On the 18th floor of the Meiyuan [***] Building, Wang Zijun and Ning Hai walked into an office side by side.

"Next Magazine" used to be next to Hanlin Publishing House, both on Guling Street, but since the completion of the Wang Building, both of them have moved into Wang Zijun's [***] building, and the rent is very low.

Now Wang Zijun wants to run a newspaper, and the headquarters of the newspaper is naturally located in the Wang Building.

Ning Hai is over 70 years old this year and has long since stepped down as the editor-in-chief of Next Magazine, but he is still in charge of the operation and distribution of the magazine. This time, Wang Zijun wanted to run a newspaper, so he also found him and asked him to lead people to build a network of news gathering and distribution of newspapers.

There are already a few people in the office, and the middle-aged man with a mustache is called Qin Xinpeng, who is one of the deputy editors-in-chief of "Next Magazine", and Wang Zijun transferred him to serve as the editor-in-chief of the new newspaper this time. In addition, there are old people from "Next Magazine", and there are also talents poached from other newspapers.

Seeing Wang Zijun and Ning Hai coming in, these people stood up one after another to greet them.

Wang Zijun pressed his hand and said, "Everyone sit down, feel free today, you see I didn't let you go to the conference room!" Wang Zijun took out a piece of paper embedded in a frame and said with a smile, "We have obtained a newspaper license." ”

As soon as this remark came out, everyone came to watch, because since the ban on newspapers was imposed, Taiwan has not issued a newspaper license for nearly 30 years.

"Okay, let's all sit down and talk casually today." Wang Zijun said with a smile.

It is now January 1988, more than two months after the stock market crash in the United States. On January 1, the ban was officially lifted, and Wang Zijun got a permit to apply for the newspaper the next day.

In fact, after the ban on newspapers was lifted, many people started newspapers without licenses, and as long as the remarks were not excessive, the police chief turned a blind eye. Just like there are three TV stations in Taiwan today, but there are dozens of underground cable TV stations, mainly broadcasting some, TV dramas, opera programs, and so on. Underground television stations have existed in Taiwan for more than 20 years, and no information bureau has really thoroughly investigated and banned them.

"Knock knock......" came from outside the office door.

"Please come in." Wang Zijun said.

The bald Lin Qingxuan walked in the door, and this gentleman had been helping to organize the newspaper for two months. Wang Zijun originally wanted him to be in charge of the newspaper, but Lin Qingxuan had too many affairs, so he was only willing to be a deputy editor-in-chief in charge of review and commentary.

When Wang Zijun saw Lin Qingxuan coming in, he said with a smile: "The license has been approved, but the name is not "Gazette", but "Gongxin Daily". The above is a communiqué style terminology that cannot be used for registration. ”

"Haha, "Gongxinbao" is "Gongxinbao", anyway, it's a newspaper." Lin Qingxuan laughed and said, he was very excited to see him like that.

Since yesterday when the authorities announced the official lifting of the newspaper ban, many intellectuals in Taiwan have been very excited. Because the authorities have lifted not only the ban, but also freedom of speech, newspapers will no longer have to be censored for everything.

At present, when the ban on newspapers is lifted, all kinds of newspapers are bound to proliferate, and the rate of reading newspapers is declining instead of increasing, and the fierce competition can be imagined.

Wang Zijun had already discussed all aspects of the "Gongxin Bao" with the people in front of him, and the policy of running the newspaper was "not to be selfish or selfish, and to uphold the trust of the central government."

It is difficult to achieve these eight words, not only because the people who run the newspaper must have selfish intentions, but also because of the problem of the environment in which the newspaper is run.

In the past few years, the Taiwanese people's political fanaticism is unimaginable for young people 20 years later. After decades of political repression, as soon as it suddenly opened up, ordinary civilians were almost obsessively keen to talk about politics, and often the family was divided into blue and green factions, and even because of differences in political ideas, there were couples who fought and even divorced. This frenzy will not cool down until 2000.

Newspapers are also gradually divided into blue and green, each currying favor with its own readership, and even denigrating the other camp for the sake of sales. In such an atmosphere, it is very difficult for a newspaper to remain fair and neutral.

Wang Zijun's plan is also to make a high-end serious newspaper with a pan-blue.

Today, Taiwan's two largest newspapers are United Daily News and China Times, which has grown so rapidly in the past two years that it barely ranks third, but it is still far behind the previous two.

Wang Zijun's initial goal was to make the sales of "Gongxin Bao" surpass "Liberty Times", and "United Daily News" and "China Times" are three-legged.

It's a tough task, because the damn Liberty Times has been giving out free of charge to its readers since last September, but it's also offering high-value giveaways. In other words, readers not only do not need money to read the newspaper, but they may also receive valuable gifts.

This move was so powerful that in just three months, the sales of the "Liberty Times" surpassed that of the "Central Daily" and other newspapers.

But people who are really serious about making newspapers hate this practice. Because newspapers want to make money to survive, the free part of the newspaper has to be passed on to advertising, and in the end, there are more newspaper advertisements than news, and readers often have to find news in the cracks of advertisements.

On January 5, 1988, in the flash of countless reporters, Wang Zijun held high the first printed "Gongxin Bao" and announced that the "Gongxin Bao" was officially released to the public.

"KMT lifts the ban on newspapers, and international directors enter the press industry"

The Coming of the Age of Freedom in the Press

"Wang Zijun's newspaper was criticized for not doing his job"

《……》

In any case, Wang Zijun's newspaper is a big deal. Even the existing newspapers, which see Wang Zijun's Gongxin as a potential competitor, have reported on the matter.

On the second day after the publication of the "Gongxin Daily", the "Liberty Times" published a commentary saying that the "Gongxin Bao" had insufficient sources and thin content, and other problems, and Wang Zijun could only laugh at them.

After all, running a newspaper is not something that can be done well overnight, and there are two most important elements, one is the source of news, and the other is the distribution market. For this reason, Wang Zijun even did not hesitate to spend NT$5 million to poach reporters from other newspapers, and planned to spend NT$20 million in the next three years to set up news and communication stations in various parts of Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In general, the first day of the issue of the "Gongxin Bao" did have various shortcomings. However, behind these shortcomings, there are many bright spots.

First of all, in order to attract readers, Wang Zijun serialized a new martial arts "Heroes" in the supplement. This point was also criticized by the "Liberty Times" as following a crooked path, saying that Wang Zijun wanted to imitate Jin Yong in running "Ming Pao" and use it as a substitute for news.

However, Wang Zijun's fans and martial arts fans are highly sought after, and some people even bought "Gongxin Bao" specifically to watch Wang Zijun's new martial arts work.

In addition, there is Lin Qingxuan's latest prose in the supplement of "Gongxinbao", which also attracts some fans of Lin Qingxuan. Then there is the entertainment edition of "Gongxin Daily", because Wang Zijun is supporting it in the back, and various entertainment news resources are far superior to other newspapers.

This result made Wang Zijun cry and laugh, he originally wanted to run a serious and high-end newspaper, but he had to use entertainment editions and supplements to attract readers.

The first issue of the newspaper sold 30,000 copies, which is a remarkable achievement for a new newspaper. The second issue soared to 50,000 copies, and these increased sales were basically brought by Wang Zijun's new work "Heroes". Until the sixth issue, the sales of "Gongxinbao" quickly exceeded 100,000 copies, and then stabilized.

With a sales volume of 100,000 copies, if it were the bosses of those tabloids in Hong Kong, they would definitely laugh from ear to ear. But how could Wang Zijun only be satisfied with such a small amount of sales? His targets were United Daily News and China Times, which now has a circulation of 1.2 million copies, and United Daily News has more than 1 million copies.

There are various ways to increase newspaper sales, one is to increase sales by relying on unique marketing methods, as in the case of Liberty Times; The second is to rely on some kind of opportunity, such as an exclusive report on a big news.

The opportunity for Konsin soon came.

On the evening of January 13, Wang Zijun was watching TV with several young wives at home. Suddenly, the TV picture changed, from Qiong Yao to Chiang Ching-kuo's posthumous portrait.

Xiao Jiang is dead!

For a period of time after that, all entertainment activities in Taiwan were stopped, and the colors of TV and newspapers were all black and white, and even TV dramas could not be watched.

As soon as Xiao Chiang died, people's hearts were mixed, and Taiwan's political situation was chaotic. Although Li Denghui had Xiao Jiang's will and temporarily arranged the funeral as "president", some people supported Jiang Weiguo as "president", and Soong Meiling was also ready to arrange for Yu Guohua to be the "acting chairman" of KMT. In any case, the conservatives leaned towards Jiang Weiguo and Yu Guohua, while the Shaozhuang faction supported Li Denghui.

On January 18, Li Denghui and 39 KMT legislators of the Shaozhuang faction jointly issued a statement supporting Li Denghui as the "acting chairman". For a time, the government and the opposition were all "supporting Li Chao", and Yu Guohua saw that he could not do anything and took the initiative to withdraw from the competition.

At this time, "Gongxin Daily" suddenly made headlines on the front page, breaking the news that Li Denghui used to be a member of the Communist X Party, and later betrayed the party organization, and then exchanged for the qualification of a public student to study abroad. Not only that, but the news also attached the investigation information of the police headquarters that year, which can be described as conclusive evidence.

As soon as this news came out, public opinion was in an uproar, and the "new president" was actually a traitor!

This news was naturally sent by Jiang Sangongzi and Wang Zijun in tandem, Wang Zijun wanted to increase newspaper sales, and Sangongzi had illusions about the throne of "president".

Since Jiang Laosan has been working since three years ago, he has put down his work and devoted himself to taking care of Jiang Jingguo. said that it was a care, but in fact, it was equivalent to Chiang Ching-kuo's general liaison to the outside world, and all kinds of affairs had to be passed through the hands of Chiang Laosan, so he was called the "underground president".

has been the hottest figure in Taiwan's political scene for more than two years, Jiang Laosan has no idea at all? Then he is a saint.

It's a pity that Jiang Laosan wants to be president, but his qualifications are really insufficient, and he has never held any effective positions.

As soon as Wang Zijun found him and said that he wanted to investigate Li Denghui's black history, Jiang Laosan hesitated and agreed, and arranged for the police chief to cooperate as much as possible, so there was this good show.

After exposing Li Denghui's traitorous history, "Gongxin Bao" reported on the front page that Li Denghui and the godfather of Taiwan independence were close friends, that Li Denghui was a pro-faction, and that he had his real name "Iwanato Masao" and so on.

One after another, the sales of "Gongxinbao" soared from 100,000 to 800,000 copies. At the same time, it also completely offended Li Denghui, who is most likely to succeed him as "president."

(To be continued)