Liberate Forums: Correctly Responding to "Emotional Public Opinion on the Internet"

May 25, 2005

The following is a partial translation by CECC staff of an article entitled "Liberate Forums: Correctly Responding to "Emotional Public Opinion on the Internet," which appeared in the May 11, 2005 edition of the Shanghai municipal Communist Party Committee's "Liberation Daily" newspaper. This article was part of a state-sponsored propaganda campaign to justify deploying Party and government personnel to manipulate public opinion.

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Therefore, it is very necessary to further build up the online public opinion cadres, exert strong efforts to train the core strength of a group of Internet commentary, work hard to set up the authoritative reliability of Internet public opinion, and thereby strengthen mainstream expression, and reduce and even isolate non-mainstream expression. The core strength of this group should have a strong sense of social responsibility, and at the same time should master the art of guiding, regulating, and controlling, and use the power and techniques of persuasion through expressing opinions to attain dominance over mainstream perspectives, and guide Internet opinion in the correct direction. In this way we will be able to guide Internet users' thinking by using materials and perspectives that seek truth through the facts, and using expression that has insight, has a standpoint, a unique point of view and is rich in personality.