Presentation for a Preconference for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association (ICA), Phoenix, Arizona, 23 May 2012, of a paper co-authred with Sun Huan, and Weiwei Shen.

1. The Semi-Sovereign Netizen:
The Fifth Estate in China
Sun Huan, William H. Dutton, and Weiwei Shen
Oxford Internet Institute
University of Oxford
Prepared for a Preconference for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the International
Communication Association (ICA), Phoenix, Arizona, 23 May 2012.

2. Politics and the Internet
 Irrelevant, Ineffectual, Clicktvisim
 Inherently Democratic, Autocratic
 Social Shaped: Reinforcement Politics
 Enhancing the Communicative Power of
Networked Individuals, Enabling a
Fifth Estate

3. The Fourth Estate
“[Edmund] Burke said there were Three Estates in
Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder,
there sat a Fourth Estate more prominent far than
they all. It is not a figure of speech, or witty
saying; it is a literal fact – very momentous to us
in these times.”
Thomas Carlyle (1831), Heroes and Hero-
Worship, at www.gutenberg.org.etext/1091

4. The Fifth Estate
 Press since the 18th Century -
the ‘Fourth Estate’
 Internet in the 21st - enabling a
Fifth Estate
−−
Enabling people to network with other individuals
and with information, services and technical
resources in ways that support social accountability
in business and industry, government, politics, and
the media.

5. Empowering
Networked
Individuals

6. Arenas: Networked Institutions Networked Individuals
News Online journalism, BBC Netizens, Citizen
Online, Live Micro-Blogging Journalists, Bloggers,
Whistleblowers, Leaks,
Churnalism.org, Hacking
Blacklash
Democracy E-Democracy, E- Obama campaign, Aung
Consultation, e-Voting San Suu Kyi, Arab Springs,
Anti-Bribery Websites
Education Online Learning, Multimedia Backchannels, Informal
Classrooms Learning, Rate My Teacher
Health and Medical NHS Direct, e-mailing safety Going to the Internet for
alerts health information, Sermo

7. Three (Exceptional) Cases
 Visiting Journalism Student: Sun Huan
 OII Masters Student: Weiwei Shen
 Three Case Studies in China
 Blocking Xiamen Paraxylene (PX) Chemical
Plant
 Reporting on Gas Explosion in Nanjing
 Challenging Travel Expenses of Guangzhou
Maritime Court

8. Blocking Paraxylene (PX) Chemical Plant
in Xiamen, Fujian Province, 2007

9. Reporting of Gas Explosion in Nanjing,
Jiangsu, 2010

10. Exposing Waste in Funding of Visit Abroad by
Officials of Guangzhou Maritime Court, 2009
Eleven day study
trip to South
Africa, Egypt, and
Turkey by Six
Officials

11. Some Key Themes
 Exceptional Cases
 Key Problems Tied to Limits on the Press
 5th Estate Changing the Scope of Debate
(E.E. Schattschneider) – PX
 Need for New Media Literacy and Training
 Instinct to Control Media, Rumors – Gas
Explosion (support for journalism training)
 Build on Accountability - ‘Anti-Corruption’ -
Travel

12. Reflections on the Fifth Estate in China