The overnight journey of printed newspapers from factory to reader

To get printed newspapers to readers every morning, the factory and its team of workers and distributors have had to work through the night for many years.

One morning at the office of Lao Dong Newspaper ( Hanoi ), the editorial board and the editorial secretary performed a final check on the printed newspaper product to be published the next day.

The detailed planning for each issue, including content, format, number of pages, number of colors... has been planned regularly every week for many years.

Before 8pm, the design is sent to the printing workshop of Vietnam Trade Union Printing Joint Stock Company (Nam Thang Long Industrial Park, Bac Tu Liem District). The prepress department is the first department to receive printing files from newspapers.

The completed newspaper pages are converted to film using a CTP (Computer to Plate) system, then printed onto photosensitive aluminum plates.

The picture shows the zinc print (newspaper blank) after it has been passed through the recorder and developer. After this process, the unnecessary elements on the newspaper have been destroyed, leaving only the image and text.

At 9pm, the printing machine started running after the newspaper blanks were installed. The roll printing machine has a total of 8 people, including a 3-person daytime team that specializes in cleaning and maintaining the machine.

The night shift has 5 people, working together until all issues are printed. This printing factory is where printed newspaper products from many editorial offices are produced: Health and Life, Labor...

The first printed products are directly checked by workers in the roll printing department to ensure the quality of the newspaper.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Toan (an employee of the roll printing machine department) said that the printing speed of the machine is very fast. The prints run on a conveyor belt, at that time each person in the workshop takes on a task: checking the color, checking the layout, the person who arranges the newspaper, ties the newspaper...

"For each editorial office, it usually only takes us 30 minutes - 1 hour to complete the printing process on the roll machine. Therefore, the checking must be done in parallel to avoid errors," said Mr. Toan.

After the printing process is completed, the printed newspaper products are loaded onto trucks and transported from the factory to the post office.

At midnight at the post office (Tran Quang Khai Street, Long Bien District), more than a dozen night shift employees are busy sorting newspapers to prepare to send to distant provinces or printing points.

At 4am at the Central Newspaper Distribution Company (Dinh Le, Hoan Kiem), the truck carrying newspapers from the post office arrived. The shift staff immediately unloaded the goods and counted the quantity.

Mr. Pham Ngoc Hoi (employee) said that today the distribution point received a total of 91 packages, equivalent to about 1,366 kg, including many different newspapers: Law, People, Labor...

Employees begin sorting newspapers and packaging them into orders to be delivered to retail outlets, offices, etc. early in the morning. The sight of hot printed newspaper products displayed on the sidewalk of Dinh Le Street has been a familiar sight for the past few decades.

The number of newspapers is divided scientifically according to orders. The "packing" steps are done manually but with amazing precision.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ly has been working at the newspaper distribution point for 13 years, recalling the period when printed newspapers flourished. There was a day when she alone packaged 3,000 copies and personally delivered them to retail points.

"Having been attached to this job for so long, I have a lot of affection for it. Even though I'm old, I still like to wake up early to deliver newspapers. It will probably take a long time before I can quit this job," she said with a smile.

At 7am, regular customers come and go at Mrs. Ha Oanh’s newspaper stand on Phan Huy Chu Street. Because she has been selling for a long time, she knows each customer’s face and knows which newspaper they read.

Whenever she saw a customer coming to her stall, she would quickly take out a newspaper and give it to them. "During the peak of printing products, I worked nonstop all day long.

Up to now, although the number of people reading printed newspapers has decreased a lot, there are still customers who maintain the habit of reading newspapers every day, which has been the case for decades. So I keep my stall and do business because I love the job," she shared.

Waking up early to go to Hoan Kiem Lake to exercise and enjoy the breeze, Mr. Hoang Trong Thu updates the news by reading a newspaper. "I maintain parallel reading of print and online newspapers. Regarding speed, new news, hot news, I go through online newspapers, and in print newspapers, I look for works with in-depth analysis content," the reader shared.

Thach Thao - Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/hanh-trinh-xuyen-dem-cua-bao-in-tu-nha-xuong-toi-tay-ban-doc-2413157.html