Page 264 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

local government. It was the local government that first calmed the emotions of both

local residents and netizens; for example, the Xiamen Association of Science and Tech-
nology and the Xiamen Daily co-edited a propaganda brochure with an initial print run
of 250,000 copies and distributed it. Then a basic satisfactory compromise was negoti-
ated, and a public hearing was convened to offer an opportunity for Xiamen citizens to
voice their opinions on the PX project.

The government’s reaction to the controversial effects brought by ICT-mediated
public participation is more prominently reflected in the Yihuang case. Public issues re-
garding house demolition and relocation are controversial. It is difficult to judge who is

responsible for the tragedy in the Yihuang case as the facts in such cases cannot be fully
revealed, and neither can a line of right and wrong be drawn. However, due to the mas-
sive debates on Weibo, online public participation has already caused a social impact.
The central government had no choice but to sacrifice the local government officials by
immediately dismissing the local leaders and demanding that local institutions meet the

victim’s medical expenses. It demonstrates that during the Yihuang incident, the central
government chose to comfort the emotional netizens at all time. The primary principle
of such a coping mechanism is to quell social campaigns peacefully and reduce their

influence with the aim of maintaining social stability.
The rapid development of ICT has gradually formed a relatively mature online
public sphere. The relationship among the government, media companies and the pub-
lic has reached a balanced status in which mutual understanding, interdependency and
mutual restriction are established. It is a growing trend that the government uses social

media to make statements in response to social events. The modern generation Chinese
internet users are also significantly more knowledgeable, and they are aware of the CCP
and the central government’s bottom lines. Hence, most of them choose to participate in

social events in a much cleverer way to avoid negative consequences, and media com-
panies have adapted to cope with government officials while ‘entertaining’ the internet
users to make profits.

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