The Study Of Internet Rumor In Chinese Public Emergencies

Rumor is not a stranger to us, but this old media form is forming a new shape with the change of social conditions, internet rumor is growing with the fast development of internet. Public emergencies happen frequently in recent China, Internet rumor is the main form of rumor and it release great energy in public emergencies.This article tried to explore the characteristics of internet rumor content, the cause of internet rumor’s overspread in public emergencies, the change of rumor rules in internet era, the effects of internet rumor and government’s reaction to internet rumor.Based on the domestic and international research, the author chose two cases to find out the context and characteristics of rumor in Chinese public emergencies. Different cases show some commonplaces, such as the government is always rumor’s "universal scapegoat" and internet rumor is not vague sometimes.The author discussed the dynamic mechanism of internet rumor in public emergencies from the micro, middle and macro levels. Internet rumor spread not only for people’s cognitive, psychological and interest calculation, but also have connection with network’s interaction and anonymity. Besides, the whole social structure and cultural factors should not be overlooked.This paper discussed the life cycle of rumor, noting public emergencies open "window of opportunity" for internet rumor. Due to the transition of public attention and the effort of denial, the rumor can disappear, but this does not mean it will not come back again, the rumor will have another life once an opportunity arrives. This essay also studied the rules of rumor spread and provide a proposal for internet rumor. Spiral of silence and group polarization are becoming more apparent, but leveling, sharping and adding are not leading to assimilation. The author tried to study rumor’s effects with the neutral position. On one hand, internet rumor has bad effects in public emergencies, such as inspiring people’s negative emotions, breaking social order and reducing government’s credibility. But on the other hand, it can also have some positive effects to society. It is good for the exploration of truth, it can be an effective social "valve" and strengthen oversight to the government. What’s more important, it is a way to participate in public affairs for citizens.We can find government’s progress in solving this problem. Its internet awareness is improving, it uses more media measures and soft ways compared with old days. But Rome was not built in a day, problems still exist, for instance, information disclosure mechanism is not perfect, old propaganda discourse has some difficult to adapt to the network system, collaborative mechanism between multiple subjects is not ideal. The writer proposed some suggestions. Firstly, government should respect the social mentality behind rumors and give positive feedback to people. Secondly, more soft means can be used in the guiding of social psychology. Thirdly, an integrated immune system of internet rumor should be established. Finally, multi forces can be lead into the solution of this problem based on government’s leading.The author would be very happy if this research can provide theoretical basis and interesting cases for the field of internet rumor study in public emergencies and offer some ideas and methods for the governance of this problem.