China is splitting its newspapers into two groups, public service-oriented and profit-oriented, and the government has said it will financially support the so-called public service ones, FollowtheMedia reported Tuesday.

The government will help fund newspapers that spread Marxist and Party philosophies, government and Party bulletins and newspapers targeting foreign readers, ethnic minorities and farmers, according to FTM. Meanwhile, the government will try to more heavily control so-called profit-oriented newspapers, such as metropolitan dailies, to “transform them into running as proper businesses,” and has asked local newspapers to work together.

Wang Guoqing, director general of the newspaper management department in China's General Administration of Publication and Press, said for-profit newspapers need to create better market strategies, while public newspapers have not received proper investment in the past, according to FTM.