<p>A total of 188 newspapers and periodicals were closed in 2009, after China's General Administration of Press and Publication introduced a market-oriented competition plan in 2008 that shuts down struggling and poorly-managed newspapers.<br /><br />The "quality evaluation" programme analyses newspapers' infrastructure, environmental resources and management abilities.<br /><br />"We are determined to close those publications with potential insolvency and poor development abilities," Liu Binjie, director general of the administration, was quoted as saying Sunday by Global Times.<br /><br />Liu said the mechanism for market withdrawal will help improve the surviving publications through competition.<br />For many years, newspapers were allowed to stay in the market whether or not they made profit. <br /><br />In a pilot programme launched in 2008, 12 newspapers and periodicals in Liaoning were closed, while three other publications in Hebei were shut down.<br />China Press Journal, a newspaper run by the All China Journalists' Association, was shut down in August 2009 due to poor management, making it the first national newspaper to cease publication.<br /><br />There are 1,943 newspapers and nearly 10,000 periodicals in China, statistics said.<br />"The new mechanism shows that the government wants to introduce competition into the press market, which is also a positive way to promote fair play for publication companies like us," Li Tong, chief editor of Motto magazine, a semi-monthly in Heilongjiang province, was quoted as saying.<br /></p>
<p>A total of 188 newspapers and periodicals were closed in 2009, after China's General Administration of Press and Publication introduced a market-oriented competition plan in 2008 that shuts down struggling and poorly-managed newspapers.<br /><br />The "quality evaluation" programme analyses newspapers' infrastructure, environmental resources and management abilities.<br /><br />"We are determined to close those publications with potential insolvency and poor development abilities," Liu Binjie, director general of the administration, was quoted as saying Sunday by Global Times.<br /><br />Liu said the mechanism for market withdrawal will help improve the surviving publications through competition.<br />For many years, newspapers were allowed to stay in the market whether or not they made profit. <br /><br />In a pilot programme launched in 2008, 12 newspapers and periodicals in Liaoning were closed, while three other publications in Hebei were shut down.<br />China Press Journal, a newspaper run by the All China Journalists' Association, was shut down in August 2009 due to poor management, making it the first national newspaper to cease publication.<br /><br />There are 1,943 newspapers and nearly 10,000 periodicals in China, statistics said.<br />"The new mechanism shows that the government wants to introduce competition into the press market, which is also a positive way to promote fair play for publication companies like us," Li Tong, chief editor of Motto magazine, a semi-monthly in Heilongjiang province, was quoted as saying.<br /></p>