Page 122 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Sun Zhigang was one such migrants. The marketised traditional media provided oppor-

tunities for the weak and the powerless to speak out. A sympathy effect spread through
the domestic migrants in a similar condition to Sun Zhigang. The net-fuelled rage and
sadness resulting from Sun Zhigang’s death led to the spontaneous participation among
the grassroots.
Although the Sun Zhigang incident occurred a decade ago, the discussions of the

case kept continuing in chatrooms, BBS/forums, blogs, Weibo and other social net-
working sites. For example, on the Tianya Forum, memorial articles for Sun Zhigang
written by internet users and journalists have prompted extensive responses. Some

people show sympathy over Sun’s death, some pay respect to Sun’s death by promoting
the development of legal system in China, some continue to discuss related systems or
regulations, some appeal for more reasonable rights, and others hold criticising govern-
ment opinions.
Media material was collected as secondary data in the research (the collection

deadline was 1 May 2016). Five major web portals and a forum website were investi-
gated, in which the news sections of Sina, Tencent, Sohu and NetEase represent com-
mercial media, while People.cn represents the state-owned media. The data is presented

below.
• Sina news: Searching for the term ‘Sun Zhigang incident’ in the context and
relevancy fields yielded 3,165 articles from 2003 to 2016, and in title and
relevancy, there were 305 results using the ‘Sun Zhigang case’ and 66 using
the ‘Sun Zhigang incident’. I then narrowed down the searching area to a de-

fined period (from 25 April to 22 June 2003), and a more accurate figure was
gained – 198 results. This was the time from the first media coverage of the
Sun Zhigang story by the Southern Metropolis Daily to the abolishment of the

C&R system. Most significantly, on 10 June 2003, Sina opened a special col-
umn for internet users to discuss the Sun Zhigang incident. It comprises a va-
riety of articles, commentaries, news reports, photos and audience comments,
and a space for the public to review and interact with each other.
• Tencent news: From searching the term ‘2003 Sun Zhigang incident’ on

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