Abstract
In the year 2013, the number of public opinion incidents with a greater “heat” or pressure profile has decreased compared to 2012. While the number of public opinion incidents pertaining to organizations and institutions has increased, the proportion of such incidents to the total has decreased. A large number of public opinion incidents were related to improper speech and behavior, public policies, and breaches of the law. Attention levels were the highest with regard to public opinion incidents pertaining to natural disasters. Among various municipalities, provinces, and autonomous regions, Beijing contributed the highest number of public opinion incidents. The time taken between the occurrence and the public exposure of a public opinion incident has become shorter. Response times on the Weibo services have become slightly shorter. New media outlets continue to be the exposure medium of choice, although the proportion of exposures via traditional media has risen slightly. Local governments are the key intervening actors, and tend to intervene more quickly. The 2012 Public Opinion Pressure Index was the highest for the period 2003–2013. Based on the distribution of public opinion pressure in the last 11 years, the index is comparatively higher in Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Henan.
Principal investigator: Xie Yungeng.
Key authors: Gao Yunwei; Li Mingzhe; Zheng Guangjia; Liu Cong; Liu Rui; Wan Xuan’ao; Qin Jing.
Statistical analysis: Rong Ting; Qiao Rui; Zhang Xuyang; Li Jing.
Other members of the research team: Liu Yi; Chen Wei; Gao Lu; Wang Yaoyao; Jing Zhe; Yang Huifang; Zhang Xinmiao; Yin Danyang; Yang Qian; Wang Mengying; Yin Yibei; Liu Wei.
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Notes
- 1.
In terms of sampling, the 2014 Blue Book uses as its study subjects the top 1000 public opinion incidents named for the years 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively. The total sample size is thus 3000. On the other hand, the 2013 Blue Book takes as its research subjects the top 5000 public opinion incidents for the period 2003–2012. Of these 5000, 919 cases occurred in 2011 and 1593 in 2012. As the sampling differed between the 2013 and 2014 Blue Book, both the sample sizes and data generated also differed across the two reports.
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- 3.
China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) (2014).
- 4.
- 5.
Tencent (2013).
- 6.
China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) (2014).
- 7.
WeChat Accounts for Government Affairs Realizes “Government-Citizen Communication at One’s Fingertips”. CNII.com.cn, December, 9, 2013. http://www.cnii.com.cn/informatization/2013-12/09/content_1267590.htm.
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Media Opinion Monitoring Office (2013).
- 9.
On September 9, 2013, the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Handling of Defamation through Information Networks and Other Criminal Cases” stipulates that where “the same defamatory information is actually clicked or browsed for more than 5000 times or is forwarded for more than 500 times” the case should be regarded as a “serious circumstance” that is an offense under Article 246 of the Criminal Law punishable by a maximum of 3 years in jail, detention, restricted movement, or the forfeit of the offender's political rights. http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2013-09-10/063028175998.shtml.
- 10.
Source: China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) (2014).
References
China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). (2014, January 16). 33rd statistical report on internet development in China.
Media Opinion Monitoring Office. (2013, December). 2013 report on the state of development for government-affairs accounts on Tencent Weibo and WeChat.
Tencent. (2013, December 27). Report on Guangdong’s use of WeChat in governance. http://gd.qq.com/a/20131227/015410.htm.
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Gao, Y. et al. (2019). 2013 Report on Online Public Opinion Incidents. In: Xie, Y. (eds) Report on Chinese Social Opinion and Crisis Management. Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4003-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4003-0_2
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