Cyberspace Government Public Opinion Crisis Management

In the information age, as a result of network dissemination's openness and interactivity, various thoughts and points of view were exchanged and collided here. The network already became the open market with the public opinion and the emotional catharsis. The Internet not only provides the public with a platform for freedom of expression, but also for the public to monitor the government administrative act and promptly carry out equal dialogue with the government to create an interactive environment of public opinion. However, the development of technology has always been a two-edged sword. The network will not only bring people the convenience of political, economic and life, but also inevitably result in a potential threat to the social stability. Network is full of false, reactionary, violent ideas and bad social factors. As the growing of the democracy degree and the citizen's political enthusiasm, a government or government official's action is under the supervision of the people. A slightest mistake would be led to a public trial. With the stimulation of these adverse factors, the public opinion is likely toward the emotional, irrational direction. The fact indicated that some network outstanding persons' viewpoints can easily affect public when they are at a loss with facing the magnanimous information. If these opinion leaders'viewpoints are negative and extreme, the negative public opinion will possibly be led to one side under the influence of these"mainstream opinion". By the "virtual series" and"community collection" of network communication, these extreme negative public opinion are likely to have a strong avalanche effect, if not properly guided, a government public opinion crisis in cyberspace may break out within a moment. If government can not correctly guide public opinion and defuse the crisis in time, the government's image will suffer. Even the government's ruling status and legitimacy will be seriously challenged. On the contrary, to control and guide the public opinion correctly is of great practical significance for resolving the crisis and safeguarding national stability and promoting the harmonious development of society. Therefore, in the information age, how to correctly guide opinion and defuse opinion crisis has become a key issue to government's administration and public services. It not only has the important practice significance, moreover is one of the social topics which have important research value.The thesis is divided into six parts to discuss the formation and control system of government public opinion crisis in cyberspace.The 1st chapter is an introduction which is divided into three parts: first, the origin of the problem; the second, domestic and international perspective; the third, contents, methods and innovations.The 2nd chapter firstly by the definition of crisis and public opinion to deduce the definition of government public opinion crisis in cyberspace; secondly by comparing the government public opinion crisis and the sudden crisis to deduce the nature of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace; and then listing the five development cycle of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace; finally making an in-depth analysis of the double impacts of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace.The 3rd chapter firstly from the point of Internet culture to analyze the external causes of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace, and then from the point of public opinion formation mechanism to analyze the dynamic causes of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace, the last from the point of the government's low credibility to analyze the internal causes of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace.The 4th chapter proposed four governance principles and six governance mechanisms of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace.The 5th chapter analyzed how the"South China tiger"incident turned into a public crisis and concluded four reconsiderations.The 6th chapter is the conclusion part which made a summary of this study and showed the prospect and outlook of the government public opinion crisis in cyberspace.In theory, this paper stand at a new angle to the context of cyberspace, using literature reviews, combination of theoretical and empirical, interdisciplinary and other research methods to study government's public opinion crisis Systematically. This study uses multidisciplinary knowledge of political science, communication and management and other subjects to define its meaning and determine its study object, study area, making it a complete crisis management system of government public opinion. In practice, this paper analyzed the essence, causes, influence, governance principles and mechanisms of government's public opinion crisis in cyberspace which can help guide related departments in crisis time guide public opinion timely and correctly defuse Public opinion crisis. The study of this paper can earnestly enhance the crisis treatment level and decision capacity of government including enhancing government credibility and remodeling government's authority image.