China is preparing to establish an official system for auditing the circulations of newspapers and magazines, according to sources from the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).

"We are now setting up a scientific and measurable system to oversee and verify the circulations of publications,'' said an official with the administration's Newspaper and Magazine Department.

The official, who preferred to remain anonymous, gave no details of how or when the system would be introduced.

But it is expected to set authoritative and objective standards for evaluating the circulation of publications, according to an expert familiar with the project, who asked not to be named.

Cheng Mei, an industry analyst, said it would be hard to set up the system because China's media monitoring sector is still immature and faces a shortage of professionals.

But she believed GAPP's move would help regulate the publications market, which is expected to generate billions of yuan in profit over the coming years.

Overseas firms have already entered this market.

One such company, Business of Performing Audits International (BPAI), recently signed an agreement with a Chinese company, allowing it to sell BPAI services in the country.

BPAI's system is the only international method of auditing circulation figures that uses the same standards throughout the world.

The introduction of audit systems will help rein in exaggerated circulation claims made by many publications.

"'What is the real circulation of your newspaper?' That is one of the questions my clients often ask. They always doubt the figures we give,'' said Zhang Bo, who works with the advertising department of a Beijing-based newspaper.

It is an open secret that some publications in China inflate their circulation figures to raise their profiles and lure more advertisers.

Yu Guoming, a professor from the Journalism School of Renmin University of China in Beijing, said: "Such an official system is urgently needed and critically important to ensure fair play and market order.''

By the end of 2002, China had 2,137 newspapers and 9,029 magazines.

(China Daily October 2, 2003)