News organizations on the Chinese mainland employ approximately 1 million people, according to a report.

More than 250,000 of them are officially certified as journalists, 55.9 percent of whom are male. The total includes managers and staff members working in other areas, such as marketing, administration and distribution.

The figures were released on Tuesday by the All-China Journalists Association in an English version of its report on the future of journalism in China.

The report, which was issued in Chinese at the end of 2014, highlights the role of new media.

The English version, available in full at www.zgjx.cn, will help "the international community, especially the overseas press" to acquire a detailed and accurate understanding of the Chinese press, the association said in a statement accompanying the report.

"The environment for journalism development is becoming more and more open," the report says, adding that foreign journalists now find their work in China easier to execute and more rewarding.

As technology has improved, new media has come to play an important role in journalism in China. Subscribers to news apps account for about 80 percent of total app use by Chinese netizens, with a readership of over 500 million.

Websites such as xinhuanet.com, people.com.cn, sina.com.cn and sohu.com post more than 10,000 news items each day. Postings on these websites are generally viewed more than 100 million times a day, and more than a billion page views per day is not unknown.

As for traditional media, China remains a large producer of newspapers. There were a total of 1,915 newspapers on the mainland with a total print run of 48.2 billion copies and sales revenue of 44 billion yuan ($7.13 billion) in 2013.

The country's daily newspaper business has been the world’s biggest for years, and the country retains the largest newspaper circulation globally. The People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, had an average daily circulation of 3.14 million in 2013.

Over the past few years, the authorities have regulated journalistic practices and promoted higher standards by setting up ethical committees.

In response to strong public concern, a campaign launched in March 2014 addressed the issues of blackmail and false reporting. As a result, a number of news companies and employees have been investigated.