Abstract
Little has been known about China’s policing of the Internet until recently, when researchers began publishing insights on the types of messages that gets deleted and permitted on various social media platforms, as well as whether or not such moderations are performed automatically. Many discussions have focused on how such efforts may undermine the democratic potential and civic actions that may be empowered and facilitated by the Internet. Two cases discussed in this paper show a different picture: the aftermath of a train collision in Wenzhou in 2011, and an elaborate plan by a company to take out its competition – both utilizing social media. Structuration theory is used to analyse the types of agency, structures, and power negotiations that can be observed in both cases. The paper then reports a survey carried out with 499 participants on their perceptions of both cases, focusing on how trust propensity and types of information may shape their perceptions of media credibility. Results show that trust propensity was only significant in shaping perceptions of credibility for social media, but the types of information is significant in shaping perceptions of credibility for both mainstream and social media. Implications are drawn for media literacy as well as how civic actions function within China.
Highlights
As participants who use social media more may show greater levels of confidence in information circulated from social media, a crosstabulation analysis was done between media exposure and trust in each of the four statements to find out if differences in media exposure may be significant in driving these findings
While it was expected that participants might show greater distrust in information reported on mainstream media in the Wenzhou train collision event, it was surprising that the same trend was observed for the Mengniu Dairy Company scandal
Using two controversial cases where social and mainstream media were respectively utilized by Chinese citizens and authorities or business organizations to pursue their desired agenda, the study has shown the effects of information and trust propensity on perceived confidence in mainstream and social media platforms within China
Summary
A survey questionnaire was set up online using Survey Monkey, and advertised via Renren, Weibo, Douban, and Qzone between 1 August to 28 September 2012. Participants had to fulfill two screening criteria before they were allowed to complete the questionnaire: a) they use both mainstream and social media platforms in China, and b) they have used them to seek information about both cases (the Wenzhou train collision and the Mengniu Dairy Company scandal). Given that the average age of typical Chinese Internet users is 28 years old (Liu, 2010), the resulting sample is representative in terms of age. Given that it was an online questionnaire, there are sampling limitations as users in certain areas are less likely to have good Internet access to participate in the questionnaire. Wenzhou and Ningbo were purposive, given that the Wenzhou train collision happened in the Zhejiang Province – of which the two cities are a part of)
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