Chapter 360 What is a newspaper?

After breakfast the next day, Gawain took out the plan he had written the night before and let Hetty read it over.

It is said to be a plan, but in fact it contains far more detailed content than the plan - Gao Wen not only has to write down the plan for organizing the newspaper and the manpower and material resources required, but also uses It takes a lot of space to explain what a newspaper is and what the significance of a newspaper is. Finally, there are a lot of problems and solutions that may be encountered in preparing a newspaper...

Plan the plan There is no way to write in such detail. These are all the lessons Gawain has accumulated since he emerged from the coffin - he found that the biggest problem he had to face when proposing a new concept in this world was often not whether people would accept it. Because he has the identity of the founder of the country and the fighting power that can knock the head of anyone in the territory, he never has to consider how well the people around him will implement his words. The real trouble is that many times people may not listen. Understand what he is describing.

To propose a brand-new conceptual product, he has to come up with more new terms to describe it, and these new terms may need to be explained in more languages. Some of them are reasonable in his opinion. People in this era and world may need two or even three levels of "translation" to understand what they should be. After encountering such questions several times, he had to ask the same question each time. Before new things are written, detailed information is written, and the basic concepts and functions of such new things are explained in the information.

Of course this will consume a lot of time in the early stage, but it saves him and everyone the effort of explaining new things later, and there is a clear information for people to circulate, which can also To prevent these things from going awry after being passed on several times, so that when they are finally realized they deviate from what he expected.

"Newspaper?" Hetty carefully read the information handed to her by her ancestors. She is now familiar with this type of information and knows that whenever her ancestors take out such a stack of things, I have to work hard to understand an unprecedented but miraculous thing, but this time the thing proposed by the ancestors is more different from usual - this does not seem to be a new magic machine, nor is it a new management concept. But an...extremely cheap...book?

“You can think of it as printing thousands of copies of what is on the bulletin board in the town center, and adding some content such as common sense of life, new things inside and outside the territory, price changes, and popular science knowledge, and finally form a "A kind of cheap and time-sensitive reading material," Gao Wen explained, and by the way, he also explained what the three words "timeliness" mean, "Timeliness means that the content on it is recent and can only be read in the near future. It is effective in the short term, but will lose its usefulness over time. For example, the price of grain in the past two days is time-sensitive information."

Hetty understood Gawain's words thoughtfully. But Amber, who had started walking around the restaurant after eating and drinking, suddenly came together.He came over and looked at Gawain in surprise: "Wow - after forcing those pharmacists, alchemists, and miners to death, you finally decided to kill the intelligence dealers inside and outside the territory?"

Gawain was confused by this guy's sudden words: "What does this have to do with intelligence dealers?"

"Isn't this nonsense? You printed all this information in this called 'newspaper' Obviously you want to monopolize the intelligence business - I learned the word monopoly from you," Amber shook his head and said, "You really don't leave any way for others to survive!"

“The role of newspapers is to allow people to understand the latest news around them more quickly. At the same time, it helps to spread popular science knowledge and general education, and promotes the new regulations and new systems of the Government Affairs Department to strengthen the territory. The power of the ruler's words..." Hetty didn't pay attention to Amber's interruption, but looked at what Gawain wrote seriously. She could understand every word on it, but she couldn't imagine why the newspaper "Ancestor, don't the bulletin boards in towns have this function?"

"Yes, but the scope of the bulletin board is too big," Gawain shook his head, "Our population is increasing. As the city grows larger and larger, relying solely on bulletin boards to disseminate information is obviously too inefficient. And there is another point - more and more people in the territory are literate, which means they have more skills. They have strong ability to accept knowledge and learn skills, and the amount of information the bulletin board can provide them is far from enough."

Hetty suddenly thought of what she reported to Gawain yesterday, and she asked tentatively. One sentence: "Is this... also related to improving the public security environment?"

"Yes," Gao Wen nodded slightly, "it can make people discern the truth. The more things they understand, the better the people can Think rationally and break away from ignorance. I know that many nobles in this era think that common people are born barbaric, so they fight, drink, and gamble. But in fact, no one is born barbaric, they just lack acquired correction. It’s just the right way to consume energy.”

Amber strolled behind Hetty, leaning her head to look at the information written by Gawain, and then suddenly raised her head and asked: "But having said that... you are really obsessed with letting civilians 'know more'... Is it really necessary to do this?"

Gawain smiled: "Of course it is necessary - Not only do I want the people in my community to live well and warmly, I also want them to live clearly, letting them know why they can live a good life and why they suffered from hunger and cold in the past. Only in this way can they express their sincerity To support Cecil's new order, and to identify with this land and create cohesion."

Amber raised his eyelids, with curiosity in his amber eyes: "You think so. What a farewellPeople are different. "

"I know that no lord has ever considered this matter before, because they think the commoners are a weak and ignorant group. As long as the swords and staffs are in their hands, They never worry about the lives and thoughts of civilians, but I never think so." Gawain smiled, "You have all seen the machines controlled by ordinary people in the factory, and you have also seen the new guns and bombs. , you should know that when wisdom is used in the right place, ordinary people still have the ability to shake extraordinary beings - it's just that for thousands of years, no one has ever paid attention to their power. "

At this time, Rebecca, who had been listening blankly for a long time, suddenly reacted and looked at Gawain with wide eyes: "Ah! Ancestor, I understand. It turns out that the printing press you showed me yesterday is used for this purpose - no wonder you always emphasize convenience and editability..."

"It is indeed used for this purpose. ," Gao Wen nodded, "Only new printing machines that can print continuously and make plates quickly can meet the requirements of mass circulation and high timeliness of newspapers. "

Rebecca scratched her hair: "That's it, I don't know when the printing press will be built..."

"It's okay, don't worry, you can study it slowly. ," Gawain smiled and waved his hand, "Since we can't get it right in one step, let's take our time. For things like newspapers, let’s not insist on having one issue every day – we can use woodblock printing first, starting with one issue every week. For the current territory and its citizens who have never had cheap reading materials, even a newspaper published every ten days is of great significance. ”

This world also has the concept of “week”, but the week is not seven days. Instead, according to the legend of the earth rising from the ocean in ten days in ancient mythology, the week is divided into ten days, so Sixty days in a month means exactly six weeks.

In Gao Wen's view, "daily newspapers" are good, but there is no need to insist on traditional Ansu engraving if it is not possible in the early stage. Printing technology takes at least two days from carving wax tablets to making Yangwen clay tablets, printing paper, and drying the ink. In addition, due to the lack of experience in starting a newspaper in the early stage, it is difficult to guarantee efficiency, etc., the time required for one issue of the newspaper will still be More, so he simply publishes a "weekly report" every ten days based on the calendar of this world. That is completely acceptable.

In this era, except for the Cecil Territory, most people. The development of the region is slow and monotonous. There is almost no news outside the territory. Moreover, given the relatively rudimentary literacy level of the territorial residents, there is no need for overly complex and difficult newspaper content. In addition, the territory is currently so large. In a place where the news and changes are very limited, it is very reasonable to publish a weekly newspaper.

If there is really any special news, you can also publish it as an "extra number"

"Newspapers are something that need to be published for a long time, so we need to set up a special department to do this," Gao Wen said.Already aware of the significance of newspapers, he continued, "The department that publishes newspapers can be called 'newspaper offices.' Theoretically, if newspapers develop in the future, and there are even private newspapers in the private sector, we will also set up a special department in the Government Affairs Department The management department handles cultural publicity matters, but at this stage it is enough to establish a newspaper directly controlled by the Government Affairs Department. The newspaper should have editors responsible for the content of the newspaper, as well as 'reporters' who collect news, and... …"

Gawain explained various things. In fact, these things were also mentioned in the information he gave to Hetty. However, after he explained it himself, it became easier for Hetty to understand. Some.

"This requires some knowledgeable people to do this," Hetty rubbed her brows and began to think about candidates in this field, "There are certainly no talents in this field among the civilians who have just learned to read and write... ...The group of scholars brought back by Santis can be considered."

"Those scholars from the capital..." Gawain pondered for a moment, "What are they doing now?"

“Some of them have already gone to teach in schools, and it is said that they are doing pretty well. After all, they were screened and filtered by Santis. They are very adaptable when they come here. There are also a group of people who are learning runes with Jenny and Kamel. Logic," Rebecca Baba said, "There are also some at the Magic Technology Research Institute, and they are very interested in the magic engine - I told them that it was the 'lost ancient technology' that my ancestors came up with, and they Everyone forgets to eat and sleep. In addition, there are still a few people who have not been assigned." Gawain's mouth curled up: "It's pretty good. I'm worried about those people from the capital coming here. You won’t get used to it later.”

“They’re getting used to it well,” Rebecca smiled. “There are new things everywhere here, and they can study everything, and many things are still there.” In the name of "Lost Ancient Technology", not to mention the group of scholars, even the formal mages and mage apprentices are all honest now, for fear that I will not let them enter the laboratory. Of course, I think the more important reason is. They saw with their own eyes Kamel running around the territory with sparks and lightning, and they were all stunned..."

Gawain saw that the topic was going to go off the rails, so he quickly pulled it back. : "Ahem, okay, then let's select a few people from those scholars in the capital to prepare the first issue of Cecil's newspaper. Hetty, I'll leave this matter to you."

Hetty put away the thick pile of information and lowered her head deeply: "Please don't worry."