China will set up a third-party media audit center to provide accurate figures regarding domestic circulation figures of different newspapers, magazines and other publications, said Liu Binjie, head of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).

This is part of efforts by the GAPP to promote the restructuring of the domestic publishing industry and enabling the more efficient and profitable ones to eventually raise funds in the capital market.

The GAPP has begun sounding out circulation auditing agencies in other countries to establish facilities that could ensure fair and accurate figures disclosed by the publications to the public, Liu said on the sidelines of the second session of the 11th National People's Congress, China Business News reported yesterday.

Industry analysts said there was an increasing trend to adopt international standards to calculate the distribution data, which is highly relevant to the advertisement business in choosing the right media and determining fees. The authentication mechanism could also help domestic media to solicit business from international advertisers using credible circulation data.

The GAPP has published dozens of domestic media groups' audited distribution data and Liu said it would take two to three years to compile the data of all domestic publications.

Liu also said that the GAPP would conduct an overall assessment of domestic media and manage them using different classifications, adding that about 5,000 newspaper groups will be transformed into market-oriented commercial operations in the next three years.

"In the process, the uncompetitive publications that fail to attract readers will be wiped out, or acquired by the stronger publishing houses," said Liu. Such an industry-wide restructuring is designed to pave the way for the better-established publishing companies to raise new capital in the stock market to fund further development.

About 10 newspaper groups in China are preparing to go public this year after completing asset reforms, and 39 more are in the pipeline, Liu said.

"The country's publishing groups are stepping up their IPO preparations and the GAPP will select the most promising media organizations and provide them with support in technology, equipment and capital," Liu said.

On Dec 20, 2007, Liaoning Publishing & Media Company Ltd, one of the country's largest publishing groups, was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the first publishing company to simultaneously list its editorial and commercial operations.

At present, China has 12 media organizations listed on the domestic stock market, including Shanghai Xinhua Media and Chengdu B-Ray Media.

"The newspaper groups' editorial operations can be listed simultaneously and the stock option incentives for the senior executives will only be available after they are listed," Liu said.

(China Daily March 11, 2009)