On September 15, 2001, a peculiar news story aired on Hunan TV. It reported that a man, while making friends online, had coincidentally connected with his co-worker. The encounter escalated into a fight, and both ended up at the police station.
While such an incident might not be uncommon in later years, it was quite unusual in 2001. What made the news even more remarkable was that the two individuals involved were identified by reporters. One was a rather handsome young man, while the other, the co-worker who had deceived him, was an extremely obese man weighing over 200 jin.
Accompanying the news were their chat logs. The two men addressed each other as "husband" and "wife," with the terms appearing in almost every three sentences. The chat logs were filled with overly affectionate and saccharine exchanges that would still send shivers down one's spine even in 2021, ensuring the news went viral.
"Chairman, everything is arranged. Our news will be broadcast on Hunan TV tomorrow!" the person reporting to Huang He was Long Xue. She was a somewhat plump middle-aged woman, but her appearance belied her capabilities. She was formerly a TV station director but was ousted for undisclosed reasons. Huang He then hired her through a headhunter, and she became a consultant for Jiangnan Group's public relations department.
Although a consultant, she was effectively in charge of the entire PR department. Due to her past, she couldn't be publicly visible and held the consultant title. Her salary was exorbitant, a staggering 300,000 yuan annually, which was a significant sum in 2001.
Her greatest asset was her extensive network within the industry, which allowed her to accomplish many tasks for Chairman Huang, such as arranging for Hunan TV to produce and broadcast the news he desired.
"In addition to Hunan TV, I've also contacted six major domestic satellite TV stations and over thirty major print media outlets. I believe we can ignite a considerable public opinion campaign!" Long Xue declared with a hint of pride.
Having found a new employer, she was eager to prove her worth and worked exceptionally hard. For just over 600,000 yuan, she secured all the necessary arrangements.
"Thank you for your hard work, Sister Long!" Huang He said with a smile.
"It's nothing, Chairman. It wasn't difficult at all. This is genuinely news, not an advertisement. For television stations, advertisements are revenue generators, while news is something they might pay for. They were naturally happy to do me this favor!" Long Xue added smugly.
"However, Chairman, these few television stations might not be enough to achieve your goal of throwing Tengda into complete disarray!" Long Xue then commented with a touch of skepticism.
"It's fine. As long as it creates some buzz, it will suffice to complement our next strategic move!" Huang He replied. He swore that he truly didn't intend to create a major sensational event; he merely wanted to generate a little artificial momentum.
***
Zhang Fan was a program director at Beijing TV. However, when the news was being broadcast, he wasn't watching his own station's program. Instead, he was focused on Hunan TV's news.
This might seem embarrassing, but it was a common practice across the industry. Everyone's attention was fixed on Hunan TV. Before 1997, Hunan TV was a second or even third-tier television station. In a blink of an eye, it had transformed into a first-tier satellite TV brand. Especially with the success of shows like "Happy Camp," "Rose Appointment," and "My Fair Princess," Hunan TV had become the second-largest television broadcaster in China within just a year, second only to CCTV.
Hunan TV's advertising revenue in 2000 had reached a groundbreaking 500 million yuan, making most other satellite TV stations, which hadn't even reached 50 million yuan, incredibly envious. Beijing TV was no exception.
Therefore, studying Hunan TV had become a mandatory course for many program directors. After all, creating something original was difficult, but imitation was a universally acknowledged effective method.
Imitation wasn't just prevalent online; it was a well-regarded strategy across all industries.
"Oh, this news is quite interesting!" As Zhang Fan watched the footage of the thin and fat, handsome and ugly men fighting on Hunan TV, he immediately sensed that this was compelling news.
In the news industry, news was generally categorized as follows:
News assigned from above
Major news
Interesting news
Filler news
Paid news
For a program director, major news was extremely rare. Assigned news from above was unengaging, and filler and paid news were often unavoidable necessities. Interesting news was what directors favored the most because it attracted viewer attention, boosted ratings, and consequently increased their performance bonuses.
However, while there were many interesting events in the world, few reached the ears of reporters to become news. It wasn't surprising, therefore, for directors to scour rival television stations for stories to broadcast the next day.
It was very common for an interesting piece of news to be aired by various satellite TV stations across the country over the next few days.
Thus, Zhang Fan decided to broadcast this story on his station's news the following day. After all, it was legal for television stations to rebroadcast content from other stations, and they couldn't refuse. This was known as the "dissemination of news."
Zhang Fan's thought process was shared by many others. At least dozens of program directors across the country had seen this news.
The next day, something happened that left Huang He so astonished his jaw dropped. News programs on major satellite TV stations nationwide were consecutively broadcasting this story about online dating. Particularly, the footage of the thin and fat, handsome and ugly men fighting was replayed countless times by the television stations.
Even more surprising was that after the news aired, television stations suddenly received a flood of phone calls, mostly from women. They persistently requested the news be replayed, wanting to watch it multiple times. This left many television stations bewildered.
However, as it was the audience's request, it had to be fulfilled. Replaying news cost nothing and filled airtime. Consequently, the story was broadcast repeatedly across the country for the next few days.
Later, when media outlets were curious about why so many people were requesting replays of this news and conducted investigations, they discovered that these women had never witnessed the sight of a handsome man fighting an ugly man in their lives. This visual had struck a chord with them, prompting them to secretly call the television stations and ask for replays.
"Sister Long, is this all your doing?" Seeing that almost all television stations were broadcasting the news footage, and hearing the reporters on television indignantly narrating the story of the poor handsome guy who was tricked into a relationship with an ugly man and called each other husband and wife via QQ's "flying pigeon mail," Huang He knew Tengda was in for some trouble.
But how had it escalated to this extent when he had only spent less than 600,000 yuan and given it a slight push?
Were the news media so bored in this era?