Colorful years

Shortly after Zhang Cong happily joined the Party organization, something unexpected happened.

The highly respected "top leader" of the county party committee, Secretary Liu, actually came to visit Zhang Cong in person. This stirred up a complex mix of emotions in Zhang Cong, who was new to the party organization. He was both nervous and excited, his palms sweating.

Since Teacher Man was transferred to work at Zhangguan Office, the county party committee's communications and reporting team, which was already short-staffed, has become even more deserted, with only Zhang Cong remaining there all alone.

In this situation, he naturally became the de facto leader of the group. However, the problems he faced were increasingly thorny.

The leadership of the county propaganda department changed so frequently it was like a revolving door, leaving the entire department in a constant state of instability. Worse still, they seemed to have no intention of bringing in fresh blood or strengthening the team, which left Zhang Cong feeling quite helpless.

Although the county party committee's communications group doesn't have a high administrative rank, the group leader's position is that of a high-ranking deputy section chief. Don't underestimate this seemingly insignificant department; it shoulders the heavy responsibility of shaping and promoting the county's image to higher authorities and the outside world. It's no exaggeration to say that it occupies a crucial position in the county party committee's heart, like a precious piece of its flesh!

Under normal circumstances, the county party committee attaches great importance to the communications team and its leader, and it is common for them to have one or two talks with the team each year.

If the Party Secretary takes the initiative to talk to the team leader, and it does not involve matters such as job changes, then generally only the following two situations will occur: The first situation is that he is extremely satisfied with the current news and publicity work, and will give sincere verbal praise in person, and on this basis, put forward new work requirements and earnest expectations.

The second scenario is quite the opposite. If the secretary is deeply dissatisfied with the work situation, then while giving a stern verbal criticism, he will also clearly point out the areas that need improvement and put forward corresponding work requirements.

However, Comrade Zhang Cong's abilities in his professional work are undeniable and outstanding, and there is absolutely no reason for him to be criticized. Therefore, Secretary Liu's talk to him this time must be for the first reason, or perhaps to impart some important information?

However, as the conversation progressed, the perceptive and meticulous Zhang Cong gradually realized that Secretary Liu's remarks seemed somewhat unusual.

On the surface, it seemed that Secretary Liu was just assigning him tasks and repeatedly emphasizing the importance of news and publicity work. But in reality, Zhang Cong vaguely sensed that Secretary Liu was using this as an excuse to make a point, and his words seemed to contain some kind of unspeakable hint or warning.

Secretary Liu spoke eloquently and fluently about many things, but the only truly crucial point was to significantly increase the rate of articles being published on the front page of the "Unity Daily" and the "Hunan Daily".

Moreover, Secretary Liu made specific demands without any ambiguity: "Xiao Zhang, you see, our current county committee is very united and hardworking. We have made achievements in reform and opening up, economic development, and improving people's livelihoods. News reports should promptly reflect our achievements to higher authorities."

Secretary Liu stared intently at Zhang Cong and continued his point of view, "Therefore, I require that every week, news from our county should appear on the front page of the Unity Daily, and every month, at least one news item should be featured on the front page of the Hunan Daily."

Faced with such a daunting and practically impossible task, Zhang Cong felt a strong sense of resistance, yet dared not speak out and could only grit his teeth and accept it.

It's important to understand that the Unity Daily only has six extremely valuable front-page headlines each week. Their assigned area covers ten counties, and also includes over 100 county-level and above administrative departments and related units.

Even if a county performs its work exceptionally well and achieves remarkable results, how could it possibly be given the opportunity to occupy a front-page headline every week? This is clearly an unrealistic expectation!

Looking at the Hunan Daily, it only has 28 to 31 front-page headlines each month. There are 102 counties in the province, as well as thousands of provincial-level departments and enterprises. How could it possibly allocate a front-page headline to each county every month? This is undoubtedly an almost impossible task.

Secretary Liu had worked in a communications team in the early 1970s. His experience on the front lines of journalism taught him just how difficult it was to get a front-page headline in a higher-level news organization!

For a news article to make it to the front page, it must first possess extremely significant news value. It's like a dazzling pearl; only when its light is bright enough can it attract everyone's attention.

Secondly, besides the quality of the news itself, timing is also a crucial factor. As the saying goes, it takes the right time, the right place, and the right people. Only when a piece of writing happens to coincide with a rare opportunity can it have the precious chance to make the front page.

Therefore, it's not something anyone can just get into if they want to.

At this moment, Zhang Cong couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Secretary Liu's demands on me are clearly setting me up with an almost unsolvable problem!"

Faced with this seemingly unattainable task, Zhang Cong felt the pressure was like a heavy mountain, making it hard for him to breathe.

But he also knew clearly that what Secretary Liu, who was well-versed in the laws of journalism, was concerned about might not be the publication rate itself, but something more profound. This required him to calm down, think carefully, and earnestly understand the mystery behind it.

What puzzled Zhang Cong was why Secretary Liu was making things so difficult for him.

This problem was like a thick fog, constantly lingering in his mind, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not dispel it...

Zhang Cong began to carefully review the recent events, and suddenly, as if enlightened, he realized that this was how it all happened!