Page 180 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

official announcement on their own, and they would not take the initiative to pres-

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ent the topic against the government’s bottom line’ .
For instance, in Bullog, the founder understood that allowing bloggers to write
commentaries and broadcast text on the incident may have irritated the authorities and
invited trouble. Bullog did not delete or apply any filters; instead, it waited for the gov-
ernment’s response and if the order was to delete relevant content, Bullog would do so.

In some large commercial blog sites, such content would not have been published. A
unique feature of internet media companies is the technology that creates an environ-
ment for testing the government-media interaction. To serve their consumers, they pro-

vide a platform for public opinion, including risky content; to follow the government’s
lead, technology allows them to withdraw published content. As long as the content
is published, information has already been disseminated to a wide audience. When
the government shows dissatisfaction, they delete the content and obey the authority’s
orders but this reinforces the public’s desire to know the truth which leads to more dis-

semination of the censored information between citizens. This is a common argument
for media companies in the negotiation with the government. Interviewee 2 emphasised
that:

‘If you crossed the bottom line, apart from being forced to shut down, the web-
site should bear the legal responsibility. Because of the consequence, internet
companies usually train the editors, informing what kind of information is strictly
prohibited, and instructing them to setup a keyword filter to block and monitor the
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information flow’ .
As for the consequence of breaking regulations:
‘generally, internet company should accomplish the instructions given by gov-
ernment departments. If the internet company continues to disobey or makes a

critical mistake, the principal of the company will be queried and a self-criticism
letter is needed. The company will be issued a fine and asked to suspend updating
the website, or it will be shut down’ (Interviewee 6) .
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34 Translation provided by the author.
35 Translation provided by the author.
36 Translation provided by the author.

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