Beijing will introduce measures this year to reform the state-dominated press and publications sector in an attempt to rejuvenate the industry, official sources said.
However, tight government controls over media content would not be relaxed, they said.
Under the proposed reforms, newspapers would be required to submit their sales figures to an independent body for verification.
Senior officials from the State Press and Publication Administration said they would approve the establishment of joint-venture circulation audit firms between foreign and mainland companies.
An administration official said many mainland publications exaggerated their circulation figures to boost advertising revenue.
The current system of ranking newspapers would be abolished, they said. At present, papers are classified into different rankings, with party-level papers at the top, followed by provincial and then city-level titles.