Hong Kong --- Amid mounting concern that the Internet might make newspapers obsolete, Chinese propaganda officials and editors of leading dailies are drafting a five-year plan to provide direction for the industry.
Newspaper circulation and advertising revenues have been falling in China, as they face increasing competition from the Internet and other new media for advertising dollar, according to a recent report in the South China Morning Post.
The General Administration of Press and Publication (Gapp), a state agency, said at an annual meeting in Beijing earlier this month that the plan would be released next month.
It will specify press market targets, business models and general industry direction.
Ms Wang Guoqing, deputy director of Gapp's newspapers and periodicals department, said the latest plan aimed to ensure that by the end of 2010, three in 10 households bought a newspaper regularly.
She said newspapers would be encouraged to change the way they did business and major media groups would receive support to help the industry cope with rising competition.
There are 39 newspaper groups on the mainland.
Other measures proposed included encouraging a variety of content in a single newspaper, fostering information valueadded services and promoting the development of digital newspapers.
Gapp vice-president Shi Feng said that in the past five years, "the press industry has faced a serious challenge."
To meet increasing market competition, traditional party-run newspapers should sharpen their competitive edge through consolidation, he said.
The market economy required a more market-oriented and multi-faceted business model, he added.
But he said: "Driven by commercial profit, some media had lost some of their sense of political and social responsibilities."
He called on mainstream media to take more responsibility to continue their function as propaganda tools of the Communist Party and government.
