Design and print newspapers during the subsidy period

During the subsidy period, to produce each issue of the newspaper, the design, layout, layout and printing of the newspaper were done meticulously and elaborately, taking a lot of time.

The first new Hai Duong newspaper issue dated December 1, 1961

Handmade design on paper

On December 1, 1961, Hai Duong newspaper published its first issue. Because there were no artists, reporters had to draw their own sleeves, insert columns, and design the newspaper.

Journalist Nguyen Huu Phach, one of the first four reporters of Hai Duong Newspaper, was assigned this responsibility. He said: “The drawing and design were done manually on paper based on approximate calculations. Therefore, the accuracy was not high.” After that, the editorial office sent someone to learn how to draw boxes and calculate letters at Nhan Dan Newspaper to apply.

Journalist and poet Ha Cu, former Editor-in-Chief of Hai Duong Newspaper, recalled that in 1976, he returned to Hai Duong Newspaper (at that time Hai Hung Newspaper) to work as a painter. After the reporter's news and articles were approved, he was the one who presented them on a mockup sheet as big as a newspaper. Each mockup sheet was divided into 50 boxes, each box corresponding to 50 words. Just like that, each news and article would have its words counted to calculate the corresponding number of boxes on the mockup sheet. Also starting from counting words, once he and journalist Nguyen Huu Phach competed in counting words. "We competed to see who counted faster. Mr. Phach had experience so he counted 2, 4, 6... While I counted in order 1, 2, 3... so I lost. We both laughed. This shows that counting words is done manually, very meticulously and time-consuming," he said.

Despite his old age, journalist Nguyen Huu Phach still regularly updates news on Hai Duong newspaper.

After calculating, the artist must arrange on the mockup like a real newspaper page: which news is on top, which news is below, main headline, subhead, big or small depending on the newspaper's requirements and the content value of the news, article. Because the calculation is relatively accurate, there is rarely a situation of extra or missing words. If there are extra or missing words, the person in charge will have to cut or add the content promptly.

Once completed, the mockup will be sent to the printer.

Typography, hand typesetting

In the 60s, 70s and up to the 80s of the last century, most newspapers still used typographic technology, arranging type by hand.

Mr. Le Khac Duong, former Head of Administration - Management Department, Hai Duong Newspaper, used to be a worker at Hai Hung Printing Enterprise (in 1985) still remembers clearly, every time he received the mockup from the editorial office, the printing house was bustling with an urgent atmosphere, all priorities were given to the political task of publishing the newspaper tomorrow.

“We have to bring lunch to work, even stay up all night to complete the task on time,” said Mr. Duong.

Dozens of people were tasked with arranging the letters. These were small lead typefaces (the same size as printed letters in newspapers) with all the letters: a, b, c… Each letter was placed in a separate tray. For example, to assemble the letter “Ba”, the workers had to pick up two separate letters to put together, including: B, a, and of course they had to put them together in reverse order so that when printed on paper, they would produce the letter “Ba”. The same was true for the other letters. When there were full stops, exclamation points, question marks, commas, parentheses…, the workers picked up those signs and put them in.

Editing and presenting newspapers during the subsidy period was still manual and time-consuming.

The reverse typesetting like a matrix requires the worker to be sharp-eyed, quick and experienced. The typesetter works in turn, from the title, content to the end of the news, articles to form each newspaper page. Next, use an ink roller to roll over the typeface and then cover the typeface with a thin type of paper. The result is called a printed copy used for proofreading and editing.

Due to outdated technology, typesetting takes time and effort, so the editorial office must coordinate closely with the printing house. To match the time, usually 2 inside pages will be sent by the editorial office to the printing house about 1 day before publication for typesetting. The outside pages wait for news and current affairs articles to be posted later.

At that time, photos had to be printed on zinc plate, while paintings were engraved on wood. As for the photo processing, photojournalists had to go all the way to Hanoi to do it. Later, the process of making zinc plates was done at Hai Hung Printing Factory, so photojournalists no longer had to go to Hanoi .

The preparation steps are completed, the metal zinc image is combined with the lead letters on the printing plate, and the printing machine is installed to print the newspaper.

Until the printing is finished, the typesetter picks up each letter and puts it back in its correct position on each tray, to continue using it in the next printing. This process is often referred to by those in the profession as: “arrange, fix, remove” (that is, arrange, fix, and remove letters back to their original positions).

In 1991, Hai Hung newspaper switched from letterpress printing to offset printing.

In 2011, Hai Duong newspaper stopped designing and manually laying out pages on paper mockups and switched to working on computers. Printers also gradually used modern CTP (Computer-to-plate) printing technology, eliminating the intermediate film step, shortening time, reducing labor, and providing better print quality.

PV

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/thiet-ke-in-bao-thoi-bao-cap-413826.html