Many local governments are stunned by the challenges of this new phenomenon.
Last December， Xidian University， a state university， was discovered to have stolen private information of over ten thousand students and applied for credit cards on their behalf in exchange for a donation from a bank. When questioned by a reporter， Qiang Jianzhou， Xidian’s Communications director threatened to shut down tianya.cn， China’s top online forum. He then tried to have the reporter detained， but failed. His bullying tactics infuriated netizens and he was later forced to make a public apology.
Also in late 2008， local township governments in Shanxi and Hebei Provinces tried to bribe journalists in an effort to block the news of tragic mining accidents involving dozens of deaths. The information was later leaked online， leading to the punishment of dozens of local officials.
“Many local officials， even officials who directly regulate the Internet， lack Internet literacy，” said Professor Zhan Jiang. “They are not aware that crackdown policies will not work in cyberspace.”
“Public supervision via the Internet has almost become a religion，” said Cai， a longtime blogger and a senior Internet media professional， who asked not to use his real name. “If you look at the history， prosecution of any religion has not made it disappear； it’s only served to strengthen it.”
Some local governments have employed unconventional means to appease online public pressure. In the aforementioned case of Li Qiaoming， the Yunnan government organized an investigation team comprised of eight netizens to visit the prison in question. The move was at first applauded by netizens， but was later ridiculed.
“The action itself shows disrespect to the law，” said Cai， the blogger. “The police simply do not have the legal authority to organize a netizen investigation team.”
Cai praised the Harbin municipal government for its response to the case of a youngster that was killed by six local policemen outside a night club. “The reason the fury surrounding this case dissipated rather quickly is because the local government disclosed the video recording of the whole process to the public，” said Cai.“After all， people are simply asking for hard truth and transparency.”
So far the majority of the online responses have focused only on the misconduct of local bureaucrats. It seems that it will take a long time before this type of participation leads to any systematic changes to relevant political institutions and regulations.
“We have not seen a clear pattern of systematic change emerge from these cases， only separate and isolated reactions in different cases by different local governments，” said Cai.
Could Public Supervision lead to Good Governance？
The responses and changes in behavior by local governments seem to have been reactionary and passive， rather than proactive. Without a system to link public supervision and governance， local governments tend to be more concerned with quickly appeasing the public instead of revealing real truth or reforming the existing system to prevent similar problems. This could further netizens’ suspicions and distrust of local governments， and lead to more controversy in the future.
In the case of Deng Yujiao， local authorities later suggested the theory that she was “mentally ill，” apparently a thinly veiled attempt to appease netizens by exempting Deng from punishment， while preserving the reputation of local officials at the same time.
To Professor Zhan， the public supervision via the Internet serves to promote public participation in political life. “Although the responses of various local governments have been rather different， in almost every case， they have caved to the pressure of the netizens，” he said. “I think it will definitely increase government transparency in general.”
In the hope of bringing forth broader changes， many have urged higher authorities to intervene. In the prolonged “Tiger Zhou” case in 2007 and 2008， in which it became apparent that the provincial government was reluctant to investigate its own officials， many called for the central government to step in and evaluate the authentication of relevant evidence. The national government declined to do so and said that it trusted the provincial government’s decisions.
But， the central government decided to intervene in the case of Li Qiaoming. After it was discovered that Li was killed by prison thugs (and not during a game of “hide-and-seek”)， the Ministry of Public Security initiated a national campaign to eliminate gangsters in prison.
It is evident that the new trend in Internet media is not going unnoticed among China’s top leaders. On June 20， 2008， President Hu Jintao， communicated with netizens for the first time via the Qiangguo (Strong China) Forum of the People’s Daily Online. More recently， Premier Wen Jiabao chatted with netizens in Feb. 2009， and said that the government needs to learn about people’s concerns through netizens. According to Professor Zhan， President Hu during internal meetings talked about the Internet as a third type media after the Party media and commercial media.
The success of the Internet has also prompted the government to change the style of some of its traditional media. China Central Television (CCTV)， China’s premier state-run television station， has proposed a change to its rigid style of prime-time news broadcasting in order to bring it closer to the people.
Nevertheless， with the government’s call for “proper guidance” of the Internet， as well as the newly launched requirement to install the controversial filter software，
“Green Dam” on new personal computers， many are worried that the authorities continue to be concerned with keeping the rebellious Internet media in check.
It’s important that the government set up a mechanism to solve the complaints of the people，” said Professor Zhan. “Otherwise， these online exposés will never go away.”
July 2009
