Page 138 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

sembly of netizens with shared interests and views despite the geographical and back-

ground barrier. The online space separated the public from the official sectors, which
allowed the public to think dependently and critically. It avoided the influence of the
authorities in the form of public opinion. By breaking the traditional limitations, the
public came up with alternative ways to solve sensitive issues.
Interviewee 6 pointed out that:

‘with the emergence of the four major web portals (Sina, Sohu, NetEase, Ten-
cent), people started to read news via the internet. Compared with newspaper and
television, it had the advantages of resourceful content and fast speed. However,

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online public participation was not intense at the time’ .
Interviewee 7 stated that:
‘The forms of online participation were: (1) post information (e.g. what the person
had experienced, witnessed, or comment on a social event); (2) forward and share
online content. But the latter one accounted for a much larger proportion’ .
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According to my survey data, the forms of public participation in Sun Zhigang
incident can be divided into two categories: indirect participation and direct participa-
tion. In Figure 16, the indirect participation includes: ‘I commented and discussed with

others about the incident on the internet media reports commenting section, BBS and
forums’, which accounts for 30.48% of all respondents; ‘As a disseminator, [31.43%
of the respondents] posted and reposted related reports of the incident in BBS and
forums’. These indirect actions can be regarded as a major and moderate kind of pub-
lic participation, both in 2003 and in more recent years. The anonymity of the virtual

world eases the public’s concern about participating in such events. Normally within a
very short period time, a typical event like the Sun Zhigang case can lead to thousands
of comments on major web portals or hundreds of posts on various BBS/forums sites.

Also, it is a convenient and efficient way to follow social events and to exchange opin-
ions with other internet users.

20 Translation provided by the author.
21 Translation provided by the author.

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