DELIBERATIVENESS OF ONLINE POLITICAL DISCUSSION

Abstract

Citizen participation in online political debate and the Internet's effect on Chinese society have become an important research field. However, few studies so far have examined the use of interactive functions by Chinese newspaper websites to facilitate online discussion of civil issues, or the quality of public debate on the websites of Chinese online newspapers. Using the concept of the public sphere as its theoretical framework, this article aims to advance this line of inquiry through content analysis of the Guangzhou Daily website—Dayoo.com—to explore both the potential and the limits of the Internet in fostering civic engagement. Key variables measured include the quantity of posts and participants, topicality, nature of the argument (i.e. justification, complexity and civility), and responsiveness and homogeneity of contributions. Findings suggest that a political public sphere in Chinese cyberspace is emerging at the incipient stage, where the quality of discourse has reached a certain level but is not yet mature in terms of the complexity of dialogue and the exposure to disagreement.

Keywords:

• citizen participation
• deliberativeness
• online discussion
• public sphere

Notes

1. The Guangzhou Daily is a paper organ of the Municipal Communist Party of Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province. It is also the best-seller among all the organs of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1996, the Guangzhou Daily Group was established as the first press group in China. Guangdong, a province in Southern China, has consistently stood in the forefront in most indicators of modern telecommunications and Internet development in China.

2. In March 1998, Shen Hongjia, a college faculty member, wrote a letter to the Southern Weekend to complain about the services of the Shangdong Administration of Post and Telecommunication and the Jinan Telecommunication Bureau. The publication of the letter led to a large-scale public debate on China Telecom. However, soon after the intervention from the top administration, newspapers had to stop the debate, and the debate moved to online discussion forums in China. The heated online discussion turned out to be a focal point of coverage on the CCTV, which had pushed forward the reforms of China Telecom.

3. There were 61 entries, 16.1 percent of the total, with a topic other than the ones above.