The Infotainment Tendencies in Packaging TV News in Taiwan: The Effect on College Audience’s Evaluation of TV News Credibility

• Main Author: 魏介珩
• Other Authors: 黃葳威
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/29361013388615850635

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 國際傳播英語碩士學位學程(IMICS) === 101 === The phenomenon of infotainment tendency in TV news broadcasting has been rising globally. Taiwan is no exception since last decade, especially a turning point that Apple Daily first published in Taiwan. This sensationalism- oriented publication has become an essential reference for TV news producers and resulted in a revolution of TV news in Taiwan, which from content to format presentation have become relatively infotainment- oriented. The excessive 24-hour news channels is another cause of the infotainment phenomenon in Taiwan, which results in a vicious viewing rate competition. In order to draw audience’s attention, each channel tries hard to be “eye- catching” to please audience instead of providing substantive information. This study investigated the effect of the current prosperous infotainment tendencies in news broadcasting in Taiwan on college audience’s evaluation and perception of TV news credibility through different variables. In addition to demographic investigation, this study also conducted research on the correlation between audience’s media literacy level, media use habit and TV news credibility evaluation. It is found that respondents with more media understanding are more sensitive and critical to the infotainment issue in TV news. Moreover, the results showed that the infotainment applications used in hard news generally lead to lower TV news credibility than used in soft news. The findings of this study contribute reference to the news discipline for TV news producers in Taiwan.