Censorship is a theme that plays a major role in the Chinese online, but also offline society. In order to maintain the status quo of the stability of their regime, the Chinese Communist Party...Show moreCensorship is a theme that plays a major role in the Chinese online, but also offline society. In order to maintain the status quo of the stability of their regime, the Chinese Communist Party ensures that, by issuing heavy guidelines, the online communities are unable to mobilize against the central government. In this thesis, I discussed the representation of the hashtag #十九大 by Weibo, in collaboration with the People’s Daily, during the 19th National Congress. I found the topic of this project to be of importance, since I consider online censorship in China to be necessary of researching on a case-to-case basis, to assess what instantiations of censorship practices we might find across China’s online spheres. This thesis used a comparative method, involving the hashtag page on Weibo and the storage database of censored posts on Freeweibo. I found out that not only the guidelines of the central government are to blame for the restriction of free speech, but also that the company Sina and a moral sense of self-censorship are important factors that play a role in the game.Show less
This thesis examines the utilization behaviour of Sina Weibo by environmental NGOs within China. Within this thesis, qualitative research is being performed in relation to the utilzation of the...Show moreThis thesis examines the utilization behaviour of Sina Weibo by environmental NGOs within China. Within this thesis, qualitative research is being performed in relation to the utilzation of the different communicative aspects of Sina Weibo by several contemporary Chinese environmental NGOs. This is done through the emperical analysis of micro-blogposts. In addition, these results are furthermore examined within the context of China's specific socio-poltical environment and in relation to their associated dynamics.Show less
