By Zhang Lei

They hide behind changing identities and false IDs. They take orders from supervisors in cyber-space. In the US, they might be called "spin doctors," trying to mold public opinion in favor of one political party or the other.

In China, they are working for both the commercial firms and government entities.

Gansu government recently announced that it was recruiting a team of 650 Internet "commentators" to "guide" public opinion through posts and replies to comments by Web users on Internet forums.

The recruits were soon being ridiculed by other netizens as the "5 mao army," or "5 mao dang," referring to those who are paid 50 Chinese cents to post comments favorable to the government.

Some critics say the term "5 mao army" is a product of prejudice under western influence. Zhang Shengjun, a professor of international politics at Beijing Normal University, recently wrote in the Chinese edition of the Global Times that the foreign media are crucial in spreading the term.

"Now it has become a baton waved towards all Chinese patriots...Is there nothing worth admiring in China? Should Chinese government always be the target of criticism?" Zhang said.

According to a veteran media professional with more than 20 years of experience, government websites will approach commentators from traditional media on various issues such as the United States's arms sales to Taiwan. "It is my decision whether to write under my real name or a pen name," said the journalist, asking that his name be withheld.

"I was sometimes advised to take a stand different from the government position, so as to create a discussion." He said the ensuing online debate "helps the public better understand the issues and the truth behind them."

In addition, marketing companies specializing in online promotion write comments praising certain products to lure consumers into buying them, or at least influence the public's buying decisions.

Officials viewed China's online forums, a unique outlet for public opinion, as a threatening environment that could easily get "out of control",according to an article on the website of the State Council Information Office.

One-third of the 77 most influential social events in 2009 were publicized through Web forums and blogs while traditional media were kept silent, according to a report titled, "Society of China: Analysis and Forecast 2010," by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2005, Li Wufeng, director of the State Council Information Office's Internet Affairs Bureau, said that online discussions made a deeper impression on people's minds and behavior than traditional newspaper reports or radio- TV commentary.

"Once mass protests erupt, online discussion boards can quickly mobilize in a way that can undermine social stability if mishandled," he said.

At about the same time, local publicity departments began to recruit Internet commentators as official jobholders, an idea which the government praised as a great innovation.

In April 2005, the government of Suqian, Jiangsu Province hired 26 commentators. Qualified applicants were required to show political integrity, logic and a sharp news sense, according to the Yangtze Evening News, noting that, "Their performance, based on the number of posts and replies, will be considered for awards in municipal publicity work."

A picture dated July, 2009 showing a training session for Internet commentators, conducted by the Inspection Commission in Raohe county, Heilongjiang Province.

Pay cut

An official document revealed that in 2004, the CPC Changsha Municipal Committee began to hire a group of Internet commentators who were paid a basic salary of 600 yuan ($88) a month, plus 50 cents ($7 cents) for each post. Many believe that's where the "5 mao" came from.

Lately, the online commentators have taken a pay cut. On the Hengyang Dangjian website, a recent notice advertised that Internet commentators will be given an allowance of 0.1 yuan for one article and no more than 100 yuan ($14) a month, apart from their basic salary.

Beifeng, a former commentator for a news portal, told the Global Times that commentators either work full-time for State-owned news portals, such as xinhuanet.com, people.com.cn and southcn. com or work part-time as government employees for various government branches, including ministries, public security and academic institutions.

"There are an estimated 20 full-time commentators in Guangdong Province. They usually write two to four articles a week and seldom reply to posts," he said.

A commentator surnamed Song, 28, who works for a county-level discipline inspection commission in South China's Hunan Province, said writing news propaganda was part of his job.

"We usually write about our own achievements and comment on the fight against corruption and building a clean government," Song said.

If local news portals run their articles, the writers get 40 yuan per article for 500 words. The price goes up to 200 yuan if they get published on websites run by the central government.

They are occasionally trained by rednet.cn, a forum run by the Publicity Department of CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, teaching recruits how to become a Web correspondents and delve deeper into policy issues.

There are more than 100 correspondents in the county, mostly working in their spare time, Song said. The county has a population of about 1 million.

This group, mostly public servants, goes online as ordinary users. They then try to put the best face possible on government policies, or praise the virtues and achievements of role models like Shen Hao, a local hero from Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province, who died at age 45.

Their supervisors give them detailed instructions on how to complete each article. They use QQ group to communicate with each other.

Several days ahead of China's 2008 National Day celebration, 20 commentators in Hengyang, Hunan Province were given an urgent assignment to write 1,000 posts on the discussion topic, "Emancipating minds and development of Hengyang." Local government leaders had solicited advice from netizens and wanted to counter any negative replies with positive comments.

Each commentator had to edit and post more than 60 suggestions and offer advice, based on propaganda materials they had each received. Comments between 100 and 500 Chinese characters in length were to be posted on rednet.cn. They were encouraged to sign up under many IDs and post no more than five comments for each user name.

There was even a guidebook of Dos and Don'ts on writing articles properly to shape public opinion.

An anonymous editor at tianya.cn, which boasts 30 million registered users, made it clear that no Internet commen-tators had been hired by the website to shape public opinion, but also noted that the online forum has a department to censor content.

"We've found online public relations companies doing commercials inside the forums, trying to reach tens of thousands of users to create a commercial hype," she said. "These online pushers are not easily recognized because we mostly delete illegal and pornographic content."

As for the online commentators blending in with ordinary users, she said, "They can register as many IDs as they want, as long as they don't violate the law."

The editor recalled how the online commentators were quickly mobilized during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 and again during the Xinjiang riots.

Pressure

Wang, a former employee at the Public Security Bureau, told the Global Times that she has never heard of the "online commentators," but she acknowledged that there are a certain number of people trying to spin online opinions into support for the government.

Wang said netizens often misunderstand the commentators, and that "actually they are not that mysterious. Guiding public opinion is just a job."

"It is necessary to have the commentators because sometimes truth may hurt social stability," Wang said. "Netizens want to seek justice, but from their perspective, they can't foresee possible negative consequences."

"The forums can't be easily controlled, but it seems to work that way because most netizens tend to follow what others say," Wang added.

A law graduate student, who preferred to remain anonymous, said netizens may have their own opinions but the "online commentators" can have a beneficial value.

"Endless online comments put much pressure on the judicial authorities," he said. "In fact, some of their criticisms are not appropriate. Perhaps that's when the online commentators are doing the right thing."

Beifeng played down the impact of the "online commentators":

"They are inefficient and ineffective," he said, "People who can log on to Twitter can't be easily swayed."

Weakness

Hu Yong, an Internet expert from Peking University, told the Global Times that the public opinion molders have already penetrated different layers of Chinese society.

Hu said that a tourist city's airport has public opinion watchdogs that keep an eye on the forums and deal with any negative information about the airport. Even a county-level middle school has such a department.

The invisible army is mobilized to downplay hot button issues when controversy heats up on the Internet.

"The commentators may exist and temporarily spin public opinion when conflicts emerge, but they will have no effect over the long run, except making the public more aware of them," Hu said.

He pointed out that a significant weakness of "online commentators" is that they are hiding behind an IP without identification, so they can't build credibility and be trusted as a reliable source.

"To a certain extent, their reputation will collapse and the information they provide will become trash."

In that case, the commentator is not entirely a bad idea in term of teaching netizens how to sort out valuable information, he said.

Another camp

Meanwhile, the term "5 cent army" or "Internet agent" has spreaded online referring to anyone with an anti-China opinion, or commentators allegedly hired by the US and Japan.

"Actually it is only a label," said Hu. "Public opinion guidance now carries the stigma of immorality, because netizens assumed commentators were only doing it for the money."

He said the government is getting wiser, adjusting its strategy from online control to guidance.

"It is good they stepped down and joined the debate because people with differing opinions should learn to coexist on the Internet."

"As technology develops, there is little room for 'online commentators' in the Twitter-sphere because they can't work if nobody follows them, even if they register under many IDs. Besides, their identification is easily exposed."

In the future, he said, people will care more about their social identity in the virtual world.

Wu Hao, deputy director of the Publicity Department of CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee, who chose not to withhold information when negative news came out, said rather than secretly trying to shape public opinion, govern-ment officials should reply to criticism and offer problem-solving ideas under their real names.

Several provinces followed Yunnan's lead last year, appointing Internet spokesmen to answer criticism using their real names and titles, according to Southern Weekend.

In 2009, online communication between the government and the citizenry was improving, although tempers flared during some mass protests, according to the Public Opinion Monitoring Office of People's Daily Online.

Several provincial and ministerial leaders guested on the Qiangguo Forum to communicate with netizens directly after President Hu Jintao talked to netizens via the online forum in June 2008.

China has world's largest number of Internet users, an estimated 384 million people by the end of 2009. The online community now makes up 28.9 percent of the total population, according to a report by the China Internet Network Information Center in January.

Dos and Don'ts for Internet commentators

Dos:

• Be accurate, timely, and objective

• Short title and brief article

• Fast response to rumors

• Guide people, don't simply give opinions

• Check your article on Baidu before signing up

Don'ts:

• Don't fabricate news or copy others

• Don't repeat the news or talk about trivial stuff like food and health

• Don't use an authoritarian tone and talk crap

• Don't post inappropriate comments on international or foreign affairs

• Don't mention personal information.

Source: Training materials for Internet commentators.