Page 18 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

empowers the public to express opinions on new media platforms, but it also allows the

government to control the information flow. However, the question that remains unclear
is: what role ICT plays in the interaction between the public and the government, and
whether it acts in a pivotal role that promotes interaction or as a potential risk factor in
social change in China. A book investigating the mediated role of ICT in the changing
relationship between the public and the government might address these issues.

1.2 Research questions

The global information revolution has been intensified by the spread of ICTs,
and governments have struggled to capture the economic, social, cultural, and political

implications of this revolution (Tai, 2006). Zheng (2008, p.18) also demonstrated that
‘information technology is not only perceived as the most modern indicator of scientific
and technological progress but also as a symbol of the modernity of the Chinese state’.
According to the China internet Network Information Centre (CINIC) (2022) and the

21st Century Business Herald, by the end of 2021, 1032 million Chinese – more than
two-thirds of the country’s population, have accessed to the internet, and the number of
mobile internet users has increased to 1029 million. There are approximately 573 mil-
lion Weibo monthly active users and 1007 million instant messaging service users (Bai,

2022). The total number of online news users has reached 771 million. All these figures
illustrate the evolution of ICTs, as well as their enormous influence on China’s social
and political development.
Since the number of internet users is increasing dramatically, it is important to

investigate the influence of information dissemination and public debate across social
media on the public sphere, which is the key theme of this book. Habermas (1989, p.231)
initially defined the public sphere as ‘a domain of our social life in which such a thing
as public opinion can be formed’. Access to this domain is ‘open in principle to all

citizens [who may] assemble and unite freely, and express and publicise their opinions
freely (ibid, p.231)’. Today, internet technology has extended the traditional channels
of spreading information, which was once limited to physical space. However, reviews
of Habermas’s public sphere have showed a dichotomy: some have adopted the concept

2
2