Mediterranean hegemon

On February 22, after three weeks of waiting, the First District Court of Rome issued a verdict on the defamation case between Contini and Matteotti: supporting all the plaintiff's demands!

Matteotti expressed his dissatisfaction on the spot and said that he would appeal to the High Court. In order to turn the situation around, he worked hard this time. Not only did he change his defense lawyer, he also seized some logical and textual loopholes in Contini's case trial to fight back, and at the same time prepared to collect more evidence to support his point of view.

Contini sneered, his goal had basically been achieved: Matteotti now had no energy to continue to attack Mussolini's government. All his attention was focused on this lawsuit, and at the same time he had to resist the strong pressure from the party. Because of many problems exposed in this lawsuit, he had a lot of conflicts with other factions in the party. The Socialist Party was not a monolithic party. Matteotti had been in power for many years, and some people had long been dissatisfied with him, so they took the opportunity to attack him. The reasons were all ready-made - Contini had written them all in the indictment.

To continue the lawsuit, Matteotti would have to spend money. Obviously, this money could not be conjured up out of thin air, nor could he use the funds of the Socialist Party, and he could not ask the government for reimbursement through invoices, so he had to mortgage his house. This time, no one persuaded him, because if he did not mortgage the house, he would have to pay 10 million lire in compensation. Although he had some savings after serving as a member of parliament for many years, 10 million was simply not something he could afford, so he could only fight to the death.

Contini was not worried about this at all. He handed all the work to the lawyers, and the other party gave him a very positive signal: Generally speaking, in order to maintain the authority of the lower court, the high court would not easily overturn the judgment of the local court unless there was evidence and factual changes that really needed to be overturned, but for a lawsuit for infringement of reputation rights, it was impossible to overturn it completely. At most, the amount of compensation would be reduced a little, so Contini was sure that Matteotti could not cause much trouble. He could accompany the other party to the end no matter how much money he wanted to spend, because he was now the youngest richest man in Italy.

More importantly, Contini became famous again. The Italian media never gave up following up on the incident. They talked about Youth Daily, United Group and even Contini himself. After the verdict was made, even neutral newspapers could only convey this opinion, otherwise there would be the danger of contempt for the authority of the law, which they dared not do. Who knows whether Youth Daily will take the opportunity to bite back? Now everyone knows that this young master cannot be easily offended. If you offend him, you may not come to your door to smash, loot and rob, but a court summons will be delivered to your door out of the blue. A lawsuit means burning money. They are not afraid of a lawsuit, but burning money is a troublesome thing - those who have more money than Contini are not as good at burning it, and those who can burn more money than him are not as rich as him. This young master is very generous when he opens his checkbook, which can be seen from United Airlines. What can you say?

Taking advantage of such a wave, the circulation of Youth Daily quickly exceeded 15,000 copies, and it is not far from breaking even. In fact, other newspapers have already achieved a balance between income and expenditure at this stage. For example, a newspaper that is more economical can break even with a circulation of 5,000 copies, let alone 15,000 copies. The reason why Youth Daily has not been able to break even is entirely because Contini is spending too much money.

In order to pursue publicity effects, Contini not only relocated the headquarters of Youth Daily, but also equipped a special printing plant. Generally, there are several newspapers corresponding to one printing plant, but for Youth Daily, which often publishes popular science articles in newspapers, typesetting is a little more difficult. Contini simply started a new printing plant next to the Rome Air Base and hired a group of the best typesetters to print newspapers. This expense is much more expensive than looking for other printing plants to cooperate. But Contini doesn't care. He cares about time and printing effects. Price is not his first consideration.

In addition, Youth also tried various new printing methods, such as color printing and four-color printing. Although they were completely incomparable to the color printing that Contini traveled through time, the triggering effect was completely sensational for Italy in the 1920s - people didn't know that newspapers could be printed in this way. This was an obvious media technology leadership of Youth.

Since the United Printing Factory had such beautiful printing capabilities, several newly established public transportation companies placed all ticket printing in the United Printing Factory, and the Ministry of Posts also placed some letter printing here, and also took on some commercial advertisements.

The second thing Youth did in the field of public opinion guidance was to comment on foreign media, and to comment on and refer to major news from major European and American powers. The objects selected were all mainstream media: the United States was The New York Times and The Washington Post, the United Kingdom was The Times and The Daily Mail, and France was Le Figaro. News related to Italy was translated and reprinted in full, which greatly increased the cost - hiring editors who could read and translate foreign news proficiently was not cheap, but Contini didn't care. His slogan is: Il Sociedad does not expect to be the first choice newspaper for all Italian people, but if someone wants to subscribe to a second newspaper, I hope Il Sociedad will be the first choice.

This is indeed the case. Due to the rigorous attitude, extensive news channels, in-depth use of social surveys and data analysis, and comprehensive verification of domestic and foreign media reports, Youth Daily has established a unique style among national newspapers. Its high-end, serious, mainstream and popular science style has made it popular among intellectuals and the middle class. There are almost no gossip and vulgar articles in Youth Daily. It also has a great influence on campus. Especially with the expansion of the Youth League, middle and high schools generally subscribe to 1-2 newspapers for their students, and Youth Daily is undoubtedly the first choice.

In addition, in order to pursue timeliness and publicity effects, Contini also used the convenience of his control over United Airlines to enable newspaper air transportation projects. When other Italian newspapers can only be delivered the next day or even the next day, relying on the transportation capacity of United Airlines and the Ministry of Transport, the printing factory at the Rome Air Base can be quickly distributed after printing. At this time, the newspaper colleagues and Antonio understood why Contini wanted to place United Printing near the suburban air base. Every morning, newspapers with the fragrance of ink were loaded into transport planes and rushed to several major cities.

Since the air bases in many cities have not been arranged, Contini chose seaplanes, which can land in any lake or river. Those Machi 5 seaplanes that were originally useless quickly found their place. Although the transportation cost is often more expensive than the price of the newspaper itself, Contini is willing to do so and will not increase the price for subscribers. In this era, air transportation itself is a symbol of strength.

His slogan for soliciting subscriptions in newspapers is: "You will definitely see today's newspaper, because we have planes, and your satisfaction is our eternal pursuit!"

In a special interview with the newspaper, Contini, who is also the chairman of United Airlines and the president of Youth Daily, said with confidence that he would achieve same-day delivery in 17 major cities across Italy, but the citizens of Rome saw the newspaper in the early morning, Florence and Naples, which are closer to Rome, saw the newspaper at noon (through land transportation), and other major cities such as Milan, Turin, Genoa, Catania, Venice, Bologna, etc. saw the newspaper in the evening. Even so, Youth Daily can still proudly claim to have achieved "national synchronization" - the first in Italy and even the world!

Contini set a goal for La Nova: by the end of 1923, the newspaper's circulation should exceed 50,000 copies, ranking among the top ten newspapers in Italy. As for breaking even, that would be a matter for the future...