The fate of major newspapers such as Thanh Niên, Người Lao Động, Pháp Luật TP.HCM and others remains uncertain.
Driving the News: On May 28, the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee decided to establish the Ho Chi Minh City Press, Radio, and Television Agency.
City Party Secretary Trần Lưu Quang said that the move “closely follows the central leadership’s directives,” creating conditions for the press to “develop professionally and modernly” and “meet the increasingly high demands of information and propaganda work.”
However, the press release did not explain how the new agency would be formed or what its structure would look like.
That same day, many journalists posted on social media expressing their feelings about the decision, including a message from communications expert Nguyễn Thanh Sơn, “A Sad Day for Hồ Chí Minh City Journalism.”
Journalist Lưu Nhi Dũ, who spent 30 years at Người Lao Động, said that after the new agency is established, only three outlets—Sài Gòn Giải Phóng, HTV, and Tuổi Trẻ Online—will “retain their brands and organizational structures” according to the policy of Hồ Chí Minh City. However, he also said it remains unclear how other Hồ Chí Minh City newspapers will be “reorganized.”
The Context: As the country’s economic engine, Hồ Chí Minh City is home to many well-known, profitable, and financially autonomous newspapers and broadcasters, including Thanh Niên, Người Lao Động, Pháp Luật TP.HCM and Công An TP.HCM.
Under the general framework, Hồ Chí Minh City is allowed to have only one newspaper. Other newspapers must either be shut down or merged into that single outlet. But it remains unclear which restructuring option the city will choose for these publications.
In November 2025, Hồ Chí Minh City announced that it would temporarily halt the establishment of the Hồ Chí Minh City Press, Radio, and Television Agency, saying it needed to complete a new and more suitable proposal.
In February 2026, Hà Nội established the Hà Nội Press, Radio, and Television Agency and merged six media organizations into it: Hà Nội Mới, Phụ Nữ Thủ Đô, Lao Động Thủ Đô, Kinh Tế và Đô Thị, Tuổi Trẻ Thủ Đô, and Hà Nội Radio and Television.
The Bigger Picture: The media restructuring in Hồ Chí Minh City is part of the Communist Party’s sweeping overhaul of the state media system, which began in early 2025 and has forced numerous newspapers and broadcasters to either close or merge.
As of December 2025, Việt Nam had 137 newspaper agencies, down by 58 from 2019.
In March 2026, the Communist Party transferred three state-run media and news organizations—Việt Nam Television, Voice of Việt Nam, and the Vietnam News Agency—to direct Party control.
Việt Nam has no private press. Its media system is officially known as the “revolutionary press.”
Under the Press Development and Management Plan through 2025, “the press is a means of information, a propaganda tool, an important ideological weapon of the Party and the State, and a forum of the people, placed under the direct and comprehensive leadership of the Party and the management of the State, operating within the framework of the Constitution and the law.”
Hoàng Nam wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on May 29, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
