| Summary: | 碩士 === 世新大學 === 口語傳播學研究所 === 106 ===
Recent advances in science and technology have provided a variety of digital platforms on which people can express their opinions both openly and with great immediacy. As a result, however, the public spheres in Taiwan have encountered a variety of novel shocks and challenges, and these phenomena are cause for exploration and reflection. Based on own personal experiences, the author of the present study sought to analyze the role of electronic media in democratic life, with a particular focus on how the formation of diverse families is discussed on electronic media platforms. An initial survey of opinions on this subject found notable clarity in the ways in which different individuals and groups defended their positions. It was observed that the people who expressed concerns about and debated the topic on various websites included individuals with a range of different occupations, ages, genders, religions, political parties, and so on. In order to better understand the overall development of public opinions regarding this issue and the relationship between media technology and democratic society, this paper conducted a case study of diverse family formation events as a means of examining the current situation of the public sphere in Taiwan.
The relevant aspects of the public sphere and communicative rationality, as well as media ecology and the ideology of technology, served as the basis for this case review and discussion. The analysis revealed a number of key points regarding how the issue of diverse family formation is currently discussed. First, it was noted that among the mainstream news media, the declared positions of public figures are generally regarded as the important content of media reports. Second, the analysis indicated that those people and groups taking various positions on the issue typically put out calls in the media aimed at forming alliances to establish and advocate their respective views. On Facebook, for example, different news media, groups, and individuals contended with one another for visibility and support. At the same time, this free expression of so many viewpoints spread across different media platforms has tended to make people feel like they are adrift in a whole galaxy of opinions, simply because the number of opinion pages in the digital space is now comparable to the countless number of stars in outer space. This situation underscores the need for improved public communication, whether by design or some mechanism of intervention. Meanwhile, the role and actions of the fifth estate are becoming increasingly important in this emerging media milieu.
This study arrived at a number of key conclusions. First, democratic societies should not merely be optimistic regarding the influx of freely expressed opinions on open media platforms; rather, such societies must also ask whether media users are using media to actually obtain secondary enlightenment, and activating the cultural resources of secondary orality in the media ecology. Relatedly, such societies should concern themselves with the practice of electronic literacy in daily life. Research suggests that current Facebook users, for example, can serve as a dynamic interface between organizations advocating niche positions and the general public, with such users taking on the function of continuously engaging in both internal and external communication activities with those organizations. Therefore, using Facebook consciously allows the communicative rationality in the public sphere, the formation of interpersonal relationships, and the related actions allowing different opinions for the public to comment can be well demonstrated and, ultimately, better understood.
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