a reply to 媒体和言论自由能消除谎言吗？中国网禁是否有其道理

It is interesting we are reading a same report and concern on a similar question. This is also why I launch TalkTone to run an online polling project. If you are interested in this issue, I can find some papers for you.

From a journalist’s perspective, the current report is a bad qualified review, but raises a good question. In social psychology, there are some fundamental studies on information distortion and rumour spread. A classic study was from an Indian earthquake. The researchers found after an earthquake, more rumour or horrible news came from outsider than the earthquake resource. The degree f information distortion is highly correlated to the distance to the resource.

Regarding to China’s internet censorship, principally I accept censorship is necessary for a society, but it should be under the eye of law, not a dynamic policy or a leader’s arbitrary preference. We have not had a well-defined law and regulation to protect freedom of speech and information. The today problem is not rumour. The priory is a law to protect freedom of speech and information.