People’s Forum, under the official People’s Daily, recently conducted a survey of “‘Internet Phobia’ of Contemporary Chinese Officials.” 5,943 netizens participated online and 300 officials and non-officials through pen and paper.
70% of those surveyed believe that current Chinese officials have a syndrome of “Internet phobia.” Answers to the question “why do you think they fear the Internet?” include:
“Being afraid that defective work is exposed and future careers will be damaged: 60%”; “Being afraid that personal information will be leaked and normal work and life affected: 28%”; “Being afraid that Internet public opinions only focus on wrongdoing instead of achievement, and draw biased conclusions out of context: 17%”; “Being afraid that Internet supervision will confuse right and wrong, and mess things up: 16%”; “Being afraid that some bad people will use the Internet for blackmail: 11%.”
When the 300 officials and non-officials were asked, “Officials at which level fear the Internet most?,” 47% responded that it was those officials at the “county level.”
Source: People’s Daily, May 6, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11535806.html