Chapter 146 The Establishment of Hong Kong Chinese Daily
Chapter 146 The Establishment of Hong Kong Chinese Daily
Yang Wendong asked: "What method?"
Qin Zhiye replied, "Mr. Yang, I'm sure you know something about Hong Kong newspapers. Have you noticed that they are all in black and white?"
"Do you mean making color newspapers?" Yang Wendong naturally understood what he meant.
The newspapers in Hong Kong today are indeed all in black and white, just like the newspapers in the MG movies of the past.
In fact, just like in the 80s in mainland China, many newspapers turned completely black when wiped by hand, and the low-end printing method used was also used. Only those newspapers with higher prices did not have this problem.
Qin Zhiye nodded and said, "Yes, economically developed countries such as Europe and the United States have already switched to color newspapers, and even many newspapers in Japan have begun to switch.
With the development of economy, people have higher aspirations for life. Once color newspapers appear, they will surely be liked by people with better economic conditions.”
"That makes sense." Yang Wendong nodded. He had never thought about it in this way before. Maybe he had gotten used to it after reading black and white newspapers for a long time.
He didn't know when Hong Kong started to switch to color newspapers in history, but Hong Kong's economy took off rapidly in the 60s, so there was definitely a demand for this.
So he asked again: "Has Qin Sheng told his current employer about this idea?"
Qin Zhiye replied: "I told them, but they didn't agree. This kind of color printing equipment is not available in Japan and needs to be imported from Europe or the United States. The price of one unit is more than 10 Hong Kong dollars.
This is not the most important thing. The main thing is that the paper and ink needed for color newspapers are also very high-quality and expensive, and they can only be imported. If you calculate it this way, the price of a newspaper is as high as 5 yuan, and a certain amount of advertising fees are added to break even. This price is basically twice the highest price of newspapers on the market now. "
"That's a problem!" Yang Wendong nodded.
The equipment costing hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars is actually not a big deal. The larger newspapers in Hong Kong can still afford this amount of money. The subsequent various high-end raw materials are the big problem.
Just like Tetra Pak, a well-known supplier in the milk industry in the previous life, this company's equipment is not very expensive, but it can only use their milk carton packaging paper. Relying on its monopoly on high-end technology, Tetra Pak has almost controlled many beverage and milk giants in the world, and in turn makes them work for Tetra Pak.
Qin Zhiye continued, "Yes, they think it's too risky to do this and they don't have much confidence."
"The survey conducted this year?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Qin Zhiye replied: "It was around this time last year, in 58."
"The economy was the worst at that time, right?" Yang Wendong said with a smile.
In 58, due to various reasons, housing prices were at their lowest point. Although housing is not the main economy of Hong Kong now, it is still one of the main sectors. Poor housing prices will naturally lead to an economic downturn.
Qin Zhiye said: "Yes, if this survey is conducted this year, it may be much better, but it may not necessarily lead to a result that there is no risk."
"Is there any business without risk in this world?" Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "If you think it's feasible, you should consider it."
Even for sticky notes, there is no risk. The demand in that segment of the market is indeed very high, but the market and individuals are two different things. If a large number of products with quality issues are produced, that person will also suffer heavy losses.
This is also the reason why Yang Wendong attaches great importance to quality. It is fatal for small businesses to encounter such problems when they are expanding rapidly.
Qin Zhiye asked: "Mr. Yang, do you mean you will invest in color newspapers?"
"I can't really say for sure right now. Let's wait until the specific analysis data comes out before discussing it. As long as it's appropriate, I will seriously consider this issue." Yang Wendong did not make a direct promise.
Even though he knew as a time traveler that the trend of newspapers in the future would be colorization, it would be too unsafe for him to make a decision without investigating any information. He is no longer in the early stages of starting a business and can't just go for it if he thinks it's appropriate.
Besides, even if you have really made a decision, there is no need to say it directly. The promise of a superior cannot be given casually.
"That's right." Qin Zhiye smiled and said, "This year's economy is much better than last year. Especially in Hong Kong Island, many people have become rich because of real estate. The acceptance of color newspapers may be much stronger than last year."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Maybe, but according to your logic, we can only say that many people nowadays can afford to buy color newspapers, but why would they spend more money to buy color newspapers?
Even if we make a color newspaper, what else can attract people to spend more money on it, other than just looking good? "
Qin Zhiye replied: "There is no other way. We can only do better in content. Only when the content is good and the appearance is improved can users feel that the extra money spent is worth it."
“But how can we make the content good? Make it better than those big newspapers?” Yang Wendong asked again.
This is a point of knowledge that he really doesn't know. In a market where others have already matured and there is no technological innovation, how can one form a unique competitive advantage?
In the newspaper industry, the time traveler has no advantages. As for the "shocking" headlines, he dare not try it casually. The newspapers that others have to pay for are not the free Internet. If he goes wrong in this way, it will be a waste.
Qin Zhiye thought for a moment and said, "It's not that there is no solution. The main news in Hong Kong newspapers, except for the occasional news in Hong Kong, is mostly from overseas.
For example, the mainland, Taiwan, Japan, Commonwealth countries or the United States, although news in Hong Kong occasionally has hot headlines, the mainstream content is still overseas, so the focus is on overseas news. "
"That's right." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Then how can we quickly catch the hot news overseas?"
It is a small city and there is indeed not much news. Even after television became popular in Hong Kong, the news on Hong Kong television were generally trivial matters about Hong Kong.
However, this era may be a little more than the previous life, because the threat of war and conflict has always existed, although Yang Wendong knows that there is no such possibility.
"Speed." Qin Zhiye said: "No media in Hong Kong has the ability to conduct real news interviews overseas. The only thing they do is to copy the news content published by overseas newspapers intact.
So there are two problems here. One is how to deliver the news content as quickly as possible. The other is that there are many overseas newspapers, so what kind of news should be selected to be delivered back, and after a lot of content arrives in Hong Kong, what news should Hong Kong newspapers choose to publish! "
After listening to this, Yang Wendong also felt that it made sense, and then analyzed: "When it comes to selecting content, can we only rely on the ability of professionals? There doesn't seem to be any other good way?"
"Yes, whether it is overseas or in Hong Kong, we can only rely on our personal abilities." Qin Zhiye nodded and said, "This requires a high-quality editor-in-chief to decide.
I can stay in Hong Kong and do this, but the source of overseas news is overseas, and people overseas still have to screen the news before sending it to Hong Kong." Yang Wendong asked again: "After overseas people have selected the news, how do they send it to Hong Kong? By mail?"
There was no Internet in that era, so there seemed to be no good way to transmit large amounts of news content back to Hong Kong.
"It used to be mailed." Qin Zhiye said: "A few years ago, newspaper companies passively waited for overseas newspapers to come out, and then asked friends there to mail them to Hong Kong, and then they could choose for themselves.
Therefore, the overseas hot news published in Hong Kong newspapers are all one or two weeks after they occurred.
But there was a ruthless person in Galaxy Daily. She arranged permanent staff in some European and American countries to keep an eye on various newspapers. When there was hot news, she would immediately call back to Hong Kong and describe the general situation clearly.
The less important news was also sent back to Hong Kong via emergency airmail, which resulted in Galaxy Daily reporting some hot news only two or three days later than overseas media, which immediately stunned other newspapers.
"Galaxy Daily?" Yang Wendong felt that the name was familiar.
Qin Zhiye said with a smile: "It was the newspaper that first exposed Yang Sheng as the sticky note king."
"Oh, no wonder. It seems that it's not luck that they can be the first to report." Yang Wendong nodded. Those who can make a name for themselves in Hong Kong are indeed not there to do it for free.
When Galaxy Daily was the first to expose his affairs, Yang Wendong learned a general idea about it and discovered that this newspaper was actually the more famous Sing Tao Daily in his previous life, and its head was Hu Xian, the daughter of the man known as the "King of Hong Kong Newspaper Industry".
Qin Zhiye smiled and said, “Yes, Hu Xian is a very powerful leader. In her hands, Galaxy Daily is even stronger than when her father Hu Wenhu was in power.
After Galaxy Daily started reporting overseas news earlier, other newspapers were forced to keep up with the pace. However, ordinary small newspapers did not have the financial resources to do so, and only a few large ones could do so.
In this way, Hong Kong newspapers can be quickly classified into different levels, with the strong becoming stronger and the weak becoming weaker.”
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "So if we want to run a newspaper, we have to do the same as them?"
"Yes." Qin Zhiye said: "If you want to publish an ordinary newspaper, it doesn't matter in the early stage. You can publish some news from Hong Kong or Asia, or some humorous content.
But if you want to publish a high-end newspaper, you have to include major international events, and you have to do it very early."
"Well, sending people to Europe and America to stay permanently is actually just a matter of money. I can invest." Yang Wendong paused and said, "But you also said that these people must be experienced. Can you find them in this regard?"
Qin Zhiye replied, "Mr. Yang, there are such people, but I can't say whether they are willing to go to Europe or America.
But there is another way, which is to directly recruit such people. All major newspapers have such people overseas, so we can directly recruit them, and we can also select the best ones based on their past performance. "
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "That's fine. It seems that it's just a competition of who has more money."
"Yes, it will be much easier if you have money." Qin Zhiye said, "It's easy to just think about publishing a newspaper. It's said that Ming Pao's initial capital was only 100,000 Hong Kong dollars, but if you want to do it well, maybe even ten times that would not be enough.
Especially now that the Hong Kong newspaper market has already stabilized, even if we succeed, it will be difficult to make a profit in a short period of time.”
"I know that." Yang Wendong naturally knew what he was going to do.
Today, the production of post-it notes is self-sustaining, the test of sticky hooks in Hong Kong is also very good, and even the mouse sticky board is doing very well this summer;
On paper, he did still owe the bank money, but after looking at this month's transaction data, even the bank knew that the debt could be easily covered.
Therefore, Yang Wendong has become a high-quality asset in the eyes of the bank and has a certain credit limit.
Just wait another half a year and all debts can be cleared.
Then he asked, "Mr. Qin, do you think Jin Yong's novel has a big impact on newspaper sales?"
"Very big." Qin Zhiye replied: "High-quality novels can attract thousands or even tens of thousands of people to buy the newspaper, but this cannot last long, because if the novel is finished or the content becomes worse, then there will be no fun.
However, if a novel can be serialized for more than a year, and during this period of time, the content can be good and customers can be attracted, then it may be successful.
It’s just that I can’t think of anyone else who can write such a high-quality novel except Jin Yong.”
"Well, I'll go find it, you don't have to worry about it." Yang Wendong paused, and then said: "Qin Sheng, we have talked for a while. I think you should be clear about my situation before you come.
In terms of funding, there won’t be any big problem. I hope to produce a newspaper that is among the top ten in Hong Kong, and I hope Mr. Qin can help me.
As for salary, I can give you double your current salary, how about that? "
The goal is not to be first, but to be in the top three. However, there is not even a shadow of it now, so there is no point in bragging so much. Let's just aim for the top ten first.
"Am I responsible for all this?" Qin Zhiye asked after thinking for a while.
Yang Wendong replied: "As long as your request is reasonable, based on evidence, and can be proven to be beneficial, I generally won't interfere. Investments of large sums of money require my consent, but the same logic applies."
Qin Zhiye asked again: "Mr. Yang, have you thought of a name for your newspaper?"
"I'm going to call it Hong Kong Chinese Daily." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "The full name is Hong Kong Chinese Daily. What do you think?"
"What a good name." Qin Zhiye nodded and said, "Mr. Yang, I am very happy to join the Hong Kong Chinese Daily."
Yang Wendong immediately extended his hand and said with a smile: "Okay, welcome to join Qin Sheng."
"Just call me Lao Qin." Qin Zhiye also said with a smile.
Yang Wendong added, "Okay, Lao Qin, it may take you some time to get the job. So, during this time or at night, if you have time, go to Central and find a suitable location for the future headquarters of the Hong Kong China Daily."
Seeking monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)