Shanghai's already competitive newspapers market looks set to become even more cutthroat with the upcoming debut of one major daily and the upgrading of another.

Shanghai Media Group, which runs two TV stations and two radio stations in the city, is preparing to enter the print market by taking over the Shanghai Business Journal from the Shanghai Economic Commission.

At the same time, two private investors are setting up a new media company together with the Shanghai Youth Daily.

The new company, Shanghai Youth Media Co Ltd, will receive 60 million yuan (US$7.24 million) from Beijing Beida Jade Bird Group and an investor from Jiangsu Province.

Currently, both newspapers are recruiting editorial staff on a massive scale.

According to its advertisings in the local media, the Shanghai Media Group wants to recruit 35 editors and 120 reporters for its new, unnamed newspaper. The ads say the 32-page paper will be launched later this year and plans to become "a premier business daily newspaper covering all major economic centers in China, besides Shanghai."

The Shanghai Youth Daily is looking to add 200 people to its staff. The 54-year-old newspaper is currently aimed mainly at high school and university students. After repositioning, it wants to become "the best comprehensive metropolis paper in the city within three years," said Yang Guowei, general manager of Shanghai Youth Media Co Ltd.

The changes come at a time when the central government in Beijing is trying to reform the media industry.

A report in the July issue of Caijing magazine said government-owned newspapers and magazines will be forced to commercialize or face closure under major media reforms. According to detailed rules obtained by the magazine, some papers will be closed down, annexed or transferred to other newspaper groups.

Heralding the upcoming reform is a notice from the State Press and Publication Administration published in June. The notice calls on all newspapers and magazines in China to suspend subscription campaigns for next year until late September.

The notice also said Communist Party and government departments will no longer be allowed to use their powers to coerce businesses to subscribe to newspapers, a strategy commonly used in the past to ensure Chinese publications remained profitable.

For Shanghai Media Group, the decision to move into the newspaper business seems natural as it has already integrated its financial reporting resources into a single brand, China Business Network, which combines the business departments of Shanghai TV Station and East Radio Shanghai.

"We have the advantage of sharing resources with the television and radio (stations)," said Gao Yunfei, executive director of STV's Business Channel.

Yu Zhenwei, a journalism professor at Fudan University, predicts the press reform will accelerate competition.

"The press industry has undergone rapid changes. China Business Network's newspaper represents the integration of media resources. They have one united brand and have their own industry niche," said Yu. "All the signs show that a new format for the press industry is being formed."

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