Circulation wars focus on World Cup latest
FOOTBALL-MAD readers hungry for the most up-to-date World Cup results have taken a running battle between rival newspapers to a new level.
This week the China Economic Daily declared that a 'war without gunpowder' had broken out between the papers.
Most newspapers in Beijing - under unprecedented pressure to hold market share - are publishing special football supplements and analysis columns.
Some, including the best-selling Beijing Youth Daily, hold the front page on the early morning edition until the last match results come in from France.
Some of the best reports are published by Xinhua in its World Cup Express.
Only 20 Chinese print journalists and nine television journalists received accreditation to cover the World Cup but many more travelled to France.
The World Cup is also increasing Internet traffic.
Chinabyte, a mainland server, launched its own colourful World Cup Web site in the run-up to the competition.
Now that the World Cup is reaching its climax, the Chinabyte website is active night and day, according to the official People's Daily.
The Communist Party mouthpiece has warned that the Internet is changing from a technological phenomenon to a phenomenon that changes social culture.
The heightened media competition will put further pressure on newspapers to merge or change their format.
In recent years the circulation of stodgy official papers including the People's Daily has collapsed in the face of colourful, lifestyle-oriented reporting.
'Our work unit is obliged to subscribe to the People's Daily, but nobody reads it any more,' a young university teacher said. 'We are interested in reading about real life, not politics.'
