Page 41 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 2. Literature review

to those opportunities and constraints.

The concept was originally used to explain information effect on political organi-
sations in the US. In American political history, the information regime was interrupted
by information revolutions which involved changes in the accessibility of information.
As Esarey and Xiao (2011, p.301) have pointed out, an information revolution disrupts
a prior information regime by generating new opportunities for political communica-

tion and the organisation of collective action. This highlights the role of intermediary
organisations in the information flow between citizens and the state, and how informa-
tion enables or constrains political opportunities.

In the light of Bimber’s theory, Esarey and Xiao (2011) built on different periods
of the information regime to reflect the government’s changing attitudes towards the
media market and information management in China. Three phases of information re-
gime were identified: a Soviet-style propaganda state; commercial media; and the digi-
tal age.

Information Regime 1 dealt with the period when China was in the shadow of
Marxist-Leninist and Maoist ideology between 1949 and 1978, in which the media
market was completely dominated by the government and information was tailored to

promote the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s policies. As Zheng (2008) has indicat-
ed, the pursuit of sustainable economic growth made the ruling party embark on science
rather than democracy in order to maintain the state’s leadership. According to Deutsch
(1996):
‘it might make sense to think of government somewhat less as a problem of pow-

er and somewhat more as a problem of steering. Steering is decisively a matter of
communication, and information is essential for communication’ (Deutsch, 1966,
p.82).

Therefore, totalitarian rule over information was how the government manipulat-
ed communication among the public.
Information Regime 2 (1979 – 2002) began with the opening-up policy, which
brought major changes in China (Esarey and Xiao, 2011). Reform policies in urbanisa-
tion and marketisation led to the media industry evolving to a commercialised market

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