Amid Chinese President Xi Jinping's moves to bring the media to heel, a "teaching and research center for socialist journalism with Chinese characteristics" opened in Beijing on Sunday, state media reported.

The new center, a joint project between Tsinghua University and Fudan University, will likely be used to follow through in implementing orders handed down by Xi in February for news media run by the Communist Party and the government to toe the party line, focusing on what authorities have called "positive reporting."

"We should develop journalism in China with a thorough understanding of the good aspects of journalism in other countries, so that wrong or harmful content can be identified," said Tong Bing, a professor at Fudan University.

China's state-run media organizations have long been known as Communist Party mouthpieces, but recent moves by Xi have seen the party further cement its grip.

In February, Xi toured state media outlets, urging them to play a role in "properly guiding public opinion," part of a ramped-up push by the Chinese president to consolidate the party's grip on power amid growing economic malaise.

"The nation's media outlets are essential to political stability," the state-run China Daily noted in an editorial that same month.