1、1Police Jump on the Blogging BondwogonWHO says Internet bloggingis the domain of indepen-dent free-wheelers? Thepolice authority of XiamenCity in coastal Fujian Province put awanted poster on its micro-blog askingfor public assistance to locate a suspectin a ease of ehfld murder.That was No-vember 2
2、3,2010,and only six days laterthe suspect was caught thanks to infor-mation gathered on the net.The incidentis part of a growing trend to develop thepotential of online policing functions,with authorities using the latest technolo-gies to upgrade services and foster usefulinteraction with the public
3、.Since Chinasfirst police blog was opened in Zhaoqing,Guangdong Province on February 2010,hundreds of such examples have poppedup all over the nation. Public-Assisted Policing The police micro-blog opens a con-venient and express channel for citizensto assist and monitor police work; thispush-pull m
4、edia function and the result-ing transparency on 2policing activity hasturned out to be a powerful addition tothe arsenal of police functions.On Au-gust 23,2010 someone left a messageon the Beijing Police micro-blog report-ing young panhandlers in a ChaoyangDistrict neighborhood; the group weresuspe
5、cted of being manipulated by adultleaders.The information was immedi-ately passed to relevant departments,and by the afternoon of the next daythe beggars had been taken to a home-less shelter.The officers swift responsewas praised by visitors to the blog,whohailed the use of conversation in virtuals
6、pace as a wellspring of solutions to realworld problems. After a festival stampede killed over3o0 people in Cambodia in November2010,the police blog maintained by He-bei Province promptly uploaded an illus-trated piece on self-protection in chaoticcrowd situations.Within minutes it at-tracted consid
7、erable web traffic,and wastransmitted thousands of times in justthree hours,accompanied by commentscalling the post highly practical. Humanity and Relevance The public was skeptical when policemiero-blogs 3debuted.Security Zhao-qing was the first police miero-blog inChina,and in its early days offer
8、ed whatamounted to insipid government newsand general precautions against theftor conflagration,terms which,pluggedinto a search engine,will yield thousandsof listings.A person under the name“ehen3“ chided authorities with the mes-sage: “If a blog has to be so official, Isee no sense in its existenc
9、e.“ The criticsfeelings were shared by the majority ofvisitors to the site.Officers who oper-ated the blog took the criticism on boardand set about modifying its content andlayout,making the language more directand sassy and adding interactive featuresand service functions. Today the average police
10、micro-blogis more versatile and inclusive than theoriginal attempt.The news section,forinstance,may cover attention-worthyhappenings from the whole spectrum of social concerns instead of focusing nar-rowly on crime.It is standard practice tohave sports and entertainment entries,and some even set up
11、a collective novelwriting program,inviting visitors tocomplete the plot of a crime story.Thewording is also warmer and more ap-pealing.Some blogs post photos of of-fleers on duty,and lively conversationsoften transpire with visitors - laced withthe same 4Internet slang encountered inany on-line chat
12、 room. Such exchanges effectively smoothand soften the rigid image the publicholds of policemen.The micro-blog runby the Jinshan Police Station in XiamenCity keeps a diary of police trivia andstatistics.One of the episodes mentionedthat the station handles more than 100lost children every year,and s
13、taff haveto entertain and care for them round theclock until their parents are found.Suchitems resonate widely with the publicwho have responded that policing seemsnot to be such easy work.Qiu Dafeng,the columns editor,said that his officelaunched the diary for the purpose ofclearing up misunderstan
14、dings about theforce.“We want to present to Internetusers what we do everyday and how wefeel,and in doing so win their under-standing and support.“ The diary,titledPolice Titbits,has expanded its regularreadership to 16,000. Like the classic Ione blogger,policestations opening communal fronts invirt
15、ual space are subject to both posi-tive and negative responses.They havelearnt to remain rational and tolerant inthe face of complaints or even blisteringcriticism.For a period,the GuangzhouPolice miero-blog had to suspend itsmessage board and the move ignitedstrong protests online.The complaintswer
16、e along the lines of: “What is 5the pur-pose of keeping a blog if the operatorswant to muzzle responders and block theflow and exchange of opinions?“ Publiccensure streamed in and the commen-tating function soon had to be restored.Later the provincial police authoritydrew up guidelines for the manag
17、ementof the blog,promised to abstain fromrestricting or closing comment functions,but also announced its intention to weedout empty talk or dilatory replies.Theguidelines also stipulate that officers re-spond to complaints or questions filed byvisitors within 24 hours,one week or onemonth based on t
18、he complexity of theease involved. Medium or Message? The proliferation of Interuet technol-ogy heralds a new era in government-cit-izen relationships.Since the first micro-blog completed its test run in China inAugust 2009,the number of its subscrib-ers has ballooned and is projected to top100 mill
19、ion this year. Government organs who open micro-blogs have dual benefits according to YuGuoming,vice president of the School ofJournalism and Communication,Ren-rain University of China.Merely usingthe common touch and capturing 6publicattention may be benefits enough,butthe timely release of news on
20、 government moves,and the existence of a platformmaintaining extensive and instant com-munication with the publie - particularlyin times of emergency - are two criticalfunctions.Yu believes micro-blogs areone step in the whole progression to-wards transparent governance. But Hu Yong,a professor of j
21、ournal-ism and communication with PekingUniversity,cautions that the value ofmicro-blogging could be exaggerated.From the perspective of the general pub-lic,blogging is merely one of the myriadcommunication instruments availablenowadays.What really matters is thecontent,and whats more,its potential
22、toprotect individuals and serve the publicsinterests.Blogging is no more than a re-fieetion of problems in the virtual world,whereas actual solutions consist of mea-sures taken in real life.In his opinion,blogging politics will be a word gameuntil systematic reforms are promoted toadvance true democ
23、racy. This opinion is shared by Wang Wen-zhang,a professor of social developmentwith Peking University.“Police authori-ties should be cautioned about makingtheir micro-blogs into a whitewashingtool.Instead the blog should be a plat-form for exchange and interaction,achannel for the masses to report
24、7theirgrievances and seek effective solutions;it could be a catalyst as well for overallreforms to administrative services.“ Some scholars have warned the gov-ernment not to over-invest resources andenergy in micro-blogging,as conven-tional means of communication are justas important and effective.“
25、A varietyof channels should be used to interfacewith citizenry,including hoflines,e-mailaccounts,websites and online forums,“says associate professor Zhou Baohua ofShanghai-based Fudan University.“If fil-ings through conventional conduits werehandled in a timely fashion,the pressureon micro-blogs would lift somewhat.Agovernment micro-blog that is slow torespond or impassive in tone is no morehelpful than conventional communica-tion methods. “
