Abstract In China, Party newspapers are deemed the mouthpieces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In these newspapers, propaganda is the main content, especially on the front pages where the newspaper's core value is represented. Although market orientation has brought about changes in the content of Chinese media, has it brought about changes in Party newspapers' content as well? This article examines influential factors and their specific influences on the content of Party newspapers. It finds that while market orientation and target audiences have had limited influence on the contents of the front page of Party newspapers, the government has maintained its traditional dominance over Party newspapers. In addition, it finds that different Party newspapers enjoy different degrees of media freedom relative to their distance from central political power. Therefore, different newspapers provided different content on their front page. My study also defines the embodiment of "news values" and "propaganda values" using both the 3 "W' 's (when, where, who) and professional techniques in news content. Through a systematic content analysis of sample reports of three central Party newspapers (People's Daily, People's Daily Overseas and China Daily) over four periods during the last 15 years, the data shows that, because of their diverse target audiences, the three newspapers had different levels of professionalism. Moreover, market orientation influenced media contents mainly in the increase of the professionalism from 1997 to 2002. All three newspapers printed more objective and balanced articles during that period. However, propaganda content still made up the majority of the front page. No systematic changes in news topics were found in any of the three newspapers. This study suggests that government controls over Party newspapers are the main force which exerts influence over the content of the front page. So long as the government maintains controls over Party newspapers, Party newspapers will be the mouthpiece through which the Party promotes its propaganda.