It has been the continuing headache of Wang Chunwa, Party
secretary of Xiajiabao Village in north China's Shanxi
Province.
His village has had to spend substantial sums of money
subscribing to the Party- and government-run newspapers every
year.
Now, beginning next year, his financial headache is over. Print
media reforms in China will end the mandatory subscriptions ladled
onto villages and officials for such newspapers and periodical
subscriptions.
State-owned Chinese print media, except science journals, have
been asked to stop recruiting subscribers by administrative
orders.
The fundamental reforms that have been passed involve more than
2,000 Chinese newspapers and 9,000-plus magazines.
In the meantime, a total of 667 newspapers and magazines will
suspend publication across the country starting next year.
The reforms are needed to weed out publications that yield no
social or economic benefit and to relieve financial burdens on
farmers and grass-roots enterprises, official sources say.
According to a Xinhua report, some rural areas have been under
mandatory requirements to subscribe to more than 100
publications.
The cost of subscriptions for newspapers in some towns and
villages is equal to several month's salary for a local official,
the report said.
Experts say the reforms should open the Chinese press to more
competition.
Under the traditional system of media management, Chinese
newspapers and magazines, which were all state-owned, were
subsidized by the Party and government departments and enjoyed the
benefit of mandatory subscriptions.
According to Yu Guoming, a professor of media with the Renmin
University of China, without such subscriptions and government
subsidies, many newspapers will not be able to survive in a
competitive market.
Although newspapers in China are still state-owned, they have
all become sensitive to the market and are responsible for their
profits and losses, experts say.
Earlier this month, the Beijing News -- published
jointly by Beijing-based Guangming Daily Group and Southern Daily
Group in Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong
Province -- began participating in the competitive media
market.
In the meantime, such reforms have helped spur media to do their
best, Zhang Xinsong with the Economic Information Daily
was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying.
(China Daily November 29, 2003)