Sunlight shines through the arched windows into the study, making the books on the shelves shine brightly. Arthur, who was leaning on the sofa, was frowning slightly as he listened to the reports of the two heads of Boleyn Publishing House and the Southern Daily Echo.

The overall situation of the two companies is not much different from what Arthur has learned, but the current situation of Boleyn Publishing House is not as optimistic as imagined, although it is in a profitable state, but with the impact of the economic crisis, there has also been a decline in profits.

With the impact of new media, the traditional newspaper industry is generally facing challenges such as loss of readers, declining advertising, reduced profits, and declining channels. Cases of the demise of print media are being played out across the UK and around the world, not to mention the Southern Daily Echo, a Hampshire tabloid.

Founded in 1888 and headquartered in Southampton, the Southern Daily Echo is neutral and has just dropped below 90,000 copies in circulation, which is definitely an important regional newspaper in Hampshire, which has a population of just over 900,000 people, and an additional copy of "Pink Sports" will be published every Saturday, mainly telling the story of local football sports, and this "Pink Sports" is also one of the only two local xing football newspapers in the UK.

Lord, readers' reliance on local newspapers is diminishing, and the decline of the local newspaper market is accelerating. Especially in large cities with free newspapers and many other types of newspapers, the demand for community journalism is even lower... ”

Listening to the dilemma faced by Jerry Fuller, the head of the newspaper, with a helpless expression, Arthur can also understand the current situation of the paper media, not to mention other people, before the crossing, he himself didn't know how many years he hadn't read a paper newspaper, the newspaper had long disappeared from his life, this is the general trend, with a mobile phone, who would read that newspaper?

"Hey... Arthur couldn't help but sigh lightly, to be honest, after knowing that he also inherited a newspaper and a publishing house, he began to rack his brains to think of a way out, but there was really no other way out but to engage in the Internet.

More than a decade before the Internet began to spread, we had already heard this kind of "prophecy": people would no longer read newspapers and buy magazines, publishing houses would face closure, bookstores would be unattended... Paper media will gradually become the epitaph of Chinese in history. ”

Tom White, the head of the publishing house, said with a solemn face, "And this is indeed what is happening now. Newsstands have gradually become small grocery stores selling water and groceries, bookstores have been transformed into cafes, and some old print media have been unable to keep their century-old signboards on the verge of bankruptcy... ”

"Has the newspaper thought of any measures to change the situation and continue to deteriorate?" After all, Arthur is very unfamiliar with the affairs of the news and media industry, and he knows his own affairs, since he doesn't understand, don't blindly command, or listen to the opinions of professionals, and then make his own judgments and decisions, but he has already decided on the idea of the newspaper's transformation, and if he doesn't make a website, he will definitely die!

"Yes, we did come up with some options. Jerry Fuller looked at Arthur with a serious expression and said, "According to surveys, readers have a lower demand for community journalism in large cities with free newspapers and many other types of newspapers. In London, where the free-to-air Subway newspaper has the largest circulation, for example, the readership market is no longer able to support another paid daily newspaper.

But in the case of small and medium-sized cities, local newspapers may still have a glimmer of life. First of all, we can change the publication time from evening to morning, so that the circulation may rise against the trend, and changing the publication time will also become one of the transformation trends of local newspapers in the future.

In addition, the transition to a weekly newspaper is also an option. To be honest, in the Internet age, people no longer need to learn about local news through newspapers every day, and the in-depth interpretation of weekly newspapers is more suitable for local newspapers and more attractive to advertisers.

In addition, to compensate for the loss of print plates, the shift to the Internet is the only way to survive in the future. ”

Hearing these suggestions, Arthur nodded, then frowned slightly and began to think, he first ruled out the choice of Transformation Weekly, as the most influential daily newspaper in Hampshire, it was impossible for him to give up this influence, as a Celestial Empire soul, nothing else was clear, but he valued the right to speak the most.

"It's a good idea to change the time to the morning, as for changing the weekly report, I don't think about it for the time being, about the newspaper website... Jerry, how is the newspaper's website running so far?"

Jerry smiled wryly and shook his head: "Sorry, Lord, our newspaper website is just an electronic version of a newspaper, and this electronic version is just a "more convenient scanned copy", and it is all an electronic version of the past with a poor aging time. ”

As soon as he heard this, Arthur knew that he couldn't hope for the newspaper's website, frowned slightly, looked at Jerry and said: "Set up a network department to run the newspaper's website, in fact, the transformation of paper media into online Internet media has its natural advantages: a large and stable loyal readership, as well as a professional team of writers and editors who provide high-quality content. We're not just a medium, we're a brand!"

"However, this requires a lot of human and financial resources。。。。。。 ”

Speaking of money, Arthur was also quite speechless and helpless in his heart, but he would not tell the two subordinates in front of him the fact that he only had 50,000 pounds in his account, but waved his hand and said: "First change the time of the newspaper, and, Jerry, in the face of the global economic crisis, in order to get rid of the predicament and losses as soon as possible, the newspaper also needs to make some internal reforms to save expenses!"

As soon as Arthur said this, both Jerry Fuller and Tom White's faces changed slightly, they glanced at each other, saw helplessness and sighs in each other's eyes, and finally had to raise the "sharp axe" of layoffs.

When it comes to "saving money", layoffs are undoubtedly one of the most direct, effective and commonly used methods. Of course, there are also ways to save money on wages, such as pay cuts, pay suspensions, unpaid leave, etc

"I know that this decision will make you feel sad and too cruel to some people, but there is no way, the newspaper has been losing money for two consecutive years, and if we don't want to see it go bankrupt, we can only help ourselves.

Except for editors and front-line reporters, a quarter of them will be cut!"

After Arthur finished speaking, his heart was also throbbing with emotion, and he didn't expect that one day, he could also lightly decide the career fate of many people, and let dozens of people lose their jobs with one sentence.

While the financial crisis will eventually pass, media change is inevitable. With the rapid development of new technologies, the real impact of the financial crisis is actually to accelerate and shorten the process of media change.

Streamlining the structure and reducing expenditure is the only way Arthur can think of in the face of the predicament of the newspaper these days, and it is also the method that the whole world is implementing.