Inside the newspaper printing house

Printing paper is scarce.

It wasn't easy for many newspapers to have their own printing presses. Many newspapers had to rent printing houses, so when they lacked money, the newspapers were held until payment was made. The newspaper "Đời mới" (New Life) survived for 7 issues in 1935, at one point it was "stuck" at the Long Quang printing house, waiting for several days before the money could be redeemed. Trần Huy Liệu recalled that in 1936, the second issue of "Tiếng vang làng báo" (The Echo of the Newspaper Village) was printed but there wasn't enough money to retrieve it, so it had to remain at the printing house and was suspended. Printing houses also varied greatly. Some had their own premises, while others had to rent space to operate. The printing house of Mrs. Thạnh Thị Mậu, bearing her name, rented the space at 186 d'Espagne Street, Saigon (now Lê Thánh Tôn Street), from an Indian owner, but it was later reclaimed. The Saigon Daily newspaper, issue 61, published on February 3, 1931, reported that when this printing house moved, L'Écho Annamite had to temporarily suspend publication because there was no place to print.

The newspaper *Con ong* (The Bee) reported on the Rang Dong printing house.

With their own printing presses, newspapers had control over their printing, setting publication dates and adjusting print runs as needed. Huynh Thuc Khang's "Tieng Dan" (Voice of the People) had its own printing press, while Nghiem Xuan Huyen's "Con Ong" (The Bee) had its own printing press, Rang Dong… Looking at issue 34 of "Con Ong," published on January 24, 1940, the left-hand masthead reads: "Rang Dong Printing House, CON ONG's private printing press, has opened. No. 194, Hang Bong Lo Street - Hanoi."

Journalist Huynh Thuc Khang has fond memories of the Thuc Nghiep Dan Bao (Practical People's Newspaper). According to his autobiography, in 1927, while preparing for the launch of Tieng Dan (Voice of the People), Mr. Huynh, along with Dao Duy Anh and Nguyen Xuong Thai, went to Hanoi to buy a printing press. "Fortunately, we encountered the Nghiem Ham printing house in Hanoi that was selling off its stock, but only had one small printing press. Thanks to Mr. Mai Du Lan, the owner of Thuc Nghiep, who had just bought a printing press that he hadn't used yet, he kindly offered to give it to us."

Newspaper printing was heavily dependent on paper, which had to be imported from the West as we didn't have it readily available. This dependence led to difficulties regarding newspaper prices. The Saigon Daily, issue 36, published on January 3, 1931, explained the delay in publishing the supplement: "We promised that from December 23 onwards, we would print an additional supplement each day like our colleagues, but we haven't been able to print it yet because the paper purchased from the West has arrived late. Therefore, once we have enough paper again, we will publish 6 pages to fulfill our promise to our esteemed readers and will increase the price by 7 cents per issue."

Printing paper has always been a problem for printers, and a headache for newspapers, because the price of paper kept rising due to war-induced transportation disruptions. Issue 59 of the newspaper Truyen Ba, published on November 26, 1942, had to announce on page 30: "Paper is expensive and difficult to buy; distributors should only take enough to sell, unsold newspapers cannot be returned."

Advertisement in issue 59

DOCUMENTS OF DINH BA

The News section prints tens of thousands of copies every two hours.

Handwritten newspapers existed in the history of Vietnamese journalism, but their reach was limited to schools and prisons. Many handwritten newspapers left their mark, such as "Suối reo" (The Stream) in Son La prison, edited by veteran journalist Xuan Thuy; and "Ý luận chung" (General Opinion) in Banh 2 of Con Dao, which brought together many writers such as Nguyen Van Cu, Le Duan, and Bui Cong Truong, according to Hoang Quoc Viet in his memoir "Chưởng đường nóng đốt" (The Burning Journey). Lithographic printing was common in secret newspapers that opposed the policies of the French colonialists and Japanese fascists. The newspaper "Đuổi giặc nước" (Chasing the Water Invaders), as To Huu recounts in his memoir "Nhớ lại một thời" (Remembering a Time), described lithographic printing as very difficult and in limited quantities.

Newspapers first emerged in Southern Vietnam with Chinese and French-language newspapers, serving the purposes of the French colonialists. Vietnamese-language newspapers appeared later, as Phan Tran Chuc explained in his article "History of Journalism in Northern Vietnam: Dang Co Tung Bao" in Ngo Bao No. 2584, published on April 23, 1936, that the Vietnamese script had many accented characters while French did not. To print a Vietnamese-language newspaper, they had to hire the French to cast the appropriate typefaces, leading to inconvenience as "the casting process took a long time, and the transportation was long and inconvenient, unlike today. Therefore, printing houses wanting to publish Vietnamese-language newspapers or books had to prepare annually." Regarding newspaper printing productivity, Dr. Nguyen Van Luyen, associated with many newspapers such as Ve Sinh Bao, Bao An Y Bao, and Tin Moi, should be mentioned. Pham Cao Cung, who worked on Tin Moi, stated that the newspapers were printed using roll paper rather than individual sheets like many other printing houses. Because it was a roll-fed printing press, productivity reached 10,000 sheets in two hours.

News Report No. 52, published on April 1, 1940

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF VIETNAM

For revolutionaries working in journalism, renting a printing house was necessary due to limited funds. The best way to minimize costs was to find a printing house where people sympathized with their activities. In his memoir, "The Burning Journey," Hoang Quoc Viet recounts his time working in journalism: "In the printing houses we rented to print newspapers, many of the typesetters and machine operators took great care to ensure our movement's newspaper was printed cheaply and beautifully, preventing sabotage by the French or the owners."

In terms of form, the journalistic innovation is credited to Do Van, who was instrumental in reforming the printing industry, transforming the Ha Thanh Ngo Bao newspaper into "a beautiful, brightly presented newspaper like a French newspaper," according to the "Evolutionary History of Vietnamese-language Newspapers." With this newspaper, Hoang Tich Chu changed its appearance, making it entirely an informational publication. Do Van oversaw printing, typesetting, and layout design to ensure the newspaper looked aesthetically pleasing. This is considered a journalistic revolution, marked by Hoang Tich Chu's influence on content and Do Van's on technique and aesthetics.

(to be continued)

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