Page 185 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 6. The Xiamen PX plant event

8 from a popular social networking site indicated.

However, this does not mean that there is a contradiction between the media mar-
ket and the government. The ultimate goal of the media market is to make a profit while
serving its customers. Internet companies will not challenge the authorities, and neither
will they attempt to control the information flow with the risk of losing customers. The
ideal mode of government-media interaction is a mutual beneficial resolution. For ex-

ample, large popular media sites usually have a Public Opinion Product in which the
company cooperates with the government by providing timely updates of social conflict
to the authorities so that the government can provide prompt reactions to the problem.

It is a coping mechanism for the government to control the development of social con-
flict, to avoid the small problem changing into large social event and to prevent the
cause of mass incident. Interviewee 8 implied:
‘They are two different institutions, one is the media, and the other is the govern-
ment. It is impossible for them to have no contradictions. It is a usual fact – cou-

ples have contradictions; even best friends can contradict each other. The ultimate
40
solution is to seek common grounds while maintain differences’ .
For media companies, it is certain that the bottom line is off the list of the content

generated on their platforms. He phrased the government-media interaction as ‘Media
companies are dancing with shackles. If the dance turns out to be good, government
welcomes its performance’. Apart from restrictions on politically-sensitive topics, any-
thing is negotiable between the government and the media company, which leads to the
function of ‘Public Opinion Product’. In the meantime:

‘The Chinese government has gone through a process of adapting to the devel-
opment of internet – from ignoring it to see it as a threat. It has changed from
blindly suppress the internet to learn to take advantage of it. In many cases, the

government remains in the condition of passive acceptance. It is pushed by public
41
opinion to solve the problems. (Interviewee 6) ’

40 Translation provided by the author.
41 Translation provided by the author.

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