Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 396 is to build a monument for Lin Chaoyang

Half of August has passed, and the outside debate about the royalty payment system and the criticism of Lin Chaoyang are still continuing.

In the past month, there have been many articles of this kind in newspapers and magazines across the country. Except for some articles that explain what the "royalty payment system" is, the vast majority of other articles are mainly critical.

A big reason for this phenomenon is that those groups who support the royalty payment system dare not speak out.

Why don’t you speak out?
Because as long as you express your agreement with Lin Chaoyang's approach and the royalty payment system, you will immediately be labeled as a materialist and a money-worshiper.

Nowadays, people still value their reputation. Who would be willing to bear such a stigma for nothing?

Once this chilling effect ferments to a certain extent, it is likely to completely reverse right and wrong and truly nail Lin Chaoyang to the pillar of shame.

Lin Chaoyang naturally couldn't just sit there and wait for death. Not only him, but his colleagues in the literary world couldn't just sit there and watch.

We writers have fought hard to gain some rights for ourselves, but you journalists, just open your mouth and shut your mouth, so we are not worthy of earning royalties? If we take royalties, we are materialistic?
Why do you ask for money for writing reports? Why do you get paid for your work?
Led by Li Tuo, after more than ten days of planning, the Yenching writers' circle finally began to fight back against this news report.

On August 1984, 8, the Yanjing Daily published an article titled "Three Questions to Yangcheng Evening News: What's Wrong with Paying Royalties?", signed by Li Tuo;

On August 8, Liu Xinwu published an article titled "The royalties payment system is a win-win cooperation between writers and publishers" in China Youth Daily.

On August 8, an article titled "Also on the Pros and Cons of the Royalty Payment System" appeared in the new issue of "People's Literature" and was signed by Wang Meng, the current editor-in-chief of "People's Literature".

In less than a week, three major media outlets published articles on the royalty payment system. The authors of these articles were not the same person, but their views were surprisingly consistent:
The royalty payment system has more advantages than disadvantages. It can encourage the creative enthusiasm of writers and is a good system worthy of promotion.

In addition, these articles all mentioned that in the past month many media have criticized and attacked Lin Chaoyang because of the royalty payment system, expressing their indignation at such behavior.

“It is a system that benefits writers across the country and shares risks with publishers, but how come some media outlets interpret it as money worship?

Can those media outlets that constantly accuse others of "worshiping money" reflect on themselves? They have said too many empty and false lies and really think of themselves as moral saints? "

Among the three articles, Li Tuo's "Three Questions to Yangcheng Evening News: What's Wrong with Royalties?" is the most radical, almost pointing fingers at those media outlets that have criticized the royalty payment system and Lin Chaoyang in recent times.

Although the Yenching Daily is a local newspaper, it is considered a semi-central-level media because it has the word "Yenjing" in its name, not to mention the China Youth Daily and People's Literature.

The three authoritative media outlets published articles so intensively to express their support for the royalty payment system and Lin Chaoyang, which immediately suppressed the voices of abuse and criticism in the media over the previous month.

If it doesn't make a sound, it's a blockbuster.

Li Tuo and Lin Chaoyang are well aware that in the face of long-term attacks and smears from the media, they can either take no action or resort to drastic measures.

The articles in "Yenching Daily", "China Youth Daily" and "People's Literature" are just appetizers. If we talk about the media discourse power held by the national writers' circle, Yenching writers are second and no one dares to claim to be first.

Lin Chaoyang was attacked by dozens of domestic media outlets over the issue of royalties, which has triggered collective resistance among the Yenching writers' circle.

At the same time, Lin Chaoyang not only has connections with Yenching writers, but also has made many friends over the years. His network in the domestic literary world can be said to be extensive. In a cultural salon held in March every year, he makes friends with 20 to 30 writers.

Moreover, these writers are not unknown persons. Any one of them may be a leading figure in the literary world of a certain province.

These people might have some reservations and dare not speak out easily when the outside world is madly attacking Lin Chaoyang.

But when Li Tuo dared to be the vanguard of Lin Chaoyang and blew the horn of charge, these people were definitely the best candidates to help.

"The road to royalty payment is long and difficult", author: Lu Wenfu, Wenhui Daily, No. 84, 238.

"Some Thoughts on the Royalty Payment System", author: Lu Yao, "Shaanxi Daily" No. 84, 240.

"Starting from Life - Also Talking about the Royalty Payment System", author: Jiang Zilon, "Tianjin Literature" Issue 84, 8.

……

Under the call of articles by Li Tuo, Wang Meng and others, in less than half a month, more than 20 writers from all over the country expressed their support for the royalty system and Lin Chaoyang in newspapers, literary magazines and other media.

These 20 writers are all the best in the literary world of their respective provinces and are expected to be the future leaders of the literary world. When everyone speaks out for one thing or one person in such a unanimous manner, the topicality and influence generated cannot be underestimated.

The high-frequency voices for more than 20 consecutive days have caused a 180-degree change in the outside world's one-sided criticism of the royalty system and Lin Chaoyang, and the response it has caused among the general public has been even greater than before.

After all, before, the criticisms from the media and journalists were all focused on professional fields, and ordinary people mostly just watched the fun and found it difficult to pay in-depth attention.

But the situation is different now. The joint voice of dozens of well-known writers has completely attracted and captured the attention of the people.

The influence and appeal of writers in the 1980s are no less than that of later entertainment stars. With so many famous writers speaking in unison, it is hard for ordinary people not to care.

As time went by, more and more writers and media began to join the discussion. Unlike the early days when people called for their participation, the writers and media who spoke out later did so entirely out of their own ideas, without being coerced by anyone.

It was not until this time that the true public opinion was reflected.

Throughout September, more than a hundred articles about the royalty system appeared in large and small media outlets across the country, the vast majority of which supported the implementation of the royalty system.

As for the label of "materialism" that some media first put on Lin Chaoyang, no one cares about it anymore. No one believes in this argument and it has no market at all.

The public opinion war lasted for more than two months, and the dirty water thrown on Lin Chaoyang by the media was finally washed away. This was of course inseparable from the vocal support of many writers.

Some media outlets that wanted to put Lin Chaoyang to death angrily called these people "pro-Lin faction". Correspondingly, they naturally became "anti-Lin faction".

At the beginning of the public opinion war, Lin Chaoyang was hated by everyone in news media everywhere. The anti-Lin faction had the upper hand and thought they could sit back and relax.

They never expected that the firepower of the pro-Lin faction came so suddenly and so swiftly, and that they, the anti-Lin faction, were defeated in one fell swoop.

In the more than one month that followed, it was almost impossible to organize any decent counterattack. Even if there was a counterattack, it would be quickly suppressed by the pro-Lin public opinion and could not be carried out at all.

As more and more writers have expressed their approval of the royalty payment system, and more and more readers have learned about it, those media outlets that originally criticized Lin Chaoyang have realized that the game is over and have fallen silent.

But the matter did not end on September 9th, the last day before National Day.

An editorial titled "The publishing industry adapts to the market and proposes new reform and opening-up measures" was suddenly published in the Economic Daily.

The article wrote:
"With the deepening of reform and opening up, the era of knowledge economy is coming, and copyright protection and protection of creators' rights will become an important cornerstone for the development of the cultural industry.

As an important part of copyright protection, the royalty payment system is of great significance in stimulating creative vitality, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of authors, and promoting the healthy and orderly development of the cultural industry.

This system ensures that creators can obtain reasonable economic returns from their works, thereby inspiring the creation of more excellent works.

It is not only a recognition of the labor value of creators, but also an important mechanism to maintain fair competition in the market.

……

The first royalty payment contract in the publishing industry initiated by Guangdong Huacheng Publishing House will surely further promote the development of my country's publishing industry, stimulate more innovative vitality, contribute more to the prosperity of the cultural industry, and push the cultural industry to a higher level."

The article "The publishing industry adapts to the market and proposes new measures for reform and opening up" is undoubtedly an official article, and there is nothing amazing about the wording and sentence structure between the lines.

But everyone who reads the article understands that the key to such an article is not the writing style or style, but the attitude expressed in the article.

Speaking of the Economic Daily, it is not a media with a long history. It has only been established for a year and a half.

But it has a great background. It is a vice-ministerial-level institution directly under the Central Government, and is also a news agency and central newspaper managed by the Central Propaganda Department.

As the name suggests, Economic Daily has always been a media focusing on economic reporting.

At the same time, it is also an important public opinion platform for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council to guide the national economic work, and an important window for the international community to observe China's economic situation.

Although it has only been established for a year and a half, it has already become a mainstream media in the domestic economic field with a large circulation, strong authority and credibility.

In terms of national fame and influence, it is certainly not as good as central-level media such as People's Daily and Guangming Daily, but in the economic field, the Economic Daily's voice is more authoritative than the former two.

"The publishing industry adapts to the market and proposes new measures for reform and opening up" expounds on the viewpoint from the perspective of the development of the cultural industry. It can be said to be a high-level view and is more than one level higher than those media that only stand on the moral high ground and hypocritically criticize others.

The unreserved support for the royalty payment system expressed in this article can almost be regarded as recognition of the royalty payment system at the national level.

This situation is just like two elementary school students quarreling and the teacher comes out to mediate. Do you dare not listen?
In this way, this article in the Economic Daily has put an end to the topic that has been debated in the domestic media for the past two months.

At this point, the matter was resolved perfectly for Lin Chaoyang.

The original attacks against him by the media had been completely washed away in the last month or so. Not only that, he also gained a lot of popularity in the domestic writers' circle.

The benefits of the royalty payment system for writers are obvious. If Lin Chaoyang had not argued with the publishing house, China's publishing industry might not have adopted a royalty payment method that could significantly increase writers' income even in another ten years.

Therefore, no matter what, domestic writers must express their gratitude to Lin Chaoyang.

In Li Tuo's words, "Chinese writers need to write a biography and monument to Lin Chaoyang!"

(End of this chapter)