CMC and Legal Justice in China

摘要

Before the advent of the Internet and its wide use by the general populace in China, the dissemination of information has been under the strict control by the Chinese government. As well-documented in research and history, the dissemination of accurate, comprehensive, and balanced information is important to social progress and justice. This work explores and discusses the role of computer-mediated communication (CMC), especially online postings, in the effort of the general populace to see execution of justice in a specific legal case. Perfectly symbolic of the struggle between the rich and the poor and between the powerful elite and the obscure peasantry, this legal case and its verdict has been socially poignant and aroused wide attention and concern among all Chinese all over the world. The paper concludes that access to CMC by the populace can play a pivotal role in the assistance of just dissemination of information and thus in the promise of a just legal system.