| Abstract |
Chinese-language
online news websites were content analyzed using Massey and Levy's (1999)
five-dimensional conceptualization of interactivity. Results indicate that
the characteristics of online news services - interactivity, popularity
and controllability - combine to establish China's implementation of
cyber transparency as vertical relationships of authority and dependence.
These relationships are facilitated through nuanced channeling of public
discourse that utilize asynchronous interactivity to temporally disassociate
the individual user from overlapping online local communities, which could
pose a threat to political and social stability through collective action.
As a result, the findings show that the Chinese Government can utilize the
Internet to its own benefit and increase stability by engaging with interactive
technology within a proactive framework of legal, technical and social measures
to guide levels of civic engagement by users and maintain control and propaganda
modalities.
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