Page 25 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 1. Introduction

the techniques and the theory support for data analysis. Ethical considerations are cov-

ered at the end of this chapter.
Chapters 5 to 7 focus on three real-life cases, which are used to investigate
ICT-mediated public participation and to examine the proposed triangular system.
Chapter 5 starts with an introduction of the Sun Zhigang incident. The case con-
cerns the issue of migrant worker and represents a meaningful event that resulted in the

change of government law and regulation. This chapter examines the government-pub-
lic interrelationship. It firstly investigates the technological empowerment which fos-
tered the launch of online activism and online public participation in the BBS age. The

chapter then explores the spontaneous cooperation between online activism and offline
campaign. The process is examined to find out whether public sphere and civil society
has formed in China. Finally, this chapter demonstrates the changes of government atti-
tudes towards online activism – from strict prohibition to possible tolerance.
Chapter 6 uses the Xiamen PX plant case to explore the interrelationship between

the government and media companies in the blog age. This case focuses on the envi-
ronmental protection issue during the rapid economic development in China. Because
of the appropriate coordination between the massive online activism and the real-world

protest, this controversial chemical plant had been finally relocated out of Xiamen by
the local government. It is seen as a great success of netizen participation, as spontane-
ous real-world public assembly is not easy in China. Hence, this chapter examines the
role of media in the triangular framework. It evaluates the performance of traditional
and new media in mass event. A comparison of Chinese government’s attitudes towards

the commercial media, state-owned media and foreign media companies is also drawn.
Chapter 7 analyses the Yihuang incident, which is closely related to urbanization
in China. This chapter focuses on the media-public relationship under the contextual

background of the We Media age (details see section 2.5.1.1). The main media platform
Weibo in the Yihuang incident is examined as it provides an ‘all-around’ interactive pat-
tern, in which more space and autonomy is empowered for public participation. It then
discusses whether social networking sites could be treated as a vehicle for the instant
and spontaneous dissemination of a social event. The dynamics and forms of public

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