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

全球的電視新聞文化現今都已偏好聳動的主題及令人目眩神移、訴諸感官刺激的綜藝化製作方式。台灣的電視新聞綜藝化自壹週刊、蘋果日報在台出刊後更加明顯氾濫，這種辛辣聳動的刊物成為各家電視新聞台的重要新聞來源。此外，過多的24小時新聞台為了搶收視率亦在視聽覺吸引及口語報導方式上無所不用其極的“吸睛”。值得一探的是，觀眾對於這種綜藝化播報方式的觀感究竟如何，而此種播報方式對於其電視新聞可信度又是否會有影響。 本文從不同變項探討現今台灣電視新聞綜藝化手法對大學生評估新聞可信度的影響及觀感。除人口變項外，亦討論媒介使用習慣、媒體素養與電視新聞可信度評價的關係。研究結果發現，一般來說，媒體素養越高的受測者對台灣電視新聞可信度評價越低，也較不喜歡看綜藝化手法製作的電視新聞。此外，本文除討論現今常使用的綜藝化手法所引發的新聞可信度評價影響，亦發現大多數綜藝化手法應用於硬性新聞較應用於軟性新聞播報中引發較低的新聞可信度評價。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