Page 191 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 6. The Xiamen PX plant event

sumers’ needs, which is the basic responsibility of service providers. However, when

it is involved in collective action such as the Xiamen PX plant case, the government
occupies the top position in the hierarchy system. More importantly, it is also used as a
speaking channel for the government to disseminate official announcements.
However, the government’s attitude towards social affairs has gradually changed
in the highly developed information age. Interviewee 5 held the opinion that:

‘The attitude of the government towards public opinion has transformed from
rejecting to accepting and negotiating. Now it is more like mutual promotion:
government has paid more attention to public participation on the internet. The

change is because they sensed threat. Therefore, the government department has
transformed to service-oriented mode and changed the former ‘arrogant’ official
attitude. I believe there will be more mutual beneficial situations, and less failure
modes’ .
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Interviewee 8 believed that:

‘In recent years, the government has realised that covering up or blocking infor-
mation of public events is not conducive in solving the problem. Many internet
users could be easily manipulated if they do not understand the truth. We can see

that the press conference system has been perfected to fill the need […] It is not an
antagonistic relationship between government and the public. If there exist some
divergences, as long as the objective is assured, mutual respect can be achieved
between government and the public. It is a great progress. In fact, a large amount
of business in internet companies are offered by the government; the existence of

internet enterprise is not to fight against the government, it is meaningless’ .
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6.4.4 The Chinese government and foreign media companies: comply or
be blocked

Regarding the administration mechanism of the internet, Lessig (1999, cited in
Zheng, 2008, p.8) once argued that ‘governments anywhere can most certainly regulate
the internet, both by controlling its underlying code and by shaping the legal environ-

43 Translation provided by the author.
44 Translation provided by the author.

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