Page 38 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

an autonomous environment for public participation, hence making the internet an ideal

tool for ‘from-below’ politics (Castells, 2001; Taylor and Saarinen, 1994). The unidi-
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rectional communication in the traditional media made it easier for political authorities
to manipulate information, whereas the openness and bi-directional nature of the inter-
net enabled communication by different voices (Luo, 2010).
The increasing volume of internet use and citizen participation has enabled de-

mocracy and publicness in the online public sphere. The internet has become the major
medium for the public to express political opinion and exercise democratic power in
China (Shi, 2010). Chen and Hu (2014, p.25) drew the analogy of citizens inputting

raw material (public opinion) to the public sphere, and the political authorities then
conducting a degree of processing and shaping before it finally transfers to the output
for public policy formulation and implementation.
The internet media have generated a new sense of community in which individ-
uals are reunified (Poster, 2001; Ferdinand, 2000), and which have restructured the

public sphere by providing an uninhibited and nonconforming form of communication
(Reid, 1999). Citizens’ views were integrated, which further fostered the socialisation
of political power and led to progress in democratisation, highlighting the spirit of me-

dia dissemination (Tan, 2008; Yang, 2009).
Luo (2010) believed that the internet and online culture awakens, stimulates and
reinforces citizens’ awareness of democracy, freedom and equality in China. Virtual
space displays a sense of freedom that Chinese citizens have long been seeking, and
the nature of online virtual space is in accord with Habermas’s premises for the public

sphere (ibid). The Chinese characteristics featured in the online public sphere stand
between the virtual space and the real world; thus, the internet works as a medium that
bridges and coordinates the two societies and the realm of their mutual relationship

(Xiong, 2012). In this sense, China’s online public sphere is somewhat detached from
the state, which makes it possible to form a rational public sphere for interaction be-
tween the state, individuals and other stakeholders (ibid).
However, other scholars hold sceptical views regarding the form of the online

4 Traditional media here includes press, broadcast, newspaper and TV.

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