TiVi Tuan-san (TVTS) has officially launched its television online which is believed to be the first type of online media in Australia’s Vietnamese community.

Over 60 people including politicians, religious leaders and Vietnamese community leaders attended the two-hour event in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Collingwood.

“We have had to adapt ourselves to align with the ever-changing technology, ” TVTS Editor and Publisher Hong-Anh Nguyen said at the function.

“That’s why we started our website in Vietnamese in 2007. At the beginning of this year, we added an English section to our online platform to cater for the younger Australia-born Vietnamese as well as for the non-Vietnamese who want to read the news about our community in English.”

Established at the end of 1985, TVTS is one of the first Vietnamese weekly newspapers to have circulated in Melbourne. The publication quickly began distributing Australia-wide the following year.

In mid-September, TVTS started broadcasting daily news segments, feature stories, interviews and video series with content relating to areas such as tourism, food and music.

A combination photo of Liberal Senator for the ACT and Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs Zed Seselja (L) and Labor MP, local member for Gellibrand, Tim Watts (R) at TVTS’ official launch. (Photo: TVTS)

Liberal Senator for the ACT and Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs, Zed Seselja, praised TVTS’ continued effort to deliver news to the Vietnamese community in this internet era.

“I congratulate you Mr Nguyen for this great legacy, and that legacy started in 1985 and has continued to this day, takes a significant further step with the announcement of this online publication,” he said.

Labor MP Tim Watts also commended the initiative.

“This is great value for this publication, bring a vital cornerstone of Melbourne’s thriving Vietnamese community to online TV ensures that it will continue to connect both new migrants and second generation migrants in the digital age.

“The addition of the English-language edition earlier this year meant younger generations could be more involved,” Mr Watts added.

The Vietnamese community has a population of more than 250,000 people in Australia.

Now with TVTS’ latest online media platform with an upgrade, news will be delivered faster to audiences nationwide in both Vietnamese and English languages.

TVTS’ development over the decades is considered one of the great successes in the field of journalism in the Vietnamese community.

– TiVi Tuan-san