Undercover Internet Commentators on the Chinese Internet
The reality is that so much is seen about China in the western media is gleamed from the Chinese media. It is true that American newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post, British newspapers such as The Guardian, Hong Kong newspapers such as South China Morning Post and others have offices in China, but you have to imagine what is happening in this country of 1.3 billion persons compared to the meagre China-related columns that appear every few days in these newspapers. Still, the western media are the main channels to catch a glimpse of China, even if these are often selected and filtered reports gleamed from the Chinese media. While there is not too much interest in much of official press releases, there are some media that are working on the edge. So this is the story about one of them.
First, there was a long article in Nanfang Weekend about undercover online commentators on the Chinese Internet. The weekend edition of this newspaper is able to give detailed, in-depth coverage of special topics which are less hurried than the daily news items. This article quoted extensively from an official who is involved in one such operation in the city of Suqian, Jiangsu province. That sort of access and openness on such a sensitive subject would not be available to the New York Times or the Washington Post, much less Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. But there it was for the world to read, and posted on the Internet edition of the Nanfang Weekend.
Immediately, Reuters, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America produced abbreviated news reports that were based upon this article, while adding some comments from the usual list of people who are out of the loop but who have plenty of opinions to offer. Maybe these were accurate representations or interpretations of the original article, or maybe not. In any case, here is the net result: these news reports came to the attention of the almighty Internet nanny, and the original article has been removed from the Nanfang Weekend website.
As I have said, one of the major strengths of the EastSouthWestNorth blog is the ability to provide English-language translations of original Chinese-language documents. So here is that original Nanfang Weekend article in English. I have also included the original Chinese-language article at the bottom of the page, since it has been disappeared (note: I recovered the article with thanks to the Baidu cache!). You should read the original source, make up your own mind and be less impressed by the shortened summaries or influenced by a bunch of people who are called 'experts.' I will have something to say about this whole business; but my usual custom is to separate my personal opinions from an original source. I have no intention of making you think the same way that I do, because the world would be fairly miserable as a result!
Suqian: The practical aspects of directing Internet opinion. Nanfang Weekend, May 19, 2005.
Suqian's "Internet propaganda team"
As of April 28, 2005, Jiangsu province Suqian City Committee External Propaganda Office director Ma Zhichun has an additional duty: Suqian City Internet commentator.
On this day, Internet Commentator Team No. 1 of Suqian City was formed.
In the office of the External Propaganda Office on the seventh floor of the government office building in the new district of Suqian City, Ma Zhichun showed this reporter with some pride his new "letter of employment as Internet commentator." The letter was printed on light brown paper and looked quite fancy. On the official inauguration of the Suqian Internet Commentator team on April 28, Ma Zhichun received this letter of employment from Suqian City Propaganda Department deputy director Zhang Fenglin, and became one of the first Internet commentator for Suqian City for a duration of two years.
When Ma Zhichun received his letter, another twenty-five letters of employment were also handed out to other persons
This new "news propaganda team" was built up from the propaganda structure in Suqian City. The 26 Internet commentators came from the Suqian City Committee Propaganda Department, the Suqian City District Committee Propaganda Departments and various Municipal departments. The selectees from the municipal departments were basically the leaders of the news departments or their spokespersons.
Upon information, the Internet commentators were recommended internally and the Propaganda Department then makes its selections. So it is not a public advertisement of employment as reported in a certain media entity some time ago. Earlier this year, in response to the request from the Suqian City Propaganda Department, the city propaganda system and the municipal organizations had recommended more than 60 people.
"Understand policies, knows theory, politically reliable and good job skills were the selection criteria," said Ma Zhichun. "Also, the person must be familiar with the Internet, likes to obtain information from the Internet and understands Internet technology." When Ma Zhichun reached this point, he felt a bit embarrassed for being so boastful, as he realized that he met those "standards." He then put his letter away inside his drawer, laughed and said that it was probably not too rigorous because he had no idea why he was chosen.
Looking at the resumι of Ma Zhichun, it was clear that he meets the standards for "Internet commentator." He is less than 40 years old, a university graduate and was a member of the Suqian Daily news committee before becoming the director of the Siquan City External Propaganda Office. Having been in news propaganda for a long time, he has developed the habit of browsing for news on the Internet. When he met this reporter who came to Suqian to interview him, we exchanged business cards and he promised that he would go and look up this reporter's past news reports; when we met for a second time, Ma Zhichun was happy to talk to this reporter about some of the news reports that he has read.
City Committee Propaganda Office Deputy Director Lu Ruchao was another Internet commentator. Lu Ruchao was a policeman, he is 24 years old and he enjoys chatting on the Internet. "For example, I go to the Suqian chatroom on the Internet," said Lu Ruchao. "The chatroom is the place where public opinion is focused, and the commentators should pay attention to it," he added.
According to the document "Practical ideas on Suqian City Internet opinion," the City Committee Propaganda will establish the "Internet Administration Office" and "Internet News Administration Office" to manage the daily activities of the Internet commentators. There will be periodic communications meetings on news topics. At the end of each year, the job performances of the Internet commentators will be evaluated for the annual appraisals and feedback.
The City Propaganda Department will offer training to the Internet commentators, and the classes will include Marxist theories about news, the Party's propaganda policies, how to control the high points of Internet opinions, the state of development of the Internet inside and outside of China, etc.
The Key Is To Seize The Initiative
"Develop actively, increase control, accentuate the good and avoid the bad, use it to our advantage" is the statement about how to practice Internet commentary. These words form the key summary statement. On the inauguration meeting of the Internet commentator team, Suqian City Committee Propaganda Department Deputy Director Zhang Fenglin said, "In the information age and the Internet age, the most important and critical mission in front of us is to is how to seize the initiative on Internet opinion and how to seize the high point of Internet opinion."
Ma Zhichun and Lu Ruchao are both in agreement on this: "The key is to seize the initiative."
Actually, even before the Internet commentator team was formed, Ma Zhichun and his Propaganda Department colleagues had deeply felt the importance of seizing the initiative.
Beginning in July 2004, Suqian City began a public campaign for hardworking and honest officials. The public campaign used many means to mobilize various social sectors as well as the masses. The public campaign asked for written comments about the publicly disclosed reports on the job evaluation of cadres in various government units.
During this public campaign, a total of 2,476 cadres were involved in two waves in Suqian City. Among these, 10 cadre leaders were publicly criticized by name afterwards, 248 were issued reprimands, 61 were warned, 12 were dismissed or transferred; 17 people were rated as only "basically satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" on working habits; 16 were rated as only "basically satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" on honesty. Of these, 7 were country department chiefs.
For a time, public opinion was boiling over in Suqian City. A cadre in the Commerce Department of Suqian City said that he heard citizens talking about it on the way home every night. "But many of the comments were unfavorable, because they thought that all cadres were dirty." Such kinds of "street talk" soon showed up on the Internet.
Based upon the instructions of the City Committee Propaganda Department, Ma Zhichun and other people who did not yet have the title of Internet commentators at the time began to make "timely explanations" on the "pessimistic talk" on the Internet. At the same time, the Propaganda Department workers published a series of commentaries about the public campaign on work ethic and honesty.
"In the end, we cleared up some fuzzy thinking and we enhanced the impact of the campaign, and that was good for the development of the work," said Ma Zhichun.
For this and similar Suqian government policy implementations such as "Industrial Breakthrough" and "Public Selection of Public Choices", Ma Zhichun and other Propaganda Department cadres organized more than 10 Internet discussions in their roles as ordinary netizens to target public opinion. "Our Internet comments and our Internet posts were very effective in leading opinion," Ma Zhichun said. "Even overseas netizens replied to us." Based upon the statistics from the External Propaganda Department, in the month of January 2005 alone, more than 3,000 overseas netizens followed up with comments in response to Ma Zhichun and colleagues at the Suqian Internet website.
"The Internet commentators will lead public opinion as ordinary netizens. This is important, and it is also the most effective way." Ma Zhichun emphasized. According to the "Practical ideas on Suqian City Internet opinion," the Internet commentators has the option of using the status of official spokespersons when something major breaks out in order to clarify the truth.
The young Lu Ruchao has the job of being the "opinion police" at the Internet chatroom. Recently, Lu Ruchao noticed that some chatroom visitors were complaining that the police tended to sound their siren while rushing down the main street, thus disturbing half the city. In the ensuing comments, the discussion by the netizens turned into criticisms of the police as a whole.
Lu Ruchao immediately followed up by explaining that when a police car sounds a siren, they must have an emergency and so they should not be criticized. Lu said emotionally, "We have to face knives and guns while on duty every day. How can they criticize us? Of course, I have to turn their opinions around."
Ma Zhichun sensed that the overseas media are particularly attentive to Suqian. According to the Alexa ranking, Suqian On The Internet is ranked 16,022 out of several hundreds of millions of websites in the world, and it is the second ranked city in the province of Jiangsu behind Wuxi. "This means that there is a great deal of attention on Suqian. But honestly, we do not have a great reputation." Ma Zhichun said, "The duty of an Internet commentator is to actively develop and direct public opinion in China and to create an good image for Suqian outside of China."
According to the "Practical ideas on Suqian City Internet opinion," the Suqian Internet Commentator Team will "follow closely the policy of the Suqian City Committee ... to systematically development propaganda on the Internet, to oppose Internet criticisms, and to develop our Internet leadership; on matters of social concern, the goal is to stop "people blindly following others, people creating confusion, people egging others on, people weakening resolve and people causing the situation to deteriorate."
"The Whole County Is Like One Chessboard"
As Ma Zhichun was explaining the duties of Internet commentator to his reporter, he received a call from a colleague in Suzhou. "They called to find out about what Internet commentators do. Suzhou is also interested in forming an Internet commentator team." Ma Zhichun explained to us after he put the telephone down.
Actually, Suqian was not the first to begin work on Internet commentators. According to information, within Jiangsu province, Nanjing and Wuxi have already established work on Internet commentators last year.
At the end of January, Jiangus province held a forum to discuss Internet administration. The forum emphasized "to invoke a high sense of political responsibility to enhance our province's work on Internet administration, to handle harmful information in a very public way, to seize the high point in Internet opinion and to direct opinion on the Internet."
Ma Zhichun attended this meeting. He said, the forum communicated the intent of the related documents and asked the various cities and districts to increase leadership of Internet opinion. The idea of Internet commentators was brought up at this forum. "Therefore, we did not invent the project about Internet commentary," said Ma Zichun. Instead, "the whole country is like one chessboard."
Suqian is different from the other areas of the province, because its Internet commentators were drawn from its own propaganda organizations. Ma Zichun believes that compared to the Internet commentators drawn from public employment notices in other areas, Suqian's Internet commentator team will be easier to manage and they are more unified. Since the Internet commentators come from the propaganda system, they are "politically trustworthy, dependable on working on their own and therefore conducive to letting each perform in their own effective way."
This reporter has made a search of related information on the Internet, and found that indeed "the whole country is like one chessboard" as Ma Zichun said. Based upon the search results, Jiangsu province's Dajian Net began hiring Internet commentators at the beginning of this year, and a team was formed in early April. "A group of netizens with high political quality, good literary knowledge, and news awareness have assumed the heavy responsibility of publishing news commentary and leading public opinion."
In Fujian province, the Quanzhou city Committee Propaganda Department, the Quanzhou Evening News and Quanzhou Telecommunications joined to advertise for 20 "Internet news commentators." More than 60 people applied within several days; the jobs of these Internet commentators are being established right now by the related departments.
"More and more places will look for Internet commentators, and many of them are already deploying them. The outside world may not be aware as yet," said another cadre of the Suqian City Committee Propaganda Department.
According to other related reports, at the end of last year, a total of 127 Internet commentators completed their training in Beijing. They were drawn from various provincial, municipal and city supervisory units as well as central government supervisory units. The central government disciplinary supervisory department has established a leader group for propaganda against corruption, and that has a special Internet Propaganda Department with members drawn from the Central Propaganda Department and the Central Government External Propaganda Department, and this group is linked with the People's Net, Xinhua Net and other central government news websites on the work related to fighting corruption and promoting honesty.
On the inaugural meeting of the Suqian Internet Commentator team, City Committee Deputy Chief Zhang Fenglin told the Internet commentators: "You must use the Internet to its full potential ... and let the Internet be the new ground for the work for constructing ideology." Zhang Fenglin emphasized the purpose of the project: "To form an environment of public opinions that is suitable for the main theme of constructing a well-off society."
"We were definitely not the first ones to work on Internet commentary, and we will definitely not be the last," Ma Zichun said at the end.
The Path For Internet Opinion
Some experts point out that the value of Internet news and opinions in China has received increasing attention from the national leadership. The Internet is not only an important channel for party and government officials to obtain information, but it is also a good tool for monitoring public opinion.
According to statistics, there are more than 100 million Internet users now. These 100 million netizens are the better educated ones, and they are the ones who want to understand national trends and social happenings.
According to researcher Min Dahong at the Chinese Social Sciences Academy, the Chinese Internet media have shown their influence, social standing, political acceptability and the capability to report on important events, and therefore the Internet has become a mainstream medium in China. Min Dahong believes that the Internet enables the socially vulnerable and marginalized sectors to gain a certain voice. The extent of the liveliness of Internet discussions has reached a new high, and it represents a tremendous public pressure that cannot be ignored by any department, organization or the general public.
At the end of 2004, the Chinese Communist Party's central newspaper People's Daily pointed out that the Internet media have the advantages of breadth, instanteity, openness, commonality and interactivity, and these are the qualities that makes the Internet an important ideological battleground.
As for "Internet commentators," a communications scholar said that the situation in China is such that Internet public opinion is not equivalent to overall public opinion, so that this necessitates some form of control. Under reasonable conditions, something like the "Internet commentators" can lead public opinion to create an Internet environment that is conducive to creating a harmonious society. "But one cannot consider Internet opinion to be opposed to the harmonious society, nor use that as the excuse for wanting to control Internet opinions." The scholar asserts, "In a free Internet environment, all sorts of information are being transmitted. The process of information transmission can include a process for determining the truth/falsity of that message, so that only valuable information can be transmitted in the end."
This scholar believes that public opinion must be led, but there has to be a limit to ensure that the information can be transmitted freely. "When the government wants to lead opinion, it should consider identifying itself (that is, as government spokespersons) to clarify the facts and state the positions."
The Internet commentators have their own work habits and styles. After receiving their letters of employment, will they add "Internet commentator" on their business cards? When asked this question, a Suqian City Committee Propaganda Department cadre thought for a moment, smiled and said, "I don't think so."
宿迁：引导网络舆论实践
宿迁的网络宣传队伍
从2005年4月28日起，江苏省宿迁市市委宣传部对外宣传办公室主任马志春又多了一项职务：宿迁市网上评论员。
这一天，宿迁市第一支网络评论员队伍成立。
在宿迁市新区市委市政府办公大楼7楼的对外宣传办公室内，马志春有些自豪地向记者展示了他的网上评论员聘书。聘书檀色木质，看起来挺精致。4月28日，在宿迁市网上评论员队伍成立大会上，马志春从宿迁市委宣传部副部长张枫林手中接过了这本聘书，正式成为了宿迁市首批网上评论员之一，任期两年。
在马志春成为网上评论员的同时，另外25本聘书也各归其主。
这支新闻宣传队伍本身脱胎于宿迁市宣传系统。马志春介绍，26名网上评论员，分别来自宿迁市委宣传部、宿迁市各区县宣传部门和市直属大机关，而市直属大机关的人选基本为机关新闻科长或新闻发言人。
据介绍，网上评论员由内部推荐，宣传部筛选聘用，而非此前某媒体所报道的向社会公开招聘。今年年初，根据宿迁市委宣传部的要求，市宣传系统和直属机关共推荐了60余名人选。
懂政策，有理论，政治上可靠，业务上精通是选取标准，马志春说，另外就是熟悉网络，喜欢从网上获取信息，懂技术更好。说完，大概马志春意识到自己也符合标准，有些不好意思。他把聘书收到抽屉里，笑着说，其实也不特别严格，自己不知道怎么就被选上了。
但看看马志春的简历，应该的确符合网上评论员的标准，不到40岁，大学文化，任对外宣传办公室主任之前，是宿迁日报社编委。长期从事新闻宣传工作，马志春养成了上网浏览新闻的习惯。如今见到来宿迁采访的记者，交换名片后，他会回去在网上搜索记者写过的新闻；再见面的时候，马志春会很乐意和记者探讨他看到的那些报道。
市委宣传部办公室副主任陆如超是市委宣传部内部的另一名网上评论员。陆如超警察出身，今年刚24岁，他喜欢在网上聊天，比如说网上的宿迁聊天室我就常去，陆如超说，聊天室本身就是舆情集中的地方，很值得我们评论员关注。他补充道。
根据宿迁市网上评论工作实施意见，市委宣传部将成立网评管理办公室和网络新闻管理处，对网上评论员队伍进行日常协调管理，并定期召开新闻选题通气会，还将在每年年终对网评员的工作业绩进行考评，作为年终表彰奖励的参考。
市委宣传部还将对网评员进行系统培训，课程包括马克思主义新闻观，党的宣传方针政策，网络传播知识，国内外网络媒体发展动态等。
关键在于掌握主动权
积极发展，加强管理，趋利避害，为我所用，网上评论实施工作意见中的这句话，堪称网评员们的16字总纲。在网上评论员成立大会上，宿迁市委宣传部副部长张枫林讲道：面对信息时代、网络时代，如何掌握网上舆论的主动权，如何占领网上舆论的制高点，成为摆在我们面前的重要课题和紧迫任务。
对此，马志春和陆如超的理解很一致：关键在于掌握主动权。
其实，在网上评论员队伍成立之前，马志春和他的宣传部同事们就已经深切地感受到了主动权的重要性。
从2004年7月开始，宿迁市启动了勤廉公示活动。公示活动利用多种形式动员社会各界和广大群众参与，公示对象述职述廉内容由其所在单位干部职工进行点题，廉政报告由市勤廉公示办公室请各界代表进行书面评议，同时广泛征求群众意见。
在这场公示风暴中，宿迁共有2476名干部参与了前后两批勤廉公示，其中受到通报批评的领导干部10人，提醒谈话的248人，诫勉谈话的61人，免职或调整岗位的12人；勤政方面被评定为基本称职或不称职的17人，廉政方面被评定为基本满意或不满意的16人，其中县处级领导干部7人。
宿迁一时间巷议汹汹，宿迁市工商局一名干部回忆说，下班回家，路上都能听见市民谈论，但是说的很多都不好听，意思是干部们都不干净。与此类似的巷议很快反映到了网上。
根据市委宣传部有关领导的研究指示，当时还没有网上评论员头衔的马志春等人，针对网上出现的消极言论，进行了及时的解释说明；同时，宣传系统的工作人员还陆续在网上发表了系列关于廉勤公示的评论文章。
最终我们澄清了一些模糊认识，还扩大了影响，有利于工作开展。马志春认为。
在类似的工业突破、公推公选等宿迁市大政方针执行期间，马志春和宣传干部们针对网民意见，以普通网友的身份，共组织了网上讨论十多次。我们的网上阅评和网上评论工作对于舆论引导是很有效的，马志春说，连海外网民也跟帖参与。根据外宣办统计，仅2005年1月，网上宿迁上，就有3000多人次海外网民对马志春们发起的讨论跟帖。
网评员都是以普通网友的身份引导舆论，这一点很重要，这也是有效的方法。马志春着重指出。根据网上评论实施工作意见，只有在重大突发事件中，网评员才会有选择的以政府发言人的身份，对事实真相进行澄清。
年轻的陆如超则在网络聊天室里执行了舆论引导的工作。前不久，陆如超在聊天室中注意到，有网民抱怨，宿迁的警察太威风，大街上开警车，拉着警报声音能传半个宿迁。在许多跟帖中，网民们的讨论逐渐演变为对警察队伍的批评。
陆如超迅速就这个问题发了跟帖，他解释说，拉警报肯定是因为有任务，不能因为这个骂警察。我们干的是刀枪前面的活儿，他们怎么能这么骂我们，我当然要给他们把这个舆论扭转一下。陆如超的情绪有点激动。
马志春则感叹，外地媒体对宿迁总是特别注意，根据美国权威的ALEXA世界网站排名系统，网上宿迁在全球上亿网站中排名第16022位，在江苏省直辖市中仅次于无锡。这说明宿迁关注度很高，但说实话，美誉度不高，马志春认为，网评员的任务就是对内积极开展舆论引导，对外努力树立宿迁形象。
根据网上评论实施工作意见，宿迁市网上评论员队伍将紧扣市委市政府中心工作和重大决策
有组织开展网上宣传，有针对开展网上评论，有目的开展网上引导；针对社会关注的问题，必须避免盲目炒作，混淆视听，推波助澜，扰乱人心，恶化局势。
全国一盘棋
正在向记者介绍网评员工作时，马志春接到了苏州同行的电话。他们也是来了解我们这个网评员工作的，苏州也要筹办网评员队伍。放下电话，马志春告诉记者。
其实，宿迁并非第一个开展网上评论工作。据介绍，在江苏省内，南京和无锡，已在去年就形成了各自的网上评论工作制度。
而今年1月底，江苏省已经召开了互联网管理工作座谈会，会议强调，以高度的政治责任感切实加强我省互联网的管理工作，旗帜鲜明地处置有害信息，增强占领网上舆论制高点，引导网络舆论的能力。
马志春参与了这次会议，他说，会上传达了有关文件精神，要求各市、地区加强网络舆论引导，网络评论员队伍的建设，就是在会议上提出的。所以网评工作哪是我们创造的？马志春介绍说，这是全国一盘棋。
和省里其他地区不同，宿迁的网上评论员队伍本身由宣传系统人员组成。马志春认为，相比其他地区向社会招聘的网评员，宿迁的网评队伍显然更加容易管理和统一部署，而且网评员们出身宣传系统，政治可靠，平时各自的工作放心，有利于大家各自发挥能力。
在网上进行相关内容搜索，的确能够感受到马志春所说的全国一盘棋。
根据搜索内容，江西省大江网于今年年初开始招聘网络评论员队伍，并于4月初组建完成。一批政治素质高，有较深文字功底，同时具备一定的新闻敏感性的网友，担当起发表新闻时评、引导舆论导向的重任。
而福建省泉州市委宣传部、泉州晚报社、泉州电信公司也于近日联合向社会招聘20名网络新闻评论员。几天之内，已有60多人报名；网络评论员的相关工作制度，正在有关部门的指导下制定。
越来越多的地方会开始招聘网评员，还有很多地方已经操作了，只是外界不知道而已。宿迁市委宣传部的另一位干部评价说。
而据有关报道，去年年底，来自各省区市纪检监察机关以及中央纪委监察部机关的127名网络评论员已经在北京完成了培训。中央纪委监察部今年成立了反腐倡廉网络宣传工作领导小组，组建了网络宣传工作专门机构，建立了有中宣部、中央外宣办等中央有关单位的职能部门和人民网、新华网等中央重点新闻网站参加的反腐倡廉网络宣传工作联席会议制度。
在宿迁市网上评论员队伍成立大会上，市委宣传部副部长张枫林也向网评员们传达说，要充分利用好互联网，及时引导好互联网
主动开展网上评论，有效引导网上舆论
让互联网成为意识形态工作的新阵地。张枫林强调说，工作的目的是形成与全面建设小康社会主旋律相适应的网上舆论环境。
做网络评论工作，我们肯定不是第一家，也不会是最后一家。马志春最后说。
网上舆论之路
有专家指出，在我国，网络新闻和舆论的价值日益受到党和国家领导人的重视，不仅成为党政官员了解信息的重要渠道，而且正在成为舆论监督的良好载体。
据有关统计，中国目前上网人群已超过1亿，而这1亿人，正是受教育程度较高的人群，他们也更为了解和关注国家动态和社会热点。
中国社科院新闻与传播研究所闵大洪研究员认为，中国网络媒体表现出的影响力、社会地位、政治认可度、对重大事件的报道能力都清楚地证明，它们已经成为中国的主流媒体之一。闵大洪还认为，网络论坛使普通公众包括弱势群体、边缘群体也拥有了某种话语权。而网络言论之活跃之规模已达到前所未有的程度，进而产生巨大的舆论压力，达到任何部门、机构甚至公众人物无法忽视的地步。
中共中央机关报《人民日报》也曾于2004年底刊载评论指出，网络媒体所具有的广泛性、即时性、开放性、共享性、互动性等优势，决定了互联网愈益成为意识形态的重要阵地。
对于网络评论员，一位传播学学者评价说，由于中国国情决定，网络舆论的确不能直接等同于民意民情，需要进行一些调控；类似于网络评论员的举措，在合理的调控下，有利于引导网络舆论进而引导民意，创造有利于创建和谐社会的网络环境。但不能把网络言论看作和谐舆论环境的对立面，甚至以此为调控舆论的依据，这名学者认为，在自由的网络环境下，各种信息不停地传递，传递过程本身可以成为对信息去伪存真的一个过程，真的有价值的信息得以被最终传递。
这位学者认为，网络舆论引导是必要的，但应以保持自由传递的环境为限度。政府的引导，可以考虑多采用实名即公开政府发言人的方式澄清事实，阐明立场。
而网络评论员们也有着他们自己的工作方式和方法。接受聘书后，他们会在自己的名片上加印网络评论员这一头衔吗？在被问到这个问题后，宿迁市委宣传部的一名干部想了想，笑一笑说，应该不会。
Related Link: China's secret internet police target critics with web of propaganda. By Jonathan Watts. June 14, 2005.