Study On The Development Of Civic Journalism Based On Internet In China

Civic journalism is originated from the"public journalism"movement occurring in America in the 1990s, and its primary theory is attributed to theories on public community, participating democracy, and social obligation. Civic journalism has experienced two stages in its developmental history, the transition of which is the result of rapid development of technology in Internet-based media, modern communication, and digital area. And such advancement has made civic journalism shift from the pattern at the end of twentieth century, in which discussions among publics are launched by the media and the solutions to public problems are achieved, to the new pattern at the beginning of twenty-first century, in which the public can express viewpoints of their own freely without having to depend on the media and thus the public opinions and even organizations are formed which are capable of affecting both behaviors of the media and strategies for public issues. In the latter pattern, the practice of civic journalism mainly relies on traditional media, but more frequently relies on the Internet-based media. Moreover, civic journalism dependent on the Internet-based media, that is, Internet-based civic journalism, compared with other types of civic journalism; preeminently embody civic journalism's civilian, participatory, and correspondent characteristics. Accordingly, this paper is focused on the development of Internet-based civic journalism in my country China. Blogs, websites of civic journalism, and wikis are most representative among all of the media based on which civic journalism has developed.This paper concludes that Internet-based civic journalism is more mature both in South Korea and in the U.S.A by comparing and analyzing several cases of Internet-based civic journalism in the U.S.A, South Korea, U.K, and China. The USA excels at blog news as well as wikis news; South Korea is preeminent in Website of civic journalism; The UK's reporting of the bombing event occurring in London reflects the trend in which traditional journalism and the public collaborate based on the media of Internet to report the news; China has just been at the initial step in the field of Internet-based civic journalism, but excels at the comments on the Internet news.I concede that the current conditions of Internet-based civic journalism in China have to do with the advantages and disadvantages of its own. However, it is more relevant with China's special conditions. This paper, according to China's conditions, that is, the current conditions of Internet, laws and regulations as well as the nation's policies in the area of journalism, and the traditional culture and the overall quality of citizens, analyzes the feasibility and predicament of Internet-based civic journalism in China. In the final analysis, several suggestions about the development of Internet-based civic journalism in China are proposed in terms of its own disadvantages and predicaments of Internet-based civic journalism in China.