Political power machine keeps newspaper toes on party line

AS CHINA'S economic reforms deepened in the past 20 odd years, the government reached an informal agreement with the business community - and with the population as a whole. Beijing agreed to stand aside and let businesses and people get on with making money, provided no one challenged the Chinese Communist Party's monopoly on political power.

In most commercial spheres, the separation of politics and business has worked well enough. The government gradually reduced its involvement in day-to-day business operations. The parallel party structure in all state-owned enterprises - with each having its own party secretary and party committee - still exists. But its influence waned as commercial considerations became paramount.

In the ever-sensitive newspaper industry, however, commercial considerations continue to rub up against political imperatives on an almost daily basis. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Guangzhou, which boasts the mainland's most competitive print media market and - as a result - its best newspapers and magazines. The city is unique in having not just one, but three large publishers: the Guangzhou Daily Group, the Southern Daily Group and the Yangcheng Evening News Group.

As a general rule, the quality of a newspaper is directly proportional to its thickness. In a virtuous cycle, a better paper attracts more readers, and that in turn attracts more advertisers.

In most mainland cities, newspaper readers make do with dreary, four-page papers stuffed with President Jiang Zemin's latest ponderings on his 'Three Represents' theory. They are not fit to wrap fish and chips in, as the poor quality newsprint would rub off on and poison the food.

But in Guangzhou, 16, 32, 48 and even 80-page editions are common. On one day recently, the seven daily newspapers published by the city's three media groups contained a combined total of 238 pages.

This presents the Guangzhou and Guangdong governments, which control the news groups, with an awkward dilemma. Thick as they are with ads, Guangzhou's papers are profitable and pay a lot of taxes.