Page 230 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

opinion, which makes it a valid channel for a vulnerable group to have the opportunity

to speak and fight for civil rights. The phenomenon that numerous audiences on Weibo
oversee a social event gained the attention of major traditional media. The joint power
of these two media forms increased public pressure. In the eyes of the public, Weibo
is seen as the information source, opinion space, and spectating centre for such an
incident. It is an irresistible trend that Weibo will be used as an effective channel to in-

teract with the government. Meanwhile, being able to target the livelihoods of citizens,
gathering public opinion, Weibo provides a platform for the government to learn more
about its people.

7.5.2 Characteristics of Weibo as online public sphere

Dahlgren (2001) considered internet a nurturing base for multiple microspheres

that generate deliberative places to exchange views among politically engaged people.
Su (2016) argued that the advanced ICTs make it possible to generate ‘virtual public
sphere’, a kind of space that can be relatively independent from both the state and dom-
inant corporate economic institutions. Although ICTs cannot result in the fundamental

change in economic and political structures of the various societies in which they func-
tion, they brought new circulations and forms of power to the people which is beneficial
to democratic participation. As Marolt and Herold (2014) indicated that, ‘online China’
comprises of those spaces for interaction and negotiation that influence ‘offline China’,

and allow their users greater freedom despite ubiquitous control and surveillance by the
state authorities.
According to an analysis report of public opinion on the internet in China for
2010, there were 20 social incidents that aroused extensive public opinion and 60%

were voiced through Weibo (Zhang and Luo, 2011). As the influence of Weibo contin-
ues to expand, an increasing number of scholars, experts, celebrities, and victims of
social incidents have started using Weibo in the early stages. Heated topics on Weibo
changed from daily trifles to social events, which promoted it to develop into the most

influential media that intervenes in public affairs. It fundamentally changed the status
of traditional media and new media (BBS/forums and blog) in the power-relationship

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