Page 210 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Figure 45. Screenshot of Zhong’s post that appealing for help.
Although the new media platform used the advantage of the communications
format to create a public consensus, the traditional media did not remain silent in the

later stages. They used their own advantages to guide public opinion during the devel-
opment of the event, which also could be seen as a consolidation of public opinion.
After the Yihuang incident fermented into a public event on Weibo, traditional media
began to interview the stakeholders of the event. For example, on 16 September, one of
the popular TV programmes on Phoenix Television, named Social Visibility, conducted

an interview with the Zhong brothers. At the same time, Southern Weekly, Guangzhou
Daily, Modern Express and other traditional media companies interviewed the Zhong
sisters by telephone. Some traditional media which originally had held a neutral attitude

began to shift their positions. After a series of in-depth reports that explored the facts
of the Yihuang event, on 18 September, Xinhua News Agency released the news: ‘The
Party Secretary of Yihuang county, county magistrate and other relevant officials have
initiated a formal investigation of the incident’ (Gao, 2012).
After the news was forwarded by several mainstream traditional media outlets

including CCTV, the direction of public opinion gradually changed, and the pressure of
public comments eased. Meanwhile, the incident became the focus of attention among
citizens all across the country. With the full involvement of the authoritative official

media, increasingly traditional media began to rethink its role in the case. The internet
began to focus on how public power was being abused, on the lack of supervision of
public power, and the dereliction of duty by government officials. With public opinion
tending to become more rational, News 1+1, which is one of the most influential TV
programmes on CCTV, shot a news film entitled ‘Yihuang accountability, not just a

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