According to a report on May 9 by Cao Junwu, a journalist of the Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Weekend, a special team of Internet commentators formed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is proactively working on the Chinese internet and playing an important role in guiding public opinion on the internet.

The Internet Propaganda Team of Suqian City

Since April 28, 2005, Ma Zhichun, chairman of the External Propaganda Office of the Municipal Propaganda Department in Suqian city, Jiangsu province, has taken on another job: the Internet commentator of Suqian city.

In the External Propaganda Office on the 7th floor of the Municipal Government and Committee Office Building located in a newly developed area of Suqian city, Ma Zhichun proudly showed the reporter his “Letter of Appointment for an Internet commentator”. The letter of appointment is exquisitely designed with a sandalwood frame.

In the meeting held on April 28 to announce the establishment of the Internet commentator team, Zhang Fenglin presented this letter of appointment to Ma Zhichun, the vice head of the Suqian Municipal Propaganda Department, who officially became one of the first 26 commentators of Suqian city, for a term of two years.

Lu Ruchao, vice chairman of the External Propaganda Office of the Municipal Propaganda Department, is another Internet commentator. He is only 24 years old and enjoys chatting online. “For example, I always log into Suqian’s chat room,” Lu Ruchao said and added “Chat rooms collect public opinions and we commentators should pay special attention to them.”

A systematic training program will be offered to the commentators by the Municipal Propaganda Department. The curriculum material includes news and media from Marxist perspective, the CCP’s policies and political strategies, online knowledge and the development of Internet media in China and abroad, etc.

“The Key is to Have Control”

“To actively grow, to strengthen management, to extend positive aspects and avoid negative aspects, and to utilize it for the benefit of the government,” this statement from the suggested practice for Internet commentary could be taken as the guideline of the commentators’ responsibilities. During the meeting to form the new force of the commentator team, Zhang Fenglin said: “Facing the information age, how to control the public opinions on the internet has become an important subject and an imminent task in front of us.”

With respect to his comment, Ma Zhichun and Lu Chaoru have the same understanding: “The key is to have control.”

“The Internet commentators guide public opinion as ordinary online users. This is a very important point and a very effective method,” Ma Zhichun stated with emphasis. According to the suggested practice for Internet commentary, only for important and sudden events will the Internet commentators have a choice to clarify the event as the spokesmen of the government.

Young Lu Ruchao conducted his duty of “Guiding the Public Opinion” via on-line chat rooms. Not long ago, Lu Ruchao noticed that some users in one chat room complained that policemen in Suqian city are too arrogant. They drive police cars on the street with loud sirens that can be heard throughout half of Suqian city. This kind of discussions gradually turned into criticisms on the police force.

Lu Ruchao quickly responded to these chat-room discussions. He explained that when the siren is on, there must be a reason for it, and we should not blame the police because of this. “’Our job forces us to face danger; we have to deal with knives and guns, so how can people blame us for this.’ I definitely need to change their opinions,” Lu Ruchao stated, seemingly slightly agitated. 　

According to the suggested practice for Internet commentary, the Internet commentators of Suqian city will “Tightly follow the key tasks and the important decisions of the municipal committee and government… conduct organized online propaganda, publish Internet commentaries with focus, and guide public opinion with a purpose.” Related to social issues of attention, they should definitely avoid “blindly spreading news, confusing people’s vision, muddling up people’s mind and worsening the situation.”

“The Same Game across the Nation”

In fact, Suqian city is not the first city that conducts Internet commentaries. Accordingly, in Jiangsu province, Nanjing and Wuxi city formed their own Internet commentary system last year.

At the end of January, 2005, a seminar on Internet Management was held in Jiangsu province. It emphasized: “To strengthen the Internet management of Jiangsu province with high-level political responsibility, to punish harmful information with clear standards, and to strengthen the ability to control and guide the public opinion on the Internet.”　　

Ma Zhichuan attended the seminar. He said that related documents were relayed during the meeting, requiring each city and area to strengthen the guidance of Internet public opinion and the construction of the Internet team. “Therefore we are not the one who created the job of Internet commentator,” Ma Zhichun said, “it is the same game across the nation.”

If you search on the Internet for related content, you can really see the truth of “the same game across the nation” as stated by Ma Zhichun.

According to the results of an online search, the Dajiang Internet provider of Jiangxi province has started to hire Internet commentators since the beginning of this year, and established a team in early April. “A group of Internet users of sound political quality, good writing skills and common sense when it comes to news stories, will undertake the important task of news commentators and public opinion guidance.”　　

Recently, in Fujian province, the Quanzhou municipal propaganda department, along with the Quanzhou Evening newspaper, jointly advertised 20 Internet commentators’ positions. In just a few days, more than 60 people applied. The rules and regulations of Internet commentators are being finalized under the guidance of the related departments.

Accordingly, as of the end of last year, 127 Internet commentators of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Central Committee, and of each province, district and city, have completed training in Beijing.

The Importance of Internet Commentators

According to the statistic, there are currently over 100 million Internet users in China. These Internet users represent a group of people that has received a higher level of education. They know more and pay more attention to the development of the country and to key social issues.

Min Dahong, researcher at the Institute of Journalism and Communication, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the influence, social level, degree of political acceptance, and ability to report important events of the internet clearly state that the internet has become a mainstream medium in China.

People’s Daily, the CCP Central Committee’s newspaper, also published an editorial article at the end of 2004, stating that the timeliness, openness, publicity and mutual sharing of the internet medium have made it a more and more important frontline for ideology.