Page 192 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

ment in which it operates’.

A number of researchers have explored the current situation of internet control in
China. An empirical study led by the Open Net Initiative showed that ‘China’s internet
filtering regime is the most sophisticated effort of its kind in the world’ (Bambauer et
al., 2005, p.3). King, Pan, and Roberts (2013, p.328) found that expressions are cen-
sored on Chinese social media in at least three ways: at first, The Great Firewall of

China; and secondly, automated keyword blocking prevents netizens from publishing
text that contains a banned word or phrase, thus limiting freedom of speech; and finally,
manual censoring is a complementary mechanism to the first two barriers.

When a foreign media company enters the Chinese market, government cannot
place restrictions on the company itself but to use the Great Firewall of China to block
the foreign site. There is no negotiation between the Chinese government and foreign
media sites and the effect depends on the situation in Chinese society; for example,
YouTube was blocked but during the Beijing Olympics in 2008 it was opened again.

However, there are technical means for people to across the wall and to access the
blocked foreign media sites.
During the collective stroll, some citizens collaborated with friends who had com-

puter access by sending live updates by mobile phone. The computer users then dis-
seminated the updates through online forums and blogs. As the march went on, many
citizens took pictures and filmed the demonstration and uploaded it on Flickr, YouTube
and domestic video sharing sites. These practices broke the government’s rules. There
were attempts made to block the information flow, but it was disseminated too fast and

too broadly and the authorities could not control it.

6.4.4.1 Global Voices

Global Voices is a non-profit multilingual media site which contains an inter-

national network of bloggers, freelance journalists and translators that follow, report,
summarise what is going on in the blogosphere or share the current global affairs. Most
importantly, it is accessible in mainland China. Under the John’s blog, there were a
great number of comments made by Chinese audiences. A number of bloggers came to

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