The Semi-Sovereign Netizen: The Fifth Estate in China

Sun Huan, William H. Dutton, and Weiwei ShenOxford Internet Institute

University of Oxford

Prepared for a Preconference for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association (ICA), Phoenix, Arizona, 23 May 2012.

Irrelevant, Ineffectual, Clicktvisim

Inherently Democratic, Autocratic

Social Shaped: Reinforcement Politics

Enhancing the Communicative Power of Networked Individuals, Enabling a

Fifth Estate

Politics and the Internet

“[Edmund] Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more prominent far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or witty saying; it is a literal fact – very momentous to us in these times.”

Thomas Carlyle (1831), Heroes and Hero-Worship, at www.gutenberg.org.etext/1091

The Fourth Estate

Press since the 18th Century - the ‘Fourth Estate’

Internet in the 21st - enabling a Fifth Estate

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The Fifth Estate

Enabling people to network with other individuals and with information, services and technical resources in ways that support social accountability in business and industry, government, politics, and the media.

Empowering Networked Individuals

Arenas: Networked Institutions Networked Individuals

News Online journalism, BBC Online, Live Micro-Blogging

Netizens, Citizen Journalists, Bloggers, Whistleblowers, Leaks, Churnalism.org, Hacking Blacklash

Democracy E-Democracy, E-Consultation, e-Voting

Obama campaign, Aung San Suu Kyi, Arab Springs, Anti-Bribery Websites

Education Online Learning, Multimedia Classrooms

Backchannels, Informal Learning, Rate My Teacher

Health and Medical NHS Direct, e-mailing safety alerts

Going to the Internet for health information, Sermo

Visiting Journalism Student: Sun Huan

OII Masters Student: Weiwei Shen

Three Case Studies in China

Blocking Xiamen Paraxylene (PX) Chemical Plant

Reporting on Gas Explosion in Nanjing

Challenging Travel Expenses of Guangzhou Maritime Court

Three (Exceptional) Cases

Blocking Paraxylene (PX) Chemical Plant in Xiamen, Fujian Province, 2007

Reporting of Gas Explosion in Nanjing, Jiangsu, 2010

Exposing Waste in Funding of Visit Abroad by Officials of Guangzhou Maritime Court, 2009

Eleven day study trip to South Africa, Egypt, and Turkey by Six Officials

Exceptional Cases

Key Problems Tied to Limits on the Press

5th Estate Changing the Scope of Debate (E.E. Schattschneider) – PX

Need for New Media Literacy and Training

Instinct to Control Media, Rumors – Gas Explosion (support for journalism training)

Build on Accountability - ‘Anti-Corruption’ - Travel

Some Key Themes

Reflections on the Fifth Estate in China