Page 134 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Figure 13. Why do you follow, discuss and participate in the Sun Zhigang case?
Figure 13 shows that the top three reasons for ‘why do you follow, discuss and
participate in the Sun Zhigang case?’ are ‘I want others to know about the incident, and

the development of the case’ (76.19%), ‘I want to help the victim’ (45.71%), ‘Because
such a case is related to citizens’ self-interest, I feel like I am part of the case’ (44.76%).
Sun Zhigang represents a huge group of migrant workers who come from rural

areas and sought to make a living in large cities at the time. The development and the
final result of the Sun Zhigang case is closely related to the public interest, both for
general citizens and migrant workers. People may have felt like they were being part of
the case in the hope that their participation could contribute to preventing the reoccur-
rence of such an incident and to solving similar problems for other migrants and citi-

zens. Therefore, it actually meets the initiative of the ‘public’ in public sphere: ‘for the
sake of the common good’.
My data summarised the demographic features of the ‘public’ in the Sun Zhigang

case. It first demonstrated that most of the respondents who knew or participated in the
Sun Zhigang case had a higher education background, professional and formal occupa-
tion, and a stable annual income. It also suggests the conditions that restrict the ‘public’
who could engage in the beginning of the internet age in China. Moreover, as Inter-
viewee 1 indicated, Chinese people are inculcated with the value of working for public

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