Media, Civil Society, and the Rise of a Green Public Sphere in China

Abstract

Direct citizen voices are relatively absent from China's public arena and seldom influence government policymaking. In early 2004, however, public controversies surrounding dam building on the Nu River prompted the Chinese government to halt the proposed hydropower project. The occurrence of such public debates indicates the rise of a green public sphere of critical environmental discourse. Environmental nongovernmental organizations play a central role in producing this critical discourse. Mass media, the internet, and “alternative media” are the main channels of communication. The emergence of a green public sphere demonstrates the new dynamism of grass-roots political change.

Environmental Risks in Newspaper Coverage: A Framing Analysis of Investigative Reports on Environmental Problems in 10 Chinese Newspapers

“…The readership of commercial media includes environmental victims and those who are aware of, and worried about, environmental problems 5 . Sand storms, pollution, desertification, deforestation, cancer villages and the destruction of the eco-system by large-scale human interventions, such as dams and hydropower projects, are among the environmental problems that have captured the attention of investigative journalists (Yang & Calhoun, 2007). Investigative reports on environmental problems that are often local may also be welcomed by the central government.…”

Why small and medium chemical companies continue to pose severe environmental risks in rural China

“…Of all the respondents only 12% were satisfied with the responses of the local government and three chemical plants following their complaints. Although other studies hypothesized and found that local residents and polluter victims aligned with the media to mitigate and prevent irresponsible and polluting behavior of SMEs by naming and shaming wrongdoing and celebrating best practices (Klein, 2011;Mol, 2009;Tang and Tang, 2012;Yang and Calhoun, 2007), no major visible media influence was found in this case. A national and local media search on Internet found only ten media messages reporting on environmental pollution of KD from 2007 to 2011.…”

“…The national environmental monitoring system and inspection and enforcement institutions have been gradually improved to ensure a better surveillance of the compliance of environmental regulations by Chinese and foreign SMEs (Stevens et al, 2013). A new emerging Chinese middle-class started to articulate their environmental interests in recent years, as displayed by antipollution protests which confront local governments and enterprises with their environmental abuses (Göbel and Ong, 2012;Kennedy, 2012;Yang and Calhoun, 2007). Chemical companies in China have also become subject to increasing civil society scrutiny, as increasing numbers of NGOs, media, and citizens and residents living adjacent to these chemical facilities now complain, report and protest on the risks of these facilities, especially following a number of very visible incidences (Lee, 2008;Liu et al, 2010;Qi et al, 2012;Tang and Tang, 2012).…”

Digital Environmentalism: A Case Study of PM2.5 Pollution Issue in Chinese Social Media

“…In China, a cooperative study published in 2012 by Peking University and environmental group Greenpeace estimated that there were 8,572 premature deaths in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an and Beijing in 2010 that could be attributed to PM2.5 air pollution; the study also found that this number would keep increasing year by year (Greenpeace, 2012). Therefore, it is no accident that this deadly environmental issue has drawn high attention from the whole Chinese society and fostered a green civil discourse that incubates pluralistic views on environmental issues and engages citizens in politics and public policy without being primary political (Calhoun & Yang, 2007). And the proliferation of environmental discourse, or to use Calhoun and Yang's term, a greenspeak, will finally depend on the participation from a range of civil society actors including citizens, the traditional media, social media and ENGOs.…”

“…This environmental discourse contains the whole gamut of linguistic and other symbolic means used for raising awareness of environmental issues (Harre, Brockmeier, & Mühlhäusler, 1999; also see Yang & Calhoun, 2007). Different social actors also use environmental discourse for different purposes.…”