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Net no mirror of public views

By Xiao Lixin (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-13 08:02

The Internet has given ordinary people the opportunity to voice their opinions on many issues and present their suggestions to governments. And it has given governments the chance to get the public's feedbacks more easily.

The influence of the Internet can be gauged from a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report last year, titled Society of China: Analysis and Forecast 2010, which says Web forums and blogs brought 23 of the 77 hot social issues in 2009 to the public's notice.

Wang Lingning, a professor at the College of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai International Studies University, says mainstream public opinion in cyberspace is good. Most netizens think the governments can get to know people's feelings and views through the Internet, which can help civil servants improve their work and settle social problems fairly.

But the difference in educational qualification and age of Internet users can cause some negative effects, says Wang, who has been working on the media's effects on the public, especially rural residents. Being free, the Internet has given people the chance to also post unnecessary and/or unjustified appeals, comments, opinions and criticisms on online forums and blogs.

A China Internet Network Information Center report, released in July 2010, shows that China had 420 million netizens by the end of June 2010, among which 115.08 million (about 27.4 percent) were from rural areas and about 60 percent were below the age of 30. The overall education level of Internet users, however, is declining. More than one-fourth (27.5 percent, to be precise) of Chinese Internet users have studied only till junior middle school or below, and 9.2 percent have just had primary school education.

Besides, the largest group (about one-third) of all Chinese Internet users are teenage students, who are still immature. Teenagers tend to be too emotional or casual when expressing their opinions and can represent only their age group.

Netizens' income is another important factor that we cannot ignore while analyzing public opinion in cyberspace. More than half of the netizens earn less than 2,000 yuan a month.

Though further studies are needed to show exactly how much the above factors influence Web opinions, we can at least say that the views of netizens are just part of the overall public opinion, because Internet users don't include most of the senior citizens and children left behind in rural areas and migrant workers, who make up a large part of China's population.

Moreover, because of lack of a filtering process like those present in the traditional media, not all information available on the Internet is authentic. And since part of the information on the Internet is wrong, netizens can form wrong opinions if they rely on such information.

Another reason why opinions expressed on the Internet cannot be accepted as truly representative is that all netizens do not respond to all issues. Specific cases draw specific people to the Internet. Burning issues are likely to draw more netizens' comments. But then many important issues may not attract the comments of the most knowledgeable Internet users. Thus, the opinions available on the Internet, in most cases, cannot be accepted as those of the majority.

As long as people manipulate BBS (bulletin board system) and other Web systems, unilateral voices, which do not represent true public opinion, will keep flowing into online forums.

Many people may argue that the more extreme a social issue, the better solution and treatment it would receive on Internet forums, such as forcible demolitions, which sparked heated debates among online communities across the country.

This may give people an impression that petition through the Internet works more effectively than that through snail mails and visits. Wang, however, says that may not necessarily be the case.

Look at what has been happening. Driven by companies' urge to make more profit, "cyber marines", or Internet commentators hired by online public relations (PR) companies, began mushrooming five years ago. Today, they have grown in numbers and scale both. Among other things, their employers use them to concoct public opinion to slander their business rivals.

This has disturbed public order, as was evident in the scandal involving two Chinese dairy giants. One of the dairy companies collaborated with a PR company to slander its biggest rival by posting a series of fabricated news online and then making hired "cyber marines" discuss the issue agitatedly to keep the postings on top of some well-known online forums.

Lack of proper supervision makes it possible for some netizens to twist the voices of grassroots people or take advantage of them.

That's why it's important to have regulations to thoroughly clean up online PR companies that are distorting public opinion.

Under the given circumstances, people cannot follow online opinions blindly. Governments, on their part, can solicit public opinions but they have to treat these views rationally because not all of them are true.