First, the idea of running a newspaper adapted to the situation has gone through two major stages of development: the first stage was before September 18th, which advocated "justice without party", "economic independence" and "reporting history with newspaper"; After "September 18th", it turned to "convey fair public opinion and tell people's sufferings", and the purpose of running a newspaper was to benefit the society. This change has had a favorable impact on the development of Shenbao. When Shi took over Shenbao, it was a scuffle among domestic warlords. For a private newspaper, only detachment and neutrality can make it stand firm in the media. Shenbao prides itself on "fair reporting and impartiality", which is manifested as: "State officials rarely touch on minor issues, and their writing is tortuous and playful, without hurting the spleen and stomach and ignoring the pain. Some people think it is too induced. " Adhere to the independence of newspaper ownership and resist the takeover by political groups. In order to ensure its political independence and resist the unhealthy trend of newspapers and periodicals, Shi attaches great importance to newspaper distribution and advertising revenue, and the annual advertising revenue of192/kloc-0 is nearly one million yuan. In order to ensure a huge circulation, Shi focused on updating infrastructure such as equipment, which promoted the continuous improvement of the publishing capacity of Shenbao newspaper. Shi believes that "the daily newspaper belongs to the history department, not to mention the publication of the history department." Therefore, he advocates that newspaper records should be true, objective and fair. Although Shenbao was cautious in the early stage, its news coverage has always been the best among the major newspapers in China. Shi Liang spared no expense to set up a news network all over China, organized a team of special reporters and correspondents in London, Paris, Berlin, Washington and other big cities, and set up branches in 29 large and medium-sized cities such as Nanjing and Hankou on 193 1, which is known as "the era of old China". Under the guidance of the idea of "reporting history with newspaper", when Shi took over Shenbao, he did something of great benefit to later generations ―― he bought Shenbao, which was well preserved for the first 40 years from an old reader, and left precious historical materials for the future study of news history. Slightly conservative policies such as "impartiality, impartiality", "economic independence" and "reporting history" have enabled Shenbao to accumulate strength and make a blockbuster. After the "September 18th Incident", Shi realized that newspapers had no way out unless they fought for freedom of speech. Under the influence of progressive people's thoughts, he began to support revolution and resistance. While continuing to promote the economic independence of newspapers, he gradually shifted his focus to social benefits. Pay attention to speech, open up a column, reform Free Talk, invite progressive people to write articles, and make Free Talk a supplement standing in front of the times. Li Gongfu was hired to take charge of social and cultural services, and on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Shenbao, he successively launched publications and social services such as Shenbao Monthly, Shenbao Yearbook and Monthly Series, which not only served the society, but also improved the reputation of the newspaper and expanded its sales. In the later period, with the concept of "conveying fair public opinion and telling people's sufferings", Shenbao expanded its influence, increased its readers and developed into a national commercial newspaper with modern significance.
Second, flexible business strategy In addition to his brilliant idea of running a newspaper, Shi is also an excellent newspaper operator, and the measures he has taken have brought the declining Shenbao back to life.
1. Updating technical equipment After taking over Shenbao, Shi paid attention to updating technical equipment and devoted himself to the modernization of the newspaper industry. In 19 18, 1928 and 1934, the equipment was updated three times in succession to rebuild the building. After the update, the declared printing and publishing capacity can print 4 newspapers and 36,000 copies per hour, and can print cover color advertisements; 1934 The circulation of Shenbao exceeded150,000 copies. News obtained before 4 a.m. every day can be disclosed calmly in Shenbao published at 6 a.m.. In addition, museums can also print news pictures and advertising pictures. Shi also organized a self-made copper mold to cast copper characters, all of which were replaced by No.5 characters, which not only made the layout look brand-new but also increased the information capacity of the newspaper layout.
2. Reforming the business of editorial department From the contact with domestic and foreign journalists, Shi learned that the trend of modern newspaper industry is news dissemination, and news is the life of newspapers. Therefore, after he took over the application for insurance, he attached great importance to business reform. First, set up full-time reporters and full-time editors, hire special commissioners, and start sending foreign journalists. 19 12, Huang Yuansheng was hired as a special correspondent of Shenbao in Beijing; 19 13 hired a famous reporter Chen as the editor-in-chief; 19 16, Shao Piaoping, a famous journalist, returned to China and was successively employed as chief writer, special correspondent in Beijing and special correspondent in Beijing. Secondly, great improvements have been made in editing business and arrangement. He learned from New Youth and set up a communication column in Shenbao to answer readers' questions and have a heated discussion, which reflected the spirit of a hundred schools of thought contending. After the May 4th Movement, "column news" was added to edit similar news together, which is convenient for professional readers to read and very popular. The title is changed to multi-line title, eyebrow title, theme, subtitle, etc. , and sometimes use multi-layer subtitles. There are also many tricks in title making: font size, color, hierarchy, virtual reality and lace. In order to attract more readers and expand their influence, a supplement has been added. Weekly Weekly is published in 19 19, common sense supplement in 1920, and automobile supplement in 192 1. Every "Double Tenth Festival" and New Year's Day, supplements will be issued, especially the 50th anniversary of its founding. 1933, the publication of Shenbao Yearbook further expanded the influence of Shenbao in the press. The newspaper format was changed to folio printing, and the arrangement of long columns and short lines was gradually changed to multi-column short lines.
3. Pay equal attention to advertising and distribution. At that time, when the market economy was still underdeveloped, Shi set up an advertising promotion department focusing on attracting advertising services to publicize the role of advertising in promoting commodity sales to Chinese and foreign industrial and commercial enterprises and help customers design eye-catching text descriptions and patterns. In addition, a classified advertisement column was set up to put all kinds of entertainment advertisements together, which is a pioneering work in the history of China journalism. 19 14 years, the vernacular advertising copy of this product also appeared in Shenbao. By April of 19 15, the number of declared advertising spaces exceeded that of news and supplements, and the advertising revenue increased substantially. At the same time, Shenbao paid attention to distribution, and they set up a newspaper distribution company to deliver newspapers to local subscribers. For foreign subscribers, the delivery time should be shortened as much as possible through the post office, and people should be sent to all parts of the country to subscribe, with the largest number of long-term foreign subscribers 10000. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the publication of Shenbao, an atlas of all provinces in China was presented to the readers who have subscribed to Shenbao for more than 20 years. This is the first map with "contour color" in China. Through these efforts, the circulation has been rising. When Shenbao was issued 20,000 yuan in 1928, its sales volume had already exceeded140,000 yuan. The profits of newspapers also reach more than 654.38 million yuan per year.
4. Buy news and build a newspaper group. Shi has always hoped to emulate the founder of the British Press Trust, and at the same time, the person in charge of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror will set up his own newspaper group. In the news of the acquisition, although Shi's trust dream was finally shattered, he did not stop improving the management mode of Shenbao. 193 1 year, he established the general political department office, which is the highest institution to handle the affairs of Shenbao. It is composed of various departments and offices, with business department and editorial department as the main body, monthly magazine agency, yearbook agency and service department as parallel institutions, directly led by the comprehensive management office, and has begun to take shape as a group management. In the environment at that time, the competition was undoubtedly very fierce.
Third, the splendid employment culture is the same as the economic field. All competition is ultimately the competition for talents. The success or failure of the media actually depends on the quality and strength of media practitioners. The reason why Shenbao can get out of its initial decline is closely related to the way of employing people in history. At the beginning of taking over, he hired fellow villager Chen and Zhang Zhuping at a high salary. One of them is proficient in editing skills and the other is good at management, which gradually improved the economic situation of Shenbao and turned losses into profits. Shi Cai Liang let go of employing people, knowing people well, and being eclectic. He hired progressive Democrats, including the wanted Tao Xingzhi, to reform Shenbao. Under the influence of Tao and Huang Yanpei, Shenbao ushered in the most progressive and brilliant period. After Zhang Zhuping resigned, he chose to train him to study in Tongji University Medical Center for six years and sent him to study in Germany. Shi saw that he was simple, sincere and persistent, and sure enough, his post-job work went smoothly. In addition, Shi also uses the method of "less employment and higher salary" to stimulate the enthusiasm of employees. Pay a double salary for one month before the Spring Festival, and add a few months' salary as a bonus according to the business situation of the past year (up to four months a year). On the one hand, he adopted the method of "soldiers can be loyal" to recruit his family, relatives and friends, and fellow villagers into the newspaper office to keep some important positions; On the other hand, the way of "breaking management exceptions and enrolling students" is adopted to directly promote workers to staff. Because Shi Liang is good at dealing with the relationship with employees, there has never been a strike in Shenbao, and talents are above newspapers. Shi is a patriot, and the public opinion of resisting Japan and saving the nation initiated by him after "September 18th" greatly inspired the people's anti-Japanese enthusiasm. He is a doer and has achieved great success from investing in factories to opening banks. He is the "king of newspapers" and created the glory of Shenbao, the most influential newspaper in old China. However, he is a national bourgeoisie to a greater extent. He developed in Shanghai, where industry and commerce are relatively developed, and won high prestige in the hearts of people in Shanghai and even the whole country. He has increasingly become a representative of the financial and public opinion circles independent of the Kuomintang regime and a leader of the national bourgeoisie. However, under the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang at that time, the weak national bourgeoisie he represented was doomed to failure, and his actions violated the interests of the Kuomintang Rightists and brought fatal disasters to himself. However, Shi's achievements in newspaper industry and his contribution to Shenbao are worthy of our recognition.