This study examines the changes and challenges of China’s newspaper industry by focusing on the popular press sector that has dominated the daily newspaper market since the early 2000s. Specifically, the study investigates three key issues: (1) the dramatic expansion of the popular press sector at the expense of the Party organ sector in the early and mid-2000s, (2) the stagnation of the popular press sector since then despite its efforts to experiment with a so-called mainstream press in the second half of the decade and (3) this study’s call for a ‘broadloid’ press approach in response to this stagnation.