Chapter 26 Extended reading Official blog becomes fashionable

Many people have the habit of keeping a diary, write a diary on the Internet, and then share it with many netizens. This is a blog (English name Blog or Weblog). Today, blogging has become a fashion, not only sought after by all kinds of stars, but also ordinary people enjoy it. They write blogs to show themselves or communicate with others.Keeping pace with the times, some officials have also opened blogs in recent years. "It's no small matter for officials." Netizens said it well. No one mentioned celebrity blogs, and no one said grassroots blogs. Official blogs attracted comments from all sides.Some say it's just for show.More people say that this is a low-cost, zero-distance, and more direct platform for government-civilian interaction.

From the establishment of websites by the government, public mailboxes of deputies to the National People's Congress, interaction between officials and netizens on the Internet, and blogging by officials, the Internet is becoming a new "bridge" for communication between the government and the people. Zhou Hongyu, the first deputy to the National People's Congress who devoted himself to the Internet, pointed out: "Of the hundreds of suggestions and bills I submitted to the National People's Congress in the past five years, quite a few of them came from netizens." Suggestions based on people's feelings and wisdom include: "Re-suggestion on free nine-year compulsory education in rural areas", "Suggestions on enacting the "Anti-Employment Discrimination Law", "On the enactment of the "Law on the Protection of Legal Rights and Interests of Hepatitis B Virus Carriers" "Suggestions" and so on.

Zhang Xinshi, secretary of the Suqian Municipal Party Committee in Jiangsu Province, took the lead, and 81 officials in Suqian started a blog with 760,000 visits.Cheng Xifeng, member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC Shanxi Province and deputy mayor of Luliang City, published an open letter on his personal blog, hoping to use the new platform of the Internet to solicit insights from netizens that are beneficial to the development of Shanxi. More and more senior officials directly set up blogs on the Internet, such as Liu Binjie, Director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, Wang Longde, Vice Minister of Health, Zhou Heping, Vice Minister of Culture, Liao Xinbo, Deputy Director of Health Department of Guangdong Province, Zhang Xinshi, Party Secretary of Suqian, Jiangsu Province, Sun Ruibin, Party Secretary of Handan City, Hebei Province, Zhu Yongxin, Deputy Mayor of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, Wang Shuqing, Deputy Mayor of Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, Chen Junan, Director of Price Bureau of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, Li Chao, Director of Environmental Protection Bureau of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, Yu, Deputy District Mayor of Haidian City, Beijing Many government officials, including the army, have joined the ranks of "opening blogs".They are all the best among them. They are updated daily and have a high click-through rate. Netizens leave positive messages and interact well.The outside world generally believes that the new "government-civilian" interaction model using the Internet as a medium has become an element of China's political civilization.

Zheng Yongting, a professor at the Institute of Marxist Philosophy and Chinese Modernization at Sun Yat-Sen University, believes that government officials use the time outside of work to actively "connect to the Internet" to listen to public opinions and communicate with them, from "listening to what the leaders say" to "listening to what the people say." This is a change in attitude , itself reflects the enhancement of officials' "public servant consciousness", which can be described as a new atmosphere of democracy. Many people compare official blogs to a new type of "mayor's hotline". The two may have some similarities in function, but blogs, as a form of communication on new media, have a deeper meaning.The Internet is one of the most interactive media, but also the most difficult to control.It can be said that "grassroots" and "people-oriented" are the two spiritual principles of this Internet age.Therefore, the voice of the government and officials is always slightly weaker on the Internet. "Opening a blog" can be regarded as a beneficial attempt by government officials to take the initiative to occupy the positive public opinion position on the Internet and establish a good image of officials.

Eight officials, including the Deputy Secretary-General of the Zhongshan City Government, opened blogs. All of them had their real names. Government officials "opened blogs." "E-democracy" does not only refer to "e-government".It is important to improve the functions of government department websites, but it cannot negate the significance of official blogs.Officials "open blogs" can, as rulers, combine their own thinking to further publicize policies to the public, which is also the function that official blogs should play. The dialogue between netizens and officials also reflects the confrontation of wisdom.In a blog post, a government official lamented for the glass curtain wall cleaners who work at heights. A netizen left a message saying that when cleaners leave their hometowns and come to unfamiliar cities, what they care most about is whether they can get their wages on time. "This message has inspired me a lot, and it provides a new perspective to think and examine the fate of migrant workers." The official said with emotion.

"What the public wants to see is not only the achievements of officials, but also their sincerity." Zheng Yongting, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, believes that the direct communication between government officials and the public is not very close, except for job news in newspapers and TV. The public does not know much about the group of party and government officials, and officials often have a sense of mystery.In particular, the corruption and dereliction of duty of some officials has caused great damage to the image of the entire civil servant group, and the negative impact is prominent.Through blogs, officials have the opportunity to exchange views and opinions with the public in a timely manner, which plays an obvious role in promoting empathy and mutual understanding between the government and the people.

Whether an official blog is good or bad, it is natural that the beholder sees benevolence, and the wise see wisdom.However, it is undeniable that under the background that the communication channels between the government and the people are not completely smooth, and the guidance of online public opinion is mixed, officials opening blogs is undoubtedly a new information communication mechanism and interest expression mechanism in the Internet age, which is not only conducive to the communication between officials and the people, but also It is conducive to guiding the mainstream public opinion on the Internet in a region.We must not deny the various positive effects of official blogs, and more importantly, look forward to the further improvement of official blogs in terms of content, form, requirements, and status.

In fact, no matter whether it is a blog, a government website, or a "mayor's hotline", it is just a tool. Whether it can achieve actual results depends on someone using it correctly and seeing whether the creator is sincerely serving the people. most critical. "Internet governance" is not enough to support a set of effective and consistent rules.The public incidents that have surged on the Internet in recent years show that the Internet is not so much a platform for opinions as it is a tool for gaming. " or "Internet trial" can be promoted; problems that could have been resolved in daily administration have to be "fixed and stopped" through the surging condemnation on the Internet.It is not difficult to find that the Internet in China bears an "unbearable burden".

Perhaps, netizens' unrestrained praise of officials for opening blogs is more to vote against the current bad habits in the officialdom.If the public can express their views smoothly, and officials are also good at listening, I believe China's current transformation process will be much simpler.At the same time, if public opinion is true, verbal expression is not the most important thing for officials, because only actions are the true mother tongue of those in power.In a word, the people should say more, and the government should do more.