Wu Jungang column
The fourth estate, or translated the fourth class, is generally understood as the fourth power of the United States in the United States (administrative, legislative and judicial), and specifically refers to news media as a representative of freedom of speech.In fact, the three classes it originally referred to, the monks, nobles and civilians in the feudal era of Western Europe.In recent years, with the low status and reputation of Western news media, almost no one has mentioned the fourth right.
With the advent of the Internet era and the emergence of social media, the influence of new media has expanded, forming emerging forces outside the traditional mainstream media, and some people call it the fifth class or the fifth eState.On the 17th of this month, Zuckerberg, president of Facebook, was invited to give a speech at Georimon University, Washington, USA, and mentioned the fifth right.
He said that people have the power of large -scale expression (opinion), which is a new force in the world today, that is, the fifth right of the other power structure with other power structures.It is certainly far -reaching that people do not need to rely on traditional political or media goalkeepers.He believes that you can empower everyone and let those who are powerless can speak, which is the power of continuously improving society.
During the speech, Zuckerberg also took the opportunity to severely criticize the practice of China's control social media platform.And at this section of bones, he revealed a very important information that Facebook will start a battle of values with China.He said that China is building its own Internet based on very different values and is now output their vision to other countries.
He said that recently, the Internet used outside China was established by the US platform with strong expression of freedom.It is no longer possible to guarantee that these values can eventually win.Ten years ago, almost all Internet platforms were from the United States.Today, six of the top 10 are in China.Taking social media as an example, he pointed out that American social media like WhatsApp are used by demonstrations everywhere, while China Tiktok (international version of Douyin) is rapidly developing around the world.U.S.
Zuckerberg then raised a key question: Which country's values will determine in the future, what remarks are allowed?If the rules are formulated by the platform of another country, our narrative will be determined by a completely different set of values.The conclusion is that the United States must take the initiative to make the values of Americans win in the world.From this point of view, Zuckerberg also decided to join the technical battle of the Sino -US game.
Most of the Singaporeans have been used to the first social platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp, but more and more people use China's WeChat to know Douyin and Tiktok.In the United States, Tiktok is getting more and more popular with young people.It is certain that, like 5G, it will definitely not be a platform in the future to unify the world.Technology was originally neutral, but now it has been politicized.These are all we can't control, all we can do is to make good choices.
Regarding Zuckerberg's criticism, Hu Xijin, the editor -in -chief of the China Global Times, believed that he did not rule out that he had won more sympathy for American public opinion and helped him to get rid of the predicament with Facebook.Looking at Zuckerberg's speech, the main purpose of his speech is to respond to the criticism of the opposite book of American public opinion.He also pointed out that since the outbreak of the data gate in March 2018, the image of Facebook on the public opinion field in the United States has been severely damaged, and the commercial interests of the opposite book have caused squeezing.The current image crisis in the United States and Western is the top priority of Zuckerberg.
The speech of Zuckerberg is mainly defense for improper management criticized by the facebooks by the government, and this is because all countries have begun to go through legislative methods to deal with various harmfulness carried out through platforms like Facebook.Event, including pornography, fake news, online bullying, etc., but more importantly, the use of various disruptive and destructive activities carried out by the Internet and social media.Among them, actions such as intervention elections, manipulation of public opinion, and differentiation of society have attracted particular attention.For countries around the world, these are more serious and urgent issues than values.
In Singapore, network threats have become a major issue.Earlier this year, the government announced that it has added Digital Defence to the sixth pillar of the original psychological defense, social defense, economic defense, civil defense and military defense.Since the beginning of this year, the government has continuously launched fake information to prevent online fake information and network manipulation laws and maintain religious harmony (revision) laws.Next, it will also introduce a new bill of intervention in foreign forces, giving the government more power to cope with the intervention activities initiated by various destructive forces hidden in the Internet world, including hostile information campaign.
In addition, we may also need to pay attention to the rise of online platforms and other shocks to society.For example, under the impact of the new media, the fourth power of the traditional media can be said to be defeated. Traditional media around the world, especially newspapers, have suffered heavy blows whether the sales quantity or advertising revenue.In the United States, the newspaper industry has shrunk rapidly. From 2008 to last year, between 10 years, the number of news practitioners has decreased by 47%.Many local newspapers have closed down one after another, and national newspapers have also faced the dilemma of the decline in newspapers, and advertising has decreased sharply.
The rise of the fifth power destroyed the entire traditional information ecological environment and squeezed the living space of traditional mainstream media.The fourth authority, which originally played a pivotal social role, has been greatly destroyed to convey the traditional function of messages, education and entertainment (EDUCATE and Entertainment).However, the fifth power cannot be replaced by endangering the survival of traditional mainstream media, playing the same social role.After all, the nature of the two is fundamentally different.
The situation in our country seems to be the same. People who read newspapers every day are significantly reduced every day. More people obtain information through smartphones.Various websites have also greatly dispersed people's attention.This has serious consequences for the communication between the government and the people.In the past, government leaders can effectively convey important political information to the majority through traditional mainstream media. Now because of the Internet, more interference and noise have occurred in the communication between the government and the people.The mainstream media played an important role in the founding of my country's founding, and its current situation is worthy of government's attention.
The author is a former journalist, a former member of the parliament
