Beijing, May 5 (Zhongxin Net) -- Recently, another print media announced the suspension of publication.
On May 5, Fujian Provincial Urban Daily Southeast Express officially issued a "letter to readers". As a long-established print newspaper founded in 8 with 2000.150 million readers and a daily circulation of 40,<>, the Southeast Express wrote: "It is a great pity that we did not survive our winter and have to say goodbye to you for the time being." ”
"Southeast Express" official micro screenshot
However, such a sincere farewell only received a few retweets, and did not stir up any splashes in the vast Internet world. Well, dear friends, we have to admit that an era when the suspension of print media is not "news" has long quietly arrived.
The print media continues to usher in a wave of closures
Perhaps it is customary that the news of the suspension or suspension of print media is often announced around New Year's Day. Under the beautiful meaning of "leaving the old and welcoming the new", more and more paper media have failed to welcome the first rays of sunshine in the coming year in recent years.
Around New Year's Day in 2023, more than a dozen magazines and newspapers such as Mudanjiang Morning News, Haishu News, Fairy Tale King, Mianyang Evening News, Chongming News, Wenzhou Business News, and City Pictorial will be suspended or suspended; In 2022, "Guiyang Evening News", "Yibin Evening News", "Hebei Science and Technology News", "Southern Rule of Law News" and other publications will be suspended or suspended; In 2021, "Anhuibei Morning News", "Guangyuan Evening News", "Neijiang Evening News", "Deyang Evening News" and so on will be suspended or suspended.
On the eve of New Year's Day 2020, more than ten newspapers including Tianfu Morning Post, City Express, Shanghai Financial News, and Wuhan Morning Post announced their closure. Among them, Wuhan Morning News was founded on March 1999, 3, concentrated in Wuhan, with a daily circulation of 15,70 copies, once known as "high-quality citizen newspaper" by the industry.
In 2019, there will be no more Beijing Morning News, Legal Evening News, and Beijing Times in Beijing Newsstands. Founded on July 1998, 7, Beijing Morning Post is Beijing's first urban morning newspaper and the first color daily. Legal Evening News was once the top three newspapers in Beijing by circulation, and its influence radiated throughout the country... According to incomplete statistics from "China Media Storm (20-2017)", from January 2018, 2017 to January 1, 1, in just two years, 2019 domestic newspapers have suspended publication.
"Sanjin Metropolis Daily" issued a suspension announcement in 2019. Front page screenshot
Regrettably, the reluctant farewell of the print media always contains the promise of "reunion". On December 2020, 12, Guizhou "Zunyi Evening News" published an article: "Farewell! is for a better reunion..."announced the discontinuation of the paper version; On December 31, 2022, "City Pictorial" announced the suspension of publication with an article "Love you, goodbye"; On May 12, 30, the "Southeast Express" closed the publication announcement at the end of the article and wrote "Looking forward to the next intersection and reuniting with you"... However, the ideal is very full, the reality is very skinny, and "suspension" and "suspension" seem to be the same word, but they are more like a hope that journalists have been trying to keep.
According to the Regulations on the Administration of Newspaper Publishing promulgated by the General Administration of Press and Publication in 2005, "if a newspaper is suspended for more than 180 days and cannot be published normally, the General Administration of Press and Publication shall revoke the "Newspaper Publishing License" and cancel the registration by the press and publication administrative department of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where it is located." Therefore, with the exception of the Southeast Express, all the above-mentioned newspapers and periodicals that declared "suspended" have been permanently suspended by default.
Screenshot of the Regulations on the Administration of Newspaper Publishing
Zhou Yue (pseudonym), who is now engaged in insurance sales, has been deeply impressed by the changes in the industry: "I started working in journalism in 2004 and have been on the front line for 16 years, and I resigned and left in May 2020. ”
"The Beijing Times, the Beijing Morning Post, the Legal Evening News, and the Beijing Entertainment News, together in Beijing and from other places, I have the impression that there must be at least a dozen of them that have been suspended." Zhou Yue witnessed the glory and loneliness of print media: "I have been in the Beijing Morning Post the longest. In 2019, the morning newspaper was suspended and merged with the Beijing News, and we either chose to go to the Beijing News or we could leave with a compensation. I belonged to the minority and went to the Beijing Daily. ”
As a former colleague of Zhou Yue, reporter Anji (pseudonym) was assigned to the Beijing News. She recalled that in the torrent of change, the old print media were in an embarrassing situation: "At that time, there were six well-known print media in Beijing, the Beijing Morning News merged with the Beijing News, the Legal Evening News merged with the Beijing Youth Daily, and the editorial system of the Beijing Daily merged with the Beijing Evening News. ”
"The circulation is not as good as before, and the influence is not as good as before. It's embarrassing, but it's nothing new. ”
Where is the tomorrow of print media?
The announcement of the suspension of the Southeast Express was posted on both Weibo and WeChat. These two new media platforms that provide it with a "cloud graveyard" are also one of the "culprits" that made it die.
"In the later stage, print media is affected by new media, especially self-media, and it is difficult to have advertising revenue." Zhou Yue revealed that the media needs to be responsible for its own profits and losses, and if the revenue is not good, it can only hope for government subsidies, which is also a major reason for the decline of print media.
To some extent, Zhou Yue's words coincide with the announcement of the suspension of the Southeast Express: In recent years, due to the reasons of partners, the newspaper has had difficulties in operation. According to the investigation of enterprises, the Southeast Express News is already a dishonest executor.
Screenshot of Qichao
"Now that online information is too developed, the timeliness of print media is far less than that of new media." Anji once intuitively felt the squeeze of new media on print media: "I run social news, basically the manuscript that was run that day, sent the next morning, there is such a time difference, you send it out the audience has seen it, not fresh." Like some emergencies, we can't report them in time. ”
Anji admits that the increasingly poor economic efficiency of print media has also made many journalists leave the industry: "I have worked for the morning newspaper for 5 years, and the writing fee has not increased. You don't see the industry and the rise in wages, so the turnover of print journalists is very large. ”
"I was a journalist 10 years ago, and I am still a journalist 15 years later, and the room for improvement is not particularly large. When I left the Beijing News, there were still many old reporters who were holding on. They stayed entirely on their own ideals. Angie said.
Zhou Yue believes that the decline of paper media is the inevitable process and law of the development of things: "The world is always changing, and the AI that comes out now may replace many industries in the future." We will have reluctance, nostalgia, and accumulation in this process, but you have to adjust your mentality and make some attempts and changes. ”
"I can miss it, but I still have to move forward."
Crossing the river by feeling the stones, how can the paper media save itself?
Like the demise of print media, self-help of print media has long been a common topic.
Among them, some announced the adjustment of the distribution frequency to reduce costs: for example, in 2017, "City Express" and "Wuhan Morning News" were published every Monday to Friday; The Yangzhou Times was changed to two issues a week; Information Daily was published every Thursday; The Jingmen Evening News was published every Friday.
There is a shift in focus from offline to online and transformation to new media: for example, in 2016, the paper version of Ruili Fashion Pioneer magazine was suspended and transformed into an electronic magazine; In 2017, the Oriental Morning Post ceased publication, and the employees were transferred to The Paper as a whole; In 2019, only a few people in the Beijing News were left to run the newspaper full-time, and the remaining more than 1100,<> people transformed into mobile terminals...
Looking around, there are those who cut off their arms to save themselves, some turn around gracefully, and some leave the scene sadly. Under the siege of new media, print media collectively feel the stones to cross the river, in the current "print media will die" and "industry waves" two arguments coexist, where do practitioners go?
The Kunming Metropolis Daily "Life News" was closed, and the door was closed. Photo by Ren Dong
"As a result of the rise of the Internet and social media and the change of the entire social environment, the concept of readers and audiences receiving information has changed." Zhang Yiwu, professor of the Department of Chinese and director of the Cultural Resources Research Center of Peking University, believes that with the participation of various forces, timely, more intuitive and visual media, such as short videos and live broadcasts, have replaced the original text and print media, and the influence of paper media has declined, and advertising has also decreased.
Regarding the suspension of the "Southeast Express", Zhang Yiwu said that he was not surprised. He bluntly said that local media, especially local market-oriented media that closely rely on local living resources, do face many challenges at present.
"The most profitable local media, such as the Metropolis Daily and the Evening Post, failed the fastest. And every city will have a daily newspaper that can stay in business because the information released by the government needs it to convey. Zhang Yiwu said bluntly: "Advertising revenue slowly declined at the beginning, and everyone was full of hope, thinking that next year, if they worked hard, they would be able to turn defeat into victory, but in fact, boiled frogs in warm water, boiled for a while, and then fell off a cliff." Many print media are actually dragged to death by chance. ”
Zhang Yiwu used "there are opportunities and challenges" to summarize the development trend of print media. He lamented that the self-help of a large number of print media has little effect: "In the past, when the financial situation was relatively good, print media tried to integrate media transformation, and they all invested in their own websites, but almost all failed. Because it is useless to only move print media content online. ”
Infographic: Citizens reading books in a newsstand. Photo by China News Network reporter Zhai Lu
"Without Internet temperament, without Internet tonality, without effective social functions, it is impossible to effectively survive in the Internet world." Zhang Yiwu proposed that the effective way to transform is to retain advantages while embracing technology: "The transformation of the Oriental Morning Post into surging news is a better transformation. The strength of print media lies in its mature investigation system, a professional news model, and its own ethics. It is willing to spend a high cost to do some in-depth reports and direct news attacks, while transmitting some voices of this society, which is of great value. ”
Finally, Zhang Yiwu said that he did not agree with the argument that "the print media is completely going to dusk". "The print media still exists and can continue to exist," he said. (End)