A Study On The Social Harm And Countermeasures Of The Internet Rumors

In recent years, with the rise and rapid development of internet technology, the spread ofrumor is no longer limited to word of mouth, but more with the internet media. Comparedwith traditional rumor spreading, internet rumor spreading has been greatly extended, boththe spreading speed and spreading range, especially in emergencies and major incidents. Theproliferation of internet rumors has seriously affected social harmony and stability. Toexplore the regularity of network rumors, to analyze the causes and consequences of networkrumors in real life,, to prevent and deal with internet rumors, to solve the problem of Internetrumors to society from the source, and to provide a good environment for the healthydevelopment of the Internet, has become an urgent social problem to solve.To avoid the Internet from becoming irrational space of venting people’s emotions andmisleading people’s choices, but one platform to promote social progress and ideologicalstability as well as personal development, it need not only the legal system to regulate andguide needed to improve, but the joint efforts of a vast network of technicians, monitors, anda variety of media. To improve the quality of Internet users, to establish the responsemechanisms, and to strengthen the role of the media itself as a gatekeeper, to prevent theemergence of the Internet rumors to promote the smooth settlement of the practical problem.Therefore, the study on the social harm and countermeasures of the Internet rumors can notonly improve the legal consciousness of Internet users, enhance their social sense ofresponsibility, contribute to the standardization of Internet media and citizen communicationbehaviors, and help the government to have scientific and effective prevention andcontrolling of Internet rumors, but can also have extremely important theoretical and practicalsignificance, for the maintenance of social harmony and stability and the country’s long-termstability, and the smooth development of the socialist modernization.The paper’s structure and main content: the review part mainly discusses the backgroundand significance of the research, the study on the Internet rumor problem by domestic andforeign scholars, research status and solving strategies, the theoretical significance andpractical significance, as well as the research methods and writing ideas. The first part is the Internet rumor interpretation. Through the rumor phenomenon in history as well as thedifferent definitions of rumor by the domestic and foreign scholars, interpretation of theInternet rumors meaning, characteristics and categories are concerned, pointing out thatInternet rumors still belongs to the traditional rumors, but it is a new form by using theInternet to spread rumors, with new communication features and routes of spreading in theInternet age. The second part is the main reason for the proliferation of Internet rumors. Thefirst half part describes the four major social harms of the Internet rumors: causing publicpanic and endangering social harmony; reducing public trust in the Internet information;increasing the difficulty of the solution to the event; damaging the individual and collectivereputation. A profound analysis of the three main reasons for the proliferation of Internetrumors appears in the second half part: a weak government regulation and awareness andlagging; the lack of civic awareness and scientific knowledge; defects on the Internet mediaitself. The third part is the prevention and control measures of Internet rumors. From threeaspects of the analysis: one is to effectively play the leading role of our government, thegovernment should be a timely release information, public truth; Improve the managementregulations, regulating the propagation behavior; Improve early warning mechanism, improvethe preventive ability; The second is to strengthen the supervision and administration of thenetwork transmission, including increasing the supervision of the news media, strengthen thenetwork rumors shielding dynamics, to play "opinion leaders" positive role; Three is toimprove public moral and legal consciousness, including further carry out citizen qualityconstruction, improve the public’s legal consciousness, enhance the sense of socialresponsibility.The research methods in this thesis include: literature search, cases analysis andcombination of theory and practice. Many materials concerning internet rumors werecollected from internet and other kind of literature, e.g. journals, newspapers and books,which supported sufficient cases and theoretical arguments.The conclusion of this thesis is: internet rumors are rumors spread through internet; withthe development of internet technique, the harms of internet rumors to society are getting serious. The prevention and governance of internet rumors is a systematical project, whichrequires the consideration of the actual conditions of China, analyze specific problem withspecific way. Only through the collaboration of government, internet Medias and public, fullyconduct the leading role of government, strengthen the monitor and management to internetMedias, promote citizen’s moral and legal consciousness, we can promote the consistent andhealthy development of internet and maintain the harmony and stability of society.