as a vehicle for the circulation of government policies among international audiences as well as a platform for local and international audiences to provide feedback on public policy implementation and to ensure effective policy enforcement and intervention.
Another mission of the newspaper was to serve as a reliable, fast, and accurate source of information in order to support economic activities in line with the opening-up policy, which allows the market to play a greater role in the distribution of wealth.
The mission of the newspaper, which was designed to serve the interests of the state as well as the general public, is unique. This reflects a combination of traditional public administration and business operation approaches, all with the aim of producing a high-quality product. From its unique mission, it can be said Vientiane Times was a product of the opening-up policy.
In line with this renovation policy, the newspaper has access to a financial safety net through state provision of a workplace and secure civil servants’ salary for its staff. But, at the same time, the newspaper must produce content that appeals to the hearts of consumers in order to generate sufficient revenue for administrative and news production costs as well as business expansion.
This unconventional approach is different from the traditional approach, where the government supplies all the financial resources needed by a public media entity. The weakness of this conventional approach is that the entity in question lacks the motivation to be innovative and deliver products that meet the expectations of media consumers.
Being fully aware of the mission, duties, and financial conditions assigned to it by the government, the Vientiane Times management has worked hard to improve its media products and services in accordance with market demand while still remaining fully accountable to the government.
Throughout 27 years of experimentation, Vientiane Times has proved itself to be innovative and has remained relevant amid a changing environment. In 1994, the newspaper employed only a few staff and had no computers.
Today it employs more than 50 people, all of whom are fully equipped with modern devices for use in their work.
To begin with, Vientiane Times was published just once a week. To address the market demand  and fulfill political obligation in the new era, the newspaper became a bi-weekly in 1996 and then a daily in 2004. The content has also expanded from covering only policy and development in the past to an additional range of articles on business and economics.
In line with the digital revolution, the Vientiane Times website was launched in 1999 so that people around the world could read the newspaper online.
At present, people can subscribe and pay for services online. Vientiane Times is the first state-run media organisation to offer online payment services.
Our media products and services include Paper Subscriptions, Online Subscriptions, Paper Advertisements, Online Advertisements, CDROMs containing all issues of the Vientiane Times, News Message Service via mobile phone through Lao Telecom and Telecom Lao, Dictionary Software Lao-English-Lao and Lao-Lao, Photography and Videography services, Meeting Room service, and Journalism Training Courses.
Vientiane Times online products as follows:
1. Website in English http://www.vientianetimes.org.la
 2. Website in English http://www.vientianetimes.la
3. Website in Lao http://www.vientianetimeslao.la
4. Weibo https://weibo.com/u/6933083751?is_all=1
5. Wechat 万象时代中文网
6. Facebook page in English https://www.facebook.com/vientianetimesonline
7. Facebook page in Lao https://www.facebook.com/vientianetimeslao
8. YouTube www.youtube.com/channel/UCnw8ycr-De-Q6P2votJ_GHQ/videos
9. Intragram page https://www.instagram.com/vientianetime
As part of efforts to expand the international network as well as more channels to publish news on Laos.  Vientiane Times has established partnership with foreign newspapers as follows:
Since 2005 the Vientiane Times has been a member of the Asia News Network, the most active newspaper alliance in Asia with 24 member newspapers in 21 countries.
The network’s members are Brunei, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Vientiane Times background Japan, Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Vientiane Times has cooperated with news agencies for the exchange of daily news stories and images, namely the Xinhua, Kyodo, Vietnam, Maeil Business of the Republic of Korea, Russia Beyond the Headlines and the Korean Central News Agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In 2019 the Vientiane Times became a member of the Belt and Road News Network Council for the exchange of daily news stories and images with 32 media organisations in 25 countries.
In the same year the Vientiane Times partnered with the Global Times, the Chinese Science & Technology Daily, the Turkish News Agency of Anadolu, and the Asian News International of India. In 2020 the Vientiane Times teamed up with the ITAR-TASS, Sputnik News Agencies of Russian Federation, the People’s Daily of China, and the Global Economic News of Korea for the exchange of news stories and photographs.
Apart from appealing to the hearts of readers, the Vientiane Times management and staff have gained trust and recognition from the government. The newspaper and some members of staff have been rewarded for their outstanding services with first-class Labour Medal Orders and Honours and Memorial Medals from the government and international organisations.
Over the past 27 years, Vientiane Times has developed a culture that is innovative and flexible. With a new mindset, the newspaper has proved itself to be a public service that is able to provide a high-quality product.
Despite the many achievements on the part of the newspaper, the management is fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead. This includes a drop in revenue from advertising as many companies now advertise their products on social media.
In order to cope with the changing environment, the newspaper’s management has made a strong commitment to cement past successes and to build on them by applying new knowledge and ideas in order to steer the newspaper into the future, which is full of both challenges and opportunities.
The newspaper has made a commitment to modernise itself with the ultimate goal to serve both the government and audiences by providing high-quality content as well as remaining relevant to the needs of local and international audiences.
The paper will continue to adhere strictly to international media ethics with regard to accuracy, independence, decency, non-plagiarism, and impartiality, and to follow the slogan “fast, reliable and responsible”.
In conclusion, throughout the 27 years of its journey, the publication has proved to be a bridge to the world, an innovative public service provider, which serves to promote both government policy as well as provide reliable information that meets the needs of the public.

By Editorial Desk
(Latest Update April 07, 2021)