Research On China's Internet Public Opinion Governance From The Perspective Of Political Communication

Since China's full access to the Internet from 1994,with the development of network technology and network application,the expansion of the scale of netizens,the Internet has gradually become the platform and channel for public interest and opinion expression and political participation because of its decentralized,rapid,strong interaction and open mode of communication.Also the network consensus has gradually become the mainstream consensus in China.Under the objective influence of digital divide and the participation consciousness and ability of netizens,network consensus,as a form of public opinion with "limited scale" and "limited rationality",has produced a comprehensive and profound impact on enhancing the efficiency of expressing citizens' interest expression,strengthening the ability of integrating the opinions of decision makers,promoting democratization of decision-making and political response,and strengthening social supervision.Meanwhile,network public opinions,to some extent,are irrational and uncontrollable due to its decentralized,cross-regional,multi-media and multi-channel communication.Faced with diversified information and channels,the decentralized Internet netizens are prone to result in the "information cocoon effect","cascade effect" and "group polarization effect" under the guidance of mobilization of some organizations or individuals,which leads to the change of opinion climate to extreme fluidization.In recent years,the frequent public opinion crisis caused by network rumors and the reversal of public opinion can be regarded as its typical representation.In addition,the development of online public opinion has caused a drastic change in the public opinion environment: the public opinion field which previously dominated by political logic has been gradually decomposed by market logic and technical logic,and the "unified" public opinion field in the past was divided into official public opinion field and folk public opinion field.Besides that,the overseas public opinion field,which formed the three major public opinion field which confront with each other.The division of public opinion may set up and strengthen the opposition between officials and the people,and destroy the social consensus and the ability to reach consensus,and even induce social tear.This determines that the public power,as the representative of public interest,has the obligation to govern the network public opinion.From the perspective of the rule system of network public opinion governance in china and previous practice of network public opinion governance,the subject of public power has played a leading role in network public opinion governance.With the development of network information media and application,China has gradually formed a network public opinion governance mode with media and news information control as the core,administrative regulations as the main body,and gradual adjustment.From the point of view of governance effect,this model effectively improves the controllability of network media and network information,and plays a positive role in maintaining the stability of social order and national ideological security.However,in the process of network public opinion governance,the subject of public power pays more attention to the media attribute of the network and emphasizes the control of the negative function of the network public opinion: on the one hand,it prolongs the governance train of thought of the traditional media in the governance mode,and pays attention to the control of the channel and the source of information;On the other hand,some local governments and departments lack the experience of public opinion response,and often regard the network public opinion as a monster,using deleting posts,sealing names,setting sensitive words,and even the "leveling" public opinion coping style,which is directly intervened by the public security organs online.China's network public opinion governance reflects the distinctive characteristics of "regulation and suppression".In the process of network public opinion governance,the main body of public power plays a dominant role in the setting of governance objectives and governance rules,as well as in the implementation of governance rules,which endows China with a distinct political nature of network public opinion governance.From the point of view of politics,the governance of network public opinion in China itself is a kind of behavior of the use of public power,which not only needs to investigate its effectiveness,but also needs to consider the legitimacy of the application of power.In addition,the functional diversity of network public opinion also determines the complexity of the governance effect of network public opinion.Therefore,how to control the negative externalities of network public opinion governance has become one of the standards to examine the effect of network public opinion governance.By examining the current governance mechanism of network public opinion according to the three standards of legitimacy,effectiveness and negative externality,it can be found that there are still three risks in the governance model of network public opinion in China: lack of legitimacy,insufficient effectiveness and blocking of network public opinion channels.The theory of political communication pays attention to the importance of "public opinion" as information.From the perspective of political communication,network public opinion,as a form of "limited scale" and "limited rationality",not only as a "social skin",has positive functions such as symbolizing contradictions,social early warning,power supervision and improving the legitimacy and quality of decision-making,but may also pose a threat to social order,national security,especially ideological security.In the view of political communication theory,there are two aspects of network public opinion governance: one is the political propaganda with network media and network information management as the core,this network public opinion governance mode tends to strengthen the control mode of information source and information channel,improve the controllability of network information,especially news information,in order to realize the goal of network public opinion governance;The second is the political decision-making with the construction and maintenance of consultative communication channels as the core.This network public opinion governance model pays attention to the construction,expansion and maintenance of network public opinion,and tends to integrate,respond and manage the network public opinion in the way of consultative communication,so as to realize the effective response to the network public opinion crisis and the effective absorption of network public opinion,and promote the positive function of network public opinion.However,the governance of network public opinion in China focuses on the face of political propaganda,but is not focused on the governance of network public opinion with political decision as the core.The three risks of network public opinion governance require that in the process of network public opinion governance,the subject of public power should pay attention to ensuring the legitimacy of the rules themselves and the implementation of the rules by negotiation,so as to enhance the effectiveness of cooperative governance of multiple subjects,in order to communicate and ensure the smooth channel of network public opinion,and find the positive role of political communication logic in optimizing the governance mechanism of network public opinion.This study examines the governance of network public opinion from the perspective of political communication,constructs an analytical framework,combs the historical evolution and the present situation,clarifies the three risks and reasons existing in the current mechanism of governance of network public opinion,puts forward the "political communication logic" characterized by negotiation,coordination and communication as the optimization idea of the governance of network public opinion,and provides the coordination of perfecting the legal system of network public opinion governance and strengthening the cooperation of pluralistic governance subjects.Promote the standardization of the behavior of the governance subject,and promote the systematic construction of the network public opinion governance system embedded in the national governance system.