Debate: Micro blogs

Li Yang

To blog, or not to blog: that is the question

There is no mature legislation to monitor freedom of expression online. As a result, some people fabricate stories to vent their anger over specific issues.

The Chinese government, however, is responsive to opinions on the Internet. Any criticism based on facts can get quick feedbacks thanks to efficient governance. But "no one should fabricate stories or demonize the government to catch people's attention and mount pressure on the government", says Dou Hanzhang, founder of Beijing-based Anti-rumor Union.

Dou's organization specializes in rebutting rumors and fabricated stories circulating online. In fact, it has been most active against rumors on the rescue work at the site of the recent high-speed train crash in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province.

The Internet is more of a social welfare network for Chinese people. Netizens should maintain and protect it as an effective channel of communication between government and civil society. Though some social problems are not solved even in a lifetime, criticizing the government unjustifiably on the Internet cannot reflect factual progress of society, Dou says.

"If a foreigner checks only micro blogs to learn about China, he/she may conclude it is a hopeless society," Dou says. But everybody knows that this is not true. Worse, some influential traditional media spread these rumors irresponsibly to draw the attention of readers or viewers.

Some opinion leaders, say public intellectuals who maintain silence over blatantly fabricated stories have to share some of the blame for that.

But Zhan Jiang, a professor of communication studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, sees micro blogs and rumors in a different light. "Many micro blogs have self-correction and self-purification mechanisms, which makes it easy for them to rebut fabricated stories. No falsity can survive for long before it is replaced by truth."

Wikipedia, for example, is considered liberal and free, and has won worldwide approval for its long-term maintenance, and editing and supplementing by netizens, although its founders were worried about its quality in the beginning.

Zhan raises some other questions in the defense of a liberal online environment. "How much information on the micro blogs is fabricated? How much of it is true? What percentage of micro blogs is constructive enough for meaningful discussion? How serious would the consequences be if a fabricated story is not refuted by rumor busters? Do traditional media carry fewer fabricated stories than the Internet?"

"Freedom of expression and the right to criticize (which micro blogs encourage) are as important as the spread of knowledge, and they should not be politicized," Zhan concludes.

(China Daily 09/05/2011 page9)