Page 184 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

sabotage, and riots (ibid). Zheng (2008, p.136) stated that if a collective action or so-

cial movement is considered to impede the legitimacy of the state or pose a threat to
the authority, it invites a crackdown or suppression by the state, but if the movement is
perceived to be beneficial to the state, it is more likely to succeed (ibid). In the PX plant
event, the aim of the ‘collective stroll’ was to oppose the PX plant. It did not touch the
government’s objective – the leading position of the Party – which implies a negotiable

space between the government and the public. This explains why there was no repres-
sion in the first two days of the demonstration.
In the questionnaire, 78.09% of respondents advocated ‘mass protest’ as a means

of public participation, and 24.76% believed it was the only effective approach for the
government to understand public opinion and therefore to influence the government’s
decision. This shows a contradiction within Chinese citizens: they advocate democrat-
ic public participation and engagement in real-life protest, but when asked about their
willingness to participate, a majority refuse because of the possible consequences.

Therefore, since protests in the physical space are under strict surveillance and some-
times dangerous, the internet becomes an attractive medium for the organisation and
practices of similar actions (Tai, 2006).

In the interviews with practitioners in the media market, it was commonly agreed
that the government’s objective was to suppress political-sensitive topics, particularly
anti-Party and anti-government behaviour, and three illegal aspects of pornography,
gambling and drug-related crime (Interviewee 8). Acts touching on these objectives,
either in the physical world or the virtual environment, will be treated seriously. Inter-

net companies who provide services for information exchange regarding these topics
should have a filter system to censor key words. For those who failed to perform the
initial stage of information filtering, the worst punishment was to temporarily close the

website and order rectifications. If the result was still a danger to society stability, gov-
ernment departments have the right to shut down the website completely. ‘It is the same
situation with the supervision towards newspaper media, the government can suspend
or stop publication of a newspaper who publish political-sensitive topics’ , Interviewee
39
39 Translation provided by the author.

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