Page 158 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Media reports of the petition drew the attention of the national environmental

department. On 14 March 2007, SEPA officials responded to the issue saying that re-
locating an approved project was beyond their jurisdiction and thus, no follow up ac-
tions could be taken (Huang, 2010). The Secretary of Xiamen’s Municipal Committee
organised a meeting for the local officials on 18 March 2007 and announced that, ‘[w]

e must unify our thinking. The delegates at the CPPCC have expressed their concerns.
But we do not need to pay attention to it. We must speed up the construction of the PX
plant’ (Huang, 2007). Two days later, the Haicang district Party committee held another

meeting to unify He’s message and demanded acceleration of the project construction
(Ansfield, 2013)

6.3.2 The role of the new media: grassroots participation in public af-
fairs through online platforms

In April, a team sent by the NDRC went for an on-site visit to Haicang district.
On 15 May, the team leader met with Professor Zhao and claimed that the PX plant in
Xiamen had met all government requirements and standards, and there was no chance

to stop or relocate the plant (Li, Liu and Li, 2012). From then on, negotiation between
the Xiamen experts and the government at both central and local level was ineffective.
Traditional media reports on the hazardousness of PX were banned, although the mag-

azine Phoenix Weekly, based in Chinese Hong Kong, managed to publish a report titled
Chemical Misgivings in an Island City – Xiamen, which was widely-spread among
Chinese citizens (Huang, 2010).
As Xiamen’s traditional media were prevented from reporting opposition to the

PX project, new technologies began showing their strength. Xiamen-based freelance
journalist Zhong Xiaoyong started following the PX story on his personal blog, written
under the penname Lian Yue. On 18 March 2007, Lian began posting comment on the

PX project. In a long article, Lian revealed deterioration of air quality in Xiamen dur-
ing 2006 using official statistics. China Business, a traditional outlet, re-published Li-
an’s article the same day. However, there was no trace of this report in any of the local

traditional media and only one new media platform – Lian’s personal blog – contained

142
142