New Media in China - Essay Example

? New Media in China New Media in China China Central Television (CCTV) began the continuous broadcasting of the earthquake disaster on the morning of 12 May, 2008 to the surprise of millions of people living in China. On the following day, different media outlets in China started publishing their own news and interviews regarding the disaster with transparency and great speed which surprised their counterparts in the West the most and they became curious to know whether China had gone through some changes in policy. (Ditong, 2009). This was unexpected of China. As in the past, Chinese media had never broadcasted instantly news related to natural disasters without the consultation and direction from the Chinese Government. But this was the first time it had behaved differently. In the 1980’s reporting of such disasters was not allowed as it was considered not to be in the best interest of China. It was thought that reporting such events would harm the country’s good reputation. With time, China’s perspective regarding the broadcasting of news related to natural disasters changed to becoming more open and less introvert. And now reporting such events is no longer a politically sensitive issue. This was an example of one medium change among the different forms of Chinese media with the passage of time. All Chinese media experienced similar change as the world advanced. History: Traditional Media to New Media in China With the change of dynasties and rulers, China experienced evolutionary changes in its media reforms. Starting from the 1956, it was the first time that a Chinese computer scientist edited the article on computer theory. In the year 1978, Den Xiaoping, the Time Magazine person of the year, became the ruler of China and he brought a transition from planned to a market economy and also the existing Chinese television channel kept its name as CCTV. In 1979, a first advertisement of a toothpaste was published in Tianjin Daily and a first TV commercial was broadcasted. Furthermore, the “Stars”, a group of artists, made artwork that was not acceptable by the Chinese authority, so they were never allowed to display their works. However, they displayed their portraits outside the Chinese Art Gallery shocking the citizens of China who were culture oriented and the paintings for away from their culture. In 1980, the first woman’s magazine was published on July 1 talking about women’s health, fashion and beauty related issues. In 1982, the Chinese Government declared the Advertisement Management Temporary Regulations. These regulations were not like forced laws and their purpose was to support the advertisement industry and make them progress. Western rock music was discussed for the first time in 1983 in a Chinese magazine called the New Observer (translated). Reforms were introduced by the Chinese Government in that year which decentralized the television and radio broadcasting units to some extent. In 1984, when the Kong Fu television series started airing, the tv series from other countries also began being broadcasted which included the Mexican, Brazilian and Japanese serials. Furthermore, an overseas magazine got published on contract with the New York Magazine. In 1986, many extraordinary changes took place. A global advertising company established its office in China. Secondly, a first email is sent from one Chinese scientist to another living in Switzerland. After another ten years, the internet became available to the common public. In June 1989, China was experiencing an internal conflict which was later named Tiananmen Square Massacre by the West. This conflict was broadcasted live by the CNN in Beijing. For the first time, an internal conflict of China came to be watched by millions of people in the world. However; the government fired two of the CCTV representatives who had participated in that live broadcast. In 1994, an English language newspaper in China created its website which also published foreign news in its content which was racier in nature. In 1995, a newspaper which was the first city newspaper published local news without the direction from the authorities of the Government. Journalists started writing and researching their own stories rather than copying from the higher government authority personals. The regulations related to advertisement that was created thirteen years back turned into a Law. Jack Ma implemented the first commercial website which is currently called the alibaba.com. In 1996, the internet became available to the public and started growing rapidly. It was free from Government regulations and thus the Chinese public was able to access all the information available over the internet with a few restrictions. An internet cafe was also established in Chinghai. In 1997, news related to corruption and other sensitive issues were published by newspapers without any Party intervention. Trade with Hong Kong was re-established and this caused the flow of information as Hong Kong possessed the international media and culture. In 1998, the president of the United States of America agreed with China for making investments on China. In July 1999, Chinese writers sued a company for internet plagiarism and the case was brought to court which was won by the Chinese writers and the company had to pay compensation for doing this crime. In 2000, registration was not needed to connect to an internet connection service as it was required before and this became widespread throughout China. As the use of internet became anonymous and widespread, the Chinese Government filtered and blocked certain foreign websites and put strict regulations on the Chinese internet content. In 2001, the Chinese government ordered the amalgamation of Chinese media with each other in order to compete in area of trade as they had joined the WTO. In 2003, the concept of blogging became prevalent among the Chinese and hence it became on the popular activities. The Beijing News came into existence and talked about health issues such as HIV and AIDS which were never previously discussed by the media. In 2005, China started a channel targeted for the Asian population as the demand for knowing about China had increased and this would satisfy the people. Furthermore, the government announces the change in policy regarding the reporting of natural disaster incidents and their aftermaths to the public. No more restriction was there for the media to report such incidents. Such incidents would no more remain a state secret. In 2006, personal blogs were written by some Government officials and the public started reading and commenting on those blogs and it never made it into traditional media. A law was established on the reporting of breaking news by media which said that it should not be reported without the intervention of Government as it could lead to false news casting and consequently they would be charged with a fine. 2006 was popular for blogging which was a major addition to new media in China. (Goldkorn, 2006). Current State of New Media in China and Its Implications on Society At any one time, 50 million Chinese are either creating or reading blogs. With the introduction of digital media, individuals are now free to talk about any matter of concern, ranging from local corruption, to criticizing government officials. Despite being a forum for users to express ideas and opinions, blogs are now becoming viable sources of revenue from large advertising agencies. For example, Bokee, once the biggest blog site in China which managed two million blog accounts, frequently received large streams of revenue from advertising clientele such as IBM. The reality is that as the Chinese government continues to clamp down on sites such as Bokee, they are also closing off a large stream of online revenue as well as platforms for individuality and expression. Government Intervention and the Great Firewall: China is re-known for it’s tight laws governing the Internet. It’s two main targets of censorship seem to be politics and pornography. In order to control the blogging of these sensitive topics, the government in 2005 introduced a blogger register, which required each individual to show proof of their identity before going online to discuss topics. As the Ministry of Information Industry stated, they want only “healthy, civilized news and information beneficial to the nation to be broadcasted online. In mid 2008, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) reported that China had 250 million Internet users, surpassing the 190 million in the United States. Amongst this figure, approximately 60 million of these users are students, averaging 11.6 hours a week online. In the long run, Chinese researchers believe that new media will have the strongest impact in both rural and urban areas in China as compared to traditional forms of media. When the CNNIC conducted a survey amongst individuals asking them which form of media they gather their information from, they found that the Internet remained the number one source of information as opposed to television and newspapers. One implication that this has had on China’s youth is that they seem to have less interest in political news whereas they develop strong interests in pop culture and entertainment stars such as singers and actors. Perhaps a further implication is that the youths’ little interest may result in the questionability of future governments. (Yagan, 2006). Although constantly changing, the current top websites in China are: Baidu, Tencent QQ, Sina, Ren Ren and NetEase. Another popular issue of debate in China that has arisen with new media besides censorship is that of plagiarism, although they are somewhat intertwined. As news can only come from official news sources, most websites like Sina plagiarize content from established sources such as Xinhua (the official government news agency). In addition, Baidu is facing numerous legal issues from media conglomerates due to giving away free music and video content that users would traditionally have to pay to acquire. It has become apparent that the main function of new media around the world has been to facilitate faster, wider, and more in-depth conversations between its’ users. For example, Ren Ren users are able to upload journals, videos, photos and general thoughts online for their friends to see, and in this way, a constant interaction is kept between them. Sina, much like the American founded website Twitter, enables their users to share their thoughts via short text messaged at lightning speed. With this now acquired ease of global communication, China’s youth is now able to send and make all kinds of information visible; if one site is blocked, they simply switch to another. It is understandable why government censors may feel threatened by the countless rise of new media services; groups in China are now able to use new media to mobilize groups much more quickly and efficiently. In addition, authorities may be overwhelmed with the use of new media as a tool to facilitate conversations between users both in China and abroad to raise questions about the existing government regime in China. As President Hu Jintao once mentioned during a party officials meeting in 2007, the effective management and active usage of the Internet will affect not only national cultural information, but also security as well as long-term stability of the state. This has become the importance of new media and it’s function in allowing individuals like you and I to communicate effectively and efficiently with countless groups of people, from friends, to relatives, to even strangers. It is therefore undoubtedly our individual responsibility to ensure that any information we share and consume through the use of new media is accurate and does not aim to harm individuals nor groups. The difficulty lies in the fact that not every individual will abide by these norms, and new media has given a voice to these certain types of individuals who may aim to disrupt societal norms and structures of government. The credibility and accuracy of new media content, especially here in China therefore rests on a delicate balance between government censorship and individual responsibility. As we see rise in one measure, the other counteracts it. Now that new media has become a dominant source for information gathering and perhaps one of the most important communication tools amongst the youth, continuous strategies have to be designed and implemented so as to promote the freedom of content online, as well as to maintain a harmonious balance between government and individual objectives. It is undoubtedly so that every individual will have different ideals of what information should remain visible and what should be censored; the solution lies in where censorship and individual needs can find a crossroads where they meet. Case Study This case study discusses the new media communication risks and how they can be handled. As the new media, especially the internet (digital and networked), has become widespread, the transfer of loads of information gives rise to information risk. The new media has created a new environment circle involving the Government, public and media. Content analysis of certain websites and using data from several cases of crisis in China, high lights the opportunities and challenges that the new environment circle now faces in terms of keeping a check and balance of information transfer. The case study also then gives recommendation on how the new environmental circle can develop ways to minimize the existing problems of risk communication. The question on how the relationship among Government, public and media should be carried forward and reconstructed in order to eliminate risks is also discussed. In risk management, existence of risk cannot be ignored nor the information having an impact on risk analysis. Two of the important things are distortion and uncertainty of risk information. In China, the scientific dissemination, transparent and openness of risk information is target to opinion orders as the consequence of competitiveness of the Government, public and the media. There exists a dynamic communication system among the three constituting checks and balances. In traditional media, these checks and balances were thought in imaginations and now they are being applied in reality. In order to corporate effectively, the Government should not treat media as its counterpart or subordinate. The Government should establish sound communicating principles which give rise to trust and responsibility between the two parties. In risk management, both government and media have similar responsibilities. The relationship between Government and the public can be explained by the fact that dispute over resolutions is a political process. Therefore, required communication and public participation can solve the dispute to some extent and risks can be reduced. Furthermore, the media is responsible for broadcasting correct and objective information. It is the responsibility of media to transform the public opinions in a positive manner and guide the public opinion so that they can effectively participate in politics of the country. Media should allow freedom for the public so that they can communicate their ideas and suggestions without any reluctance. Their suggestions should be respected and discussed. Media should avoid the suppression of public opinion. Media literacy should be improved on the part of citizens in such a risk-driven society by media playing a vital role in informing the public about risks and how they can be handled. (Tsinghua University, 2010). Conclusion New media has brought new challenges and opportunities for China. In case of the Great Firewall implemented by the Government, it is becoming worse for the public and media and consequently the country to advance. When internet censorship was imposed by China through the Great Firewall, it has been hindering free speech, flow of ideas and creativity. References Bo, Cui. “The Resconstruction of Communication Order in Risk Society: A Case Study on China.” Tsinghua University, 2007. Datong, Li. “China and the Earthquake.” Open Democracy 10 May, 2009. Goldkorn, Jeremy. “Chine Media Timeline.” Danwei 8 June, 2006. Haiqing, Yo. Media and Cultural Transformation in China. USA, Canada: Routledge, 2009. Read More