A Study in the Process of Production of the Book Review In Taiwan’s Newspapers

• Main Authors: Wan-yu Huang, 黃婉玉
• Other Authors: Li Chi
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64052036277136065359

碩士 === 南華大學 === 出版學研究所 === 91 === 　　Despite the fact that book reviews are byproducts of various forms of media in Taiwan, those in the newspapers can somewhat stand-alone. However, people are given the impression that book reviews are always dull and dry — although they serve as a guide for reading and a stimulant of book purchases, nowadays they are tinted with professionalism and academicism in Taiwan. What is supposed to be the friendly media of books and general readers then becomes aloof. My motive to do the research on the process of production of the book reviews in Taiwan’s newspapers is to find out how the book reviews become the way they are made today. This research is conducted with literature analysis and interviews. Interviewees include the editors in chief of book reviews, book selectors, and reviewers from Central Daily News, China Times, and United Daily News. To give a crystal idea of the way these three newspapers publish book reviews, I conduct the research with reconstruction, namely, to interpret and present from a researcher’s viewpoints. 　 　　This research is divided into four parts: selecting books, choosing reviewers, reviewers’ writing styles, editing and publishing. I find that books the three newspapers choose are mostly acknowledged by intellectuals and scholars, which means, to some extent, the books are difficult to read. As for the reviewers’ chosen, most of them are scholars. With different points of view towards what book reviews, target readers, and emphases on the topic of the books, the reviewers offer a variety of ways in which book reviews are written. However, many book reviews appear to be mechanical and rigid; they are even considered a literary form that sets up a bar in reading. Objective and neutral as the editors in chief of the three newspapers try to be, they bear in mind the ideology that comes with their educational and cultural background. In addition, they rely too much on the professionalism of the scholars (reviewers). Consequently, even with the authoritativeness and fairness in selecting books, they make those rigid book reviews unreachable for the general readers.