"Contemporary Navy" is a military publication headed by the Political Department of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and sponsored by the "People's Navy" newspaper. It is published to the public at home and abroad. In the 15 years since its founding, she has published more than 100 issues, with a total circulation of millions of copies.
This publication has always paid attention to the country's maritime rights and interests, paid attention to national defense construction, promoted the new style of the People's Navy, and spared no effort to enhance the people's awareness of maritime and coastal defense. In recent years, the journal has been rated as the first "National Hundred Key Social Science Journals" and "Chinese People's Liberation Army Journal Award Nomination Award", and the "Double Hundred Journals" of the Chinese Periodical Array. Last year, the magazine was also rated as an advanced unit in the national series of activities to promote the "National Defense Education Law".
In the 15 years since its establishment, "Contemporary Navy" has insisted on advancing with the times and achieved good social and economic benefits.
Find out the strong naval characteristics
When it was first published, "Contemporary Navy" was a journal that focused on ideological and political education and also took into account military, literature and history, popular science and other knowledge. After it was released to the public in 1990, it gradually expanded its military content (Chinese and foreign naval history, equipment, characters, etc.). However, some articles on ideological commentary, culture and art, and life emotions still occupied a considerable amount of space and lacked distinctive naval characteristics.
Faced with this situation, the magazine conducted a survey on the reader market at that time and believed that most readers who liked "Contemporary Navy" were martial in nature and had coastal defense in mind. These people were not only curious about naval life, but also concerned about it. The strength of our navy and its status in the world, they hope to understand the current situation of navies around the world; these people also know that there is still a gap between our country's navy and the navies of world powers in terms of equipment strength, but they are more eager to understand how our navy can win the future. The efforts and achievements made in maritime warfare under high-tech conditions, etc. For this reason, the magazine decided to strengthen the "smell of military, sea, and gunpowder smoke" in the publication, giving the magazine a strong naval character.
First of all, focus on publicizing the "three modernizations" construction of our navy. On the premise of not leaking secrets, in accordance with the military strategic guidelines of our army in the new era, embodying the ideas of building an army with quality and strengthening the army with science and technology, focusing on education and training, organization and command, military thoughts, military concepts, military quality, etc., to comprehensively demonstrate the revolution of the People's Navy The latest achievements in the construction of modernization, modernization and regularization reflect the readiness of our navy for military struggle and the training life and mental outlook of the officers and soldiers of the army. Here, I will focus on introducing the process of modernization of our country's navy, and encourage and support the construction of our navy from the perspective of public opinion.
Secondly, increase the amount of information reflecting the naval world. Comprehensively reflects the situation of navies around the world, including naval world affairs, naval development trends, naval officers and soldiers, and high-precision naval weapons and equipment. It mainly provides timely and in-depth analysis of major events that have occurred in navies around the world and hot spots in maritime military struggles that the world is very concerned about. Reports, such as the division of maritime areas, competition for maritime resources, expansion of maritime power, maritime exercises, maritime operations, etc. by navies of various countries.
Third, highlight the flavor of the times of the publication. When reporting on the "three modernizations" construction of our navy, we will introduce the current military training, drills and maritime life of the People's Navy to readers in the shortest possible time. At the same time, keep track of the latest developments, hot topics, maritime battles or exercises in today's world's naval development. The introduction of foreign navies also focuses on their new situations and new developments, that is, new military building ideas, establishment systems, education and training, etc. The introduction of naval weapons and equipment highlights the words "new" and "refined". In the process of introduction, ensure that the viewpoints are correct, the content is informative, and the report is timely.
Fourth, insist on paying equal attention to knowledge and readability. From contemporary navies to future navies, from the Chinese navy to foreign navies, this article systematically introduces common sense tools of navies of various countries, such as military slang, military flags, military ranks, military ranks, military medals, military uniforms, warship naming, various warship divisions and various types of ships. weapons concept, etc. It focuses on those things that the public pays attention to, wants to know, and wants to know, turns the deeds and experiences into stories, and popularizes the introduction of equipment, so that readers can be subtly influenced by the knowledge of navy and maritime culture through willing and effective reading.
Because "Contemporary Navy" insists on highlighting the characteristics of the navy in the market competition, it has achieved its pursuit of being unique in the country and the entire military in the market of tens of thousands of periodicals. In recent years, domestic military journals have cooled down, and the circulation of some publications has dropped significantly. However, "Contemporary Navy" has not only stabilized its foothold, but also taken solid steps to become a high-quality journal and create a famous brand for the entire military.
Create a good publication environment
In terms of the publication environment, "Contemporary Navy" is inherently deficient: the magazine has no establishment, and the publication staff are drawn from various offices of the Navy Newspaper. There are only 3 people in total, which is a serious shortage of manpower.
Faced with this inherent disadvantage, the magazine did not shrink back. With the support of the leaders of the Navy Newspaper, it overcame various difficulties, fully mobilized everyone's enthusiasm, and tried every means to create a good environment for running the magazine.
First, choose people in an eclectic way.
The magazine took full advantage of the newspaper's advantages in publishing and, with the consent of the leadership of the Navy newspaper, hired two comrades from the newspaper as part-time editors; a representative of a military general assembly stationed in Nanjing was familiar with weapons and equipment and had extensive research on naval issues, so he crossed the military service He was transferred in; when a non-commissioned officer showed his talent in publishing magazines while studying in the company, the company did everything possible to keep him; the company also rehired the retired old president to make use of the rich experience of the old comrades in running magazines. . In this way, the problem of shortage of manpower in the magazine will be easily solved.
Second, timely praise can stabilize people’s hearts. In the past, some comrades in the Navy Newspaper Office had a prejudice that "Contemporary Navy" was just a sideline of the newspaper company and had no future. When summarizing the work every year, there was no mention of meritorious service, and there were very few awards. In the past few years, "Contemporary Navy" has made certain achievements in establishing a first-class journal, and has been generally recognized by the navy newspaper office. Now, not only do people in the editorial department receive awards every year, but some comrades also receive third-class merit. At the end of 1999, with the approval of the Navy Party Committee, the editor-in-chief of the magazine had settled the salary of deputy division teacher. This also greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of young editors.
Third, provide work convenience. Some comrades in the editorial department live in the city and it takes 2 hours to commute every day. Taking into account the special nature of the editorial work, the magazine made an exception and allowed him to stay away from work, edit articles at home, and come to the office two or three times a week to handle matters or attend meetings. This not only reduced unnecessary busyness, but also improved work efficiency. For young editors' family members who are looking for jobs with the army, they provide financial conditions so that they can resettle their families as soon as possible and get back to work with peace of mind. The editor in charge of publishing had many external contacts, so we installed a telephone and a BP machine for him.
Since the magazine attaches great importance to mobilizing the professionalism and responsibility of the publishers and creates a harmonious and progressive publishing environment, although the Navy Newspaper has not many staff assigned to the magazine, Everyone can work proactively, diligently and creatively.
Strictly abide by the country’s publishing policies
Faced with the fierce competition in my country’s periodical market, some publications place too much emphasis on “market” and neglect “management”, resulting in problem of one kind or another. In this regard, "Contemporary Navy" magazine has a clear understanding. It does not blindly cater to the low-level or novel reading psychology and taste of some readers, nor does it one-sidedly pursue market sales and single economic interests. Instead, it strictly abides by the country's publishing policies and regulations. , strictly implement the news and publicity disciplines of the central government and the military, and run publications from the perspective of "stressing politics" and "holding the position".
Currently, the agency has 3 full-time editors, 2 part-time staff, and 3 employees. Each manuscript not only undergoes preliminary review by the editor, second review by the editor-in-chief, and final review by the president, but also requires re-review by the re-employed old president, thus adding an additional review step to ensure that the manuscript is effectively prepared in strict accordance with the propaganda caliber of the central government and the propaganda discipline of the military. Preliminary review, review and final review. In addition, the magazine insists on standardizing all technical aspects of manuscript layout. After the editor in charge completes the final proofreading, the editor-in-chief has to read it carefully again before printing.
Since "Contemporary Navy" cannot attract high-quality manuscripts by offering high manuscript fees like local publications with large circulation, good manuscripts and excellent manuscripts are very difficult to find. Under such circumstances, when occasionally encountering good manuscripts that come unsolicited, the magazine naturally knows its importance in increasing the circulation of the journal, but it does not publish them without principle. Any articles involving major themes, All pictures must be submitted for approval. Articles and pictures that cannot be submitted for approval due to time constraints will never be published without authorization. For example, the magazine once received a memoir written by a veteran comrade who retired from the Navy, reflecting the incident in which our People's Navy secretly sent troops to mine Wonsan Port in North Korea during the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. The event has never been made public, and there will definitely be a market for readers. However, it was not published until it was too late to report to the Navy Secrecy Committee for approval. There was also an article about witnessing Lin Biao's escape from the Navy's Shanhaiguan Airport. The writing was vivid and fresh. It had been serialized in a local newspaper. After the editor compiled the manuscript, The editor thought twice and removed it.
The editorial staff of "Contemporary Navy" are all drawn from various departments and offices of the Navy newspaper, and there are no full-time proofreaders. Under this circumstance, the magazine specially hired two professional proofreaders who were familiar with naval knowledge to be responsible for proofreading the manuscripts of each issue, and the proofreading of each issue of the manuscripts was no less than 3 times. For articles involving major themes, the number of pages should be increased accordingly. After the printing factory produces the film for each issue of the magazine, specialized personnel must be designated to read through the blueprint. If quality problems are found, the printing factory will be immediately reworked.
In recent years, the magazine has achieved no major problems or obvious technical errors in the implementation of publishing policies and regulations, and has truly achieved "responsibility for keeping the soil" in the process of running the magazine.
Never stop the pace of innovation
"It is easy to conquer the world, but difficult to defend it." This is especially true in the journal industry. In the 15 years of publication practice, "Contemporary Navy" magazine has always maintained a deep sense of urgency: sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat. In order to keep the magazine abreast of the times, they never stop innovating and are always striving for self-transcendence and self-breakthrough.
First, do not eat "imperial food" to enter the market. After the publication of "Contemporary Navy" was first published, like many journals in the military, it relied on certain funds allocated by superiors to support the publication and regularly distributed it to the grassroots officers and soldiers of the navy.
At that time, magazine prices were low and printing costs were high. Each printed copy of the magazine required a subsidy of 0.70 yuan, and a maritime administration subsidy of nearly 60,000 yuan was needed throughout the year.
"Imperial Grain" is delicious, but tasteless when chewed. At the end of 1994, after analyzing the situation of running the magazine, the leaders of the Navy Newspaper clearly stated that the magazine should find a way out of the market, seek benefits from the market, and find a path for self-survival. In early 1995, after "Contemporary Navy" asked for instructions to "take the road of self-survival" and received the approval and support of the maritime affairs chief, the magazine boldly learned from the practices of some local and military journals and took a multi-pronged approach to broaden distribution channels. That year It started to show results, with more than 30,000 copies printed per issue, truly entering a virtuous cycle of "self-financing and self-survival".
Second, change the title of the journal to meet the needs of readers. "Contemporary Navy" has always regarded readers as God and regarded readers' needs as the first signal to improve its publication work. At the beginning, the original name of "Contemporary Navy" was "Sailor". Although this title also had its own characteristics, it was still difficult to cover and convey the publication's positioning and content required by the market. At that time, many "Navy fans" who loved military affairs wrote in letters stating that they mistakenly thought it was a literary magazine without reading the text carefully (literary journals had entered a trough at that time). For this reason, the editorial department decided to abandon the title "Navy", which had a good impression in the minds of some readers. After many discussions, the head of the Navy finally determined that the name of the military publication has both distinctive naval characteristics and a sense of the times. That is "Contemporary Navy". Once the new title was used, it was quickly recognized by readers, and the circulation volume increased three or four times.
Third, make the publication more "weighty". The fierce competition in the military periodical market has not stopped for a moment. In this regard, "Contemporary Navy" strives to develop in the competition and rely on high-quality products to gain a foothold in the market, and timely decided to take another step forward. At the beginning of 1996, in order to make up for the shortcomings of the bimonthly magazine's poor news and readers' thirst for reading, the magazine promptly revised and added pages, that is, it expanded from 48 pages and 4 color covers to 64 pages and 8 color pages. At the same time, the magazine also proposed the goal of "fresher seafood, stronger military flavor, newer style, and higher taste", that is, each issue will have a set of focused articles to express the justice and masculinity of our naval officers and soldiers. , to promote our country’s unremitting efforts to safeguard maritime rights and interests, thereby demonstrating the taste and authority of naval publications among similar journals. Later, the magazine contacted several photo agencies (websites) to make the color page illustrations of the publication have the news and timeliness of the world's naval content.
Fourth, let readers see the publication as soon as possible. In the past two years, many readers have written to the magazine and reported that they are glad that "Contemporary Navy" has opened a window for them to understand China and the world's navies, but their biggest regret is that they cannot meet with her every month. Taking into account readers' desire for magazines, after analyzing the periodical market at that time, many quarterly and monthly magazines had changed their publications to semi-monthly or weekly magazines in order to win more readers. However, there were not many bimonthly publications left. The magazine publisher He decisively requested instructions from the relevant higher-level departments to change the publication from bimonthly to monthly. After approval by the General Administration, it was finally changed to monthly in the second half of 2000. This has shortened the publication cycle of the publication, accelerated the dissemination of information, and further expanded its influence inside and outside the military.
Fifth, make the binding of the publication more exquisite. As readers' aesthetic tastes continue to improve, they are becoming more and more picky about the binding design of publications. Whether a publication is good or not, whether readers can recognize it among many publications and achieve the "five threes", that is, staying 5 steps away for 3 seconds, has become an important aspect to measure the quality of a publication. To this end, "Contemporary Navy" has worked hard on the binding design of the publication, and gradually formed its own binding style, which is dynamic, aesthetic, maritime and military, giving the magazine cover a strong visual impact.
Innovation has brought new vitality and new atmosphere to the publication. In recent years, the magazine has won many awards across the country and the army.
Achieve good social benefits
Over the years, "Contemporary Navy" has insisted on putting social benefits first, sometimes sacrificing economic benefits to ensure social benefits. Therefore, in terms of social benefits Great results were achieved.
First of all, put the blue land into the hearts of the Chinese people. "Contemporary Navy" published "Why the Three Character Classic Forgot the Ocean" and "Chinese People, Do You Remember the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War?" "" and "Looking for Answers on Liugong Island" and other articles discuss maritime rights and interests, focusing on the close relationship between the development of the Chinese nation and the ocean. From the disputes and development of the Tumen River estuary to the placement of the sovereignty monument at the Zengmu Shoal in the South China Sea; from the flames of the Gulf War to the ownership of the Diaoyu Islands; from Zheng He's heroic voyages to the Qing Dynasty's lament about the "forbidden sea", everything is closely connected. It attracts the attention of Chinese people to the blue land.
Secondly, the tall image of the officers and soldiers of the People's Navy will be imprinted in the minds of the Chinese people. People from all walks of life expressed their admiration after seeing the People's Navy's arduous training and achievements in maritime affairs, which was vigorously promoted by "Contemporary Navy". Fu Yu, a classmate from the No. 1 Middle School in Taihe County, Anhui Province, read the touching stories of officers and soldiers of Nansha in the magazine "Contemporary Navy" and made a resolution: He does not seek fame or fortune in this life, but hopes to die fighting in Nansha and save an entire country with his blood and life. Shen Minjun, an employee of Dingzhai Credit Cooperative in Shangyu City, Zhejiang Province, fell in love with me as a Marine after reading the magazine's article describing the training life of a Marine. As soon as the deeds of flight captain Bai Yaoping were revealed by the magazine, countless middle school students who were interested in coastal defense wrote to the editorial office, hoping to be admitted to the naval academy so that they could patrol the coastal defense lines of the motherland in the future.
Third, inspire aspiring young people to devote themselves to coastal defense. Many college and middle school students learned about the People's Navy through "Contemporary Navy" and determined to become a naval warrior to defend the motherland's thousands of miles of maritime territory. A 16-year-old boy named Hu Dongfeng in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, dreamed of becoming a navy after reading "Contemporary Navy". He couldn't wait until he reached the age of 18, so he secretly ran away from home, ran to Beijing, and joined the army thousands of miles away. After Wang Jun and other classmates from the No. 1 Middle School in Xiantao City, Hubei Province got acquainted with "Contemporary Navy", they and their classmates jointly wrote a thousands-word initiative letter to former Navy Commander Zhang Lianzhong, and collected hundreds of signatures. And he signed it in blood to express his strong belief in building a powerful navy and his strong pursuit of becoming a navy.