&nbsp; Internet Use, Public Trust, and Risk Communication&nbsp;&nbsp;
in a Water Pollution Area

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Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2013, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (10) : 117-130.

Internet Use, Public Trust, and Risk Communication

in a Water Pollution Area

Qiu Hongfeng is an associate professor at the School of Journalism andCommunication, Xiamen University. Email: joyjohn2002@xmu.edu.cn

Wu Shengtao is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Xiamen University. His research interests include emotion and communication mechanism, culture and audience analysis. Email: michaelstwu@xmu.edu.cn

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Abstract

Based on a survey of residents suffering from water pollution attributed to gold mining in Shanghang county, Fujian province, the study demonstrates the significant difference of public trust in government between urban and rural areas vis-à-visenvironmental risks. The degree of Internet access contributes to public trust but the latter can hardly influence local residents on accepting the risk of water pollution. While being irrelevant to the public trust, the specific use of Internet for accessing local environmental information and learning environmental conflicts occurred in other areas predicts the acceptance of water pollution risks. The study suggests that the recovery of public trust should not be the main concern of risk communication. Rather, the information of water quality monitoring should be provided to facilitate local residents to make rational risk evaluation.