Abstract
新媒體技術的勃興與經濟下滑的壓力正使得傳統媒體遭遇嚴峻的困境,甚至危及媒體社會正當性的基礎——公信力。長期以來,公信力作為規範新聞理論中的重要概念,起著規範媒體行為和新聞倫理的作用,但是基於2016–2017年間對中國內地六家媒體機構的考察和92份深度訪談資料的分析,本研究發現,在面對生存危機時,中國媒體的普遍性做法是利用公信力進行營銷,以使媒體擺脫或者緩解經營困境,公信力不再是一種規範性的倫理工具,而變成一種市場化的經濟工具。具體來說,本研究發現,中國內地媒 體主要使用三種策略挖掘公信力的市場潛能:組織架構的市場化、收入來源的公關化、採編角色的經營化。本文結論認為,公信力營銷做法的背後實際上折射出中國媒體生態的深層變化,帶來媒體社會正當性的困境,為新形勢下中國媒體的轉型提出了許多挑戰性的議題。
Faced with the challenge of new media technology and the general crisis of media economics, the traditional press is experiencing a hard time. In particular, the credibility upon which its claims to legitimacy and authority rest has suffered. Credibility has long been regarded as an important concept in normative journalism theories, and it plays a central role in regulating media behavior and ethics. Based on a comprehensive study of six print media organizations and 92 in-depth interviews with journalists and media managers, conducted between 2016 and 2017, this research finds that credibility is today used as a marketing tool helping newspaper groups survive the current economic crisis. Rather than being a normative tool regulating ethics, media credibility has become more of an economic tool serving market ends. Chinese media organizations tend to exploit the market potential of media credibility in three main ways: the reconfiguration of organizational structures; the expansion of “side businesses”; and a redefinition of journalistic roles. The paper demonstrates that the wide adoption of these strategies has profound implications for the reshaping of media ecology, and raises important issues regarding the transformation of media and journalism in the new era.
Faced with the challenge of new media technology and the general crisis of media economics, the traditional press is experiencing a hard time. In particular, the credibility upon which its claims to legitimacy and authority rest has suffered. Credibility has long been regarded as an important concept in normative journalism theories, and it plays a central role in regulating media behavior and ethics. Based on a comprehensive study of six print media organizations and 92 in-depth interviews with journalists and media managers, conducted between 2016 and 2017, this research finds that credibility is today used as a marketing tool helping newspaper groups survive the current economic crisis. Rather than being a normative tool regulating ethics, media credibility has become more of an economic tool serving market ends. Chinese media organizations tend to exploit the market potential of media credibility in three main ways: the reconfiguration of organizational structures; the expansion of “side businesses”; and a redefinition of journalistic roles. The paper demonstrates that the wide adoption of these strategies has profound implications for the reshaping of media ecology, and raises important issues regarding the transformation of media and journalism in the new era.
Translated title of the contribution | Media Credibility as a Marketing Tool: How the Mainland Chinese Press Copes with Technological Challenges and Economic Crisis |
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Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
Pages (from-to) | 123–154 |
Number of pages | 32 |
Journal | 傳播與社會學刊 |
Issue number | 43 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2018 |
User-Defined Keywords
- 公信力
- 新聞倫理
- 社會正當性
- 媒體經濟
- 媒體融合
- media credibility
- media ethics
- legitimacy
- media economy
- media convergence