# Chapter 5: Newspaper Office Crisis
May 2, 2023 Author: Yue Shang Xintou
"...No, the angle of this photo is too blurry, I can't see Cherrell's face at all... there's no way to use it for typesetting..."
"But this is already the closest I've gotten to Cherrell out of all the photos I've taken. They chased me out afterwards."
"If it really doesn't work, we'll just have to give up on this report."
"But if that's the case, we won't have enough material for this week. We've had not enough content for the layout for several consecutive weeks now. If this keeps up..."
*Thud—*
The sound of a door being pushed open from outside interrupted the discussion inside the Newspaper Agency.
"Good morning, Colin."
Looking at Colin as he arrived at the Newspaper Agency, Old John adjusted the brass reading glasses perched on his nose, a wrinkled smile forming on his withered face as he said,
"Good morning, John."
Taking off his coat and hat and hanging them on a nearby coat stand, Colin nodded at Old John, who was sitting in front of the heavy Typesetting Machine. He then naturally shifted his gaze to the dull-faced man next to Old John, smiling as he said, "...And Little John, good morning."
"Good... good morning, Colin."
Hearing Colin's greeting, a stiff smile appeared on Little John's dull face as he responded, clutching the camera around his neck.
In front of the Typesetting Machine, seeing Little John's dull reaction, Old John shook his head helplessly, then spoke to Colin. "Boss, the sales of The Messenger have dropped again this week. The newsboys told me that more than half of the newspapers we published this time didn't sell, and in the end, they barely managed to offload the remaining newspapers by selling them at a discount. If this situation happens again, they won't deliver The Messenger anymore..."
It was somewhat different from the Anti-World, though he still worked in the news media industry.
But Colin's identity had transformed from his original role as a Reporter into the boss of this "Messenger Newspaper".
However, it could be seen from Old John's words that the current situation of the Newspaper Agency was not optimistic.
The impact of The Great Depression swept across all industries in America.
The "Messenger Newspaper," a part of the newspaper industry, naturally couldn't escape its effects. Especially with the introduction of the "Child Labor Protection Act," Progressives advocated for restricting child labor and successfully raised the working age for newsboys during The Great Depression, which further reduced the survival space for local tabloids like The Messenger.
Having lost a large number of cheap newsboy laborers, the labor costs for printing and delivering newspapers further increased.
This made the already not-so-high sales of "Messenger Newspaper" even more sluggish.
"I understand."
Without saying much more, Colin nodded, indicating that he understood the situation.
In fact, Colin was also at a loss regarding the current predicament faced by "Messenger Newspaper".
From the clues he had found since his transmigration a week ago, the Newspaper Agency's operations had actually fallen into crisis long ago.
Moreover, a bank mortgage certificate lay quietly in the drawer of Colin's desk at the Newspaper Agency.
However, under the impact of The Great Depression, a large number of banks were forced into bankruptcy.
Among them was the one Colin had originally intended to mortgage the "Messenger Newspaper" with.
Colin frowned, walked to his desk, and sat down.
Along with the boss's silence, the atmosphere of the entire Newspaper Agency became a bit uneasy.
Sitting in front of the Typesetting Machine, Old John anxiously pressed the typesetting keys. At his current age, once he lost his job at the Newspaper Agency, there was simply no possibility of re-employment.
What's more, the people affected by this unemployment didn't solely affect Old John alone, but also his son, Little John.
That's right, Old John and Little John, who worked at this "Messenger Newspaper," were in fact father and son.
So once the Newspaper Agency closed down, it would affect the livelihood of their entire family.
Nearby, feeling Old John's uneasy emotions, Little John opened his mouth towards Colin, but ultimately lowered his head in silence, a look of dejection on his face.
"Is there really no way?"
Sitting at his desk, Colin muttered to himself.
If possible, he naturally didn't want the "Messenger Newspaper" to close down.
Especially in the current environment of The Great Depression, if the Newspaper Agency went under, it wouldn't just be Old John and his son who faced unemployment as employees, but also Colin himself as the boss.
Thinking of this, Colin, sitting at his desk, unconsciously shifted his body a little.
He definitely didn't want to become one of the homeless people wandering the streets of New York.
However, subjective thoughts were one thing, but reality seemed to be another.
At the moment, looking at the increasingly sluggish newspaper sales of "Messenger Newspaper," his future as a street homeless person seemed to be drawing nearer.
"No."
Shaking his head and suppressing the uneasy thoughts in his mind, Colin began to seriously consider solutions.
As a Newspaper Agency, the methods available to overcome this current bankruptcy crisis were quite limited.
Among them, the most reliable method was to increase newspaper sales.
For example, major newspapers like "Fortune" and "The Wall Street Journal," although they were also affected by the economic impact of The Great Depression in the early stages, leading to a sharp drop in sales, they quickly found a solution by publishing employment classifieds, attracting the attention of people desperate for work to sustain their livelihoods, and thus stabilizing sales.
However, such methods were only useful for major newspapers because they had a large network of contacts and channels in their hands, which could be turned into resources.
For a local tabloid like The Messenger, which originally focused on daily life news for New York City residents, there were simply no such channels.
Of course, no businesses would be willing to publish recruitment information in their weekly newspaper.
In fact, the original The Messenger was also a daily newspaper, but with the impact of The Great Depression, in order to survive, it began making various attempts, including cutting costs and changing to a weekly newspaper. However, the results were minimal.
"...Increase newspaper sales."
Silently sighing, Colin murmured, turning his gaze to the old newspapers piled on his desk.
As The Messenger became unsellable, the old newspapers piled on his desk grew more and more.
He casually pulled out a newspaper and opened it. A report about the premiere of the silent film "City Lights" immediately appeared before Colin.
As a silent film directed and starred in by comedy master Charlie Chaplin. The filming process of "City Lights" was not smooth, especially with the advent of sound film, which had a huge impact on Charlie Chaplin's film career. In order to complete this film, Charlie Chaplin spent a total of three years on it.
Reportedly, Charlie Chaplin was not very confident about the box office of "City Lights" at the time.
However, unexpectedly, the film was met with huge popularity as soon as it was released.
On the day of the premiere, the theater was surrounded by movie fans, and the surrounding shop windows were even broken by the surging crowd, to the point that local police were dispatched to maintain order. The film's release coincided with America's most severe period of economic crisis during The Great Depression. That "City Lights" could succeed in such an unfavorable environment was enough to prove the excellence of Charlie Chaplin and the film itself.
It is worth mentioning that on the day of the premiere, Einstein was also invited to attend the premiere of the film and was moved to tears at the end of the film.
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(end of chapter)