The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) is planning a major overhaul of the newspaper industry, with various closures, mergers and acquisitions.

Head of GAPP, Liu Binjie, said recently that they will close down a batch of publications which are non-profitable or have other problems.

For those publications which are operating well, the GAPP will show support by arranging important projects, integrating resources and even helping their IPOs, according to China Youth Daily.

Liu said the reform for the newspaper industry will support the mergers and acquisitions between media and publications. The GAPP aims to help build six to seven giant media groups across regions and sectors in three to five years.

On August 28, the China Journalist Association Superintendent (CJAS) became the first newspaper under the GAPP umbrella to close operations after it failed to attract investors, according to China Economic Weekly.

The GAPP issued a report, Guiding Opinions to Further Promote the Reform of Press and Publication System, in April, setting clear principles and schedules of the restructuring of the press and publications sector, according to the paper.

Statistics show, as of September, China has established 26 publication groups at provincial level, 24 State-owned Xinhua publication groups, three periodicals publication groups and 49 newspaper operation groups.

(China Daily September 21, 2009)