The jobless journalists in Taiwan:True stories

近年來傳播科技快速變化，不但社會型態因此產生鉅變，新科技更也打破了媒體界線進而產生科技滙流，使得平面媒體、廣電媒體、共同載具、有線電視及網際網路的藩籬、角色、定位都逐漸模糊。 而當平面媒體處於麥克魯漢所說的「淘汰」螺旋後，自一九九九年開始整體廣告盈收呈現負成長，二○○六年台灣報紙一口氣有六家熄燈打烊，數以千計的記者失業。受此影響，記者專業角色嚴重貶值，從監督社會的無冕王淪為商業化與科技化雙重衝擊下的現代報業媒體工人，大量遭解雇的記者形成「流浪記者」現象。 本文訪談八位記者發現，一旦對媒體產業的未來失去信心，連帶也對自己失去信心，喪失了新聞工作的認同與熱情，「一輩子當記者」成為遙不可及的夢想，選擇以生存作為工作心態。這樣的氛圍型塑出平面媒體記者「集體灰暗時代」，嚴重影響其專業角色。 然而以「媒體四大律」分析，紙張形式的報紙雖逐漸遭到網路媒體之「淘汰」卻不會消失，而是需要「轉化」。記者創作撰寫新聞「內容」的能力不因報社倒閉而消失，社會對記者的需求更將永無止境，記者應隨社會環境與新科技改變進而轉變並提升自身核心能力。The media landscape in Taiwan has been greatly changed because of the emergence of new communication technologies and transition of market-driven journalism globally. For one thing, the newspaper industry’s circulation and readership continue to decline and advertising revenues keep on shrinking since 1999. As a result, since the beginning of this century, many newspapers have experienced huge deficits; six were shut down in 2006 alone and thousands of journalists lost their jobs. Based on the literature review and in-depth interviews of eight so-called “jobless journalists” who left or considering to leave the newspaper industry, this study finds many of these professional reporters are experiencing a crisis of confidence, no longer believing in themselves as well as the professional training. Most of all, they predict that the fate of newspaper has been doomed and journalism is hopeless and futureless. The study records their true stories of how to rebuild confidence while facing the hardship both of the career and the profession