China to revamp news broadcasts

China's state broadcaster plans to revamp its staid news broadcasts for the first time in a decade to combat a sharp decline in viewership.

More human interest stories and critical reporting will be introduced to try to win back viewers who have flocked instead to cable channels and the internet, the official China Daily said.

Despite wielding a monopoly on the national prime time news broadcast, CCTV's programme has seen a decline in market share from 40 per cent in 1998 to less than 10 per cent at present, the paper said.