Page 249 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 8. Conclusion

Chapter 8. Conclusion

This chapter summarises the findings of the book and addresses the research ques-
tions raised at the beginning of the book. It revisits the way that the findings reflect the
nuanced relationship among the Chinese central government, the public and new me-

dia, through the triangular interaction framework developed for this book. It also pre-
sents the contributions and limitations of the research, and suggestions for future areas
of study.

8.1 The triangular relationship

Figure 59. The new framework of ‘government-media-public’.
A new framework of ‘government-media-public’ interaction has been developed
in this research. It first examined the existence of the online or quasi-public sphere in

China and found that the public sphere in Chinese cyberspace had similar character-
istics to the traditional public sphere in western countries. First of all, the open nature
of the internet empowers all people, both elites and grassroots, in the content genera-

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