The New Media Era Mass Incidents Public Opinion Research

At present, China is undergoing rapid social transition.Profound reform ineconomic systems, great transformation in social structure, deep adjustments ininterests pattern, enormous changes in ideology and thinking, the acceleratedevolution of social differentiation makes the contradiction and conflicts betweengroups with different interests occur frequently, group events break out one afteranother. Guizhou Weng’an Incident, Yunnan Menglian Incident, Guangdong WukanIncident, Jiangsu Qidong Incident, the picture of violence,just like a piece of red-hotiron is burning our visual nerves. Scale is continually expanding, confrontation isincreasingly becoming fierce, group events pose a threat to economic development,public security and social harmony, which has become a key issue for the governmentand party to solve.The rapid development of mobile communication technology and internettechnology combines newspaper, broadcasting, TV, internet and mobile phone into athree-dimensional network, we have stepped into the New Media Age. The rise ofnew media, especially the wide use of forum, blog, micro-blog and other networktools, widens the channels for people to receive the information. However, it alsoprovides convenience to spread sham news and rumors. After the group events takeplace, relying on new media platform, a lot of false news come into the sight of thepublic, disrupting people’s sight line, inciting people’s emotions, play a role ofbooster to make the matter worse. Facing the coming storm of public opinion, thegovernment, which should have been shouldering the responsibility of guiding thepublic opinion, seems to be confused. Blocking the passage of information, refusingthe medias’ interview, the government gives up the initiative to guide the publicopinion, which causes the rumors to be spread at an alarming rate, people’s restlessmood is infected each other, a negligible incident eventurally evolves into alarge-scale social conflicts.The research on the guidance of public opinion in group events is put forth as a significant subject in this era background. The purpose of the research is that how tobetter play the effect of the guidance of public opinion in communication andcoordination, highlight its function in appeasement and assistance, changeconfrontaion into dialogue, turn disorder into order, to make the derailed social orderrecover as soon as possible, so that the tension of social situation will subside at anearly date. According to the above guiding ideology, the dissertation is written inaccordance with the following ideas: based on the collection of a large number ofcases, the dissertation summarizes the experience and lessons of the guidance ofpublic opinion in group events from positve and negative aspects; then outline andcondense these experience and lessons to explore the objective laws in guiding thepublic opinion in group events; following the above laws, establish and perfect thesystems of the guidance of public opinion in group events to provide more practicablechoices and paths for the effective development of the work.The dissertation consists of three major parts: preface, body and conclusion. Thepreface briefly introduces the background, significance, literature review, researchmethods, innovations and shortcomings etc. The body section is divided into fivechapters, the main contents are as follows:Chapter One briefly introduces the basic theories on guiding the public opinionin group events. What is the guidance of the public opinion in group events? Who isgoing to guide? Guide who? by what? What kind of surroundings we are facing?What kind of ideas, goals and principles should we stick to? These are the corequestions that this chapter will answer. To understand and master these basic theoriesis a necessary prerequisite for us to carry out the public opinion guidance work.Chapter Two deeply discusses the value of the public opinion guidance work ingroup events. It is beneficial to create a harmonious and stable social environment foreconomic development, strengthen and improve the party’s governing capability，andspread socialist core values. Deeply discussing the value of the public opinionguidance work in group events is of long-term guiding significance for us tounderstand the status and role of the public opinion guidance work.Chapter Three outlines the experience and lessons of the public opinion guidance work in group events. In the long-term practice of disposing of group events, the partyand the government accumulated a lot of valuable experience, but it also left a lot ofbloody lessons. By summarising and outlining these experience, we can avoid similartragedies from happening again.Chapter Four explores the objective laws in guiding the public opinion in groupevents. The public opinion guidance work in group events is not a blind behavior,which must follow certain objective laws: The Law of adaptation and transcendence,the Law of interaction, the Law of internalization and externalization, and the Law ofcoordination and control. Only by following the above laws will the guidance workachieve a multiplier effect.Chapter Five aims to easablish and perfect the systems of the public opinionguidance work in group events. To easablish and perfect the information collectionand analysis system, emergency information release system, leadership accountabilitysystem, social self–regulating system, international communication media system,strengthening the multiple defenses to deal with group events, which is beneficial torealize the institutionalization and standardization of the guidance work and maximizeits utility in maintaining social stability.The conclusion section elaborates some personal experience in doing theresearch and points out the future direction of the study.