4. Results
4.2 Interview Findings
4.2.2 Challenges
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「那以前會比較說想像是『文人辦報』，那現在的話是『商人辦報』，把報 紙變成一個典型的行銷商品。所以現在我每次都跟別人講說，我們現在是 服務業。以前是文化業，現在的報紙是服務業，那就差很多了。」
(鄧總編輯，蘋果日報體育中心)
With the transformation of newspaper, new challenges have occurred for the reporters and editors to present fair coverage for women’s basketball.
When the profits and the entertainment have become the focuses of the reporting, women’s basketball, with less excitement and suspension, fewer audience and other problems, is often sacrificed for coverage. However, the interviewees believed that the new trend of newspaper might also provide potential solutions for more, better, or balanced coverage for women’s basketball.
4.2.2 Challenges
From the interview results, the challenges for women’s basketball news to be fairly reported in newspaper were identified. In order to effectively seek change in the current media system and in its representations of women in basketball news, the current study is also aimed to look for the suggestions offered by the interviewed reporters and editors for organizations related to women basketball promotion.
Other Challenges for Women’s Basketball News
According to the interviewees, during the news production process, there were other challenges that the reporters and editors might face in order to fairly present women’s basketball as follows: (1) the game without excitement and suspension was hardly considered as the content of the valuable news; (2) there were small audience thus the women’s basketball news was hardly considered as the valuable one; (3) women’s basketball in Taiwan was closed and isolated without good media relations.
The Game without Excitement and Suspension
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All the interviewees initiatively expressed their concerns to the women’s basketball system in Taiwan. With Cathay Women’s Basketball Team with the championship for the last 15 years in row, the women’s basketball games in Taiwan were considered as boring and without excitement and suspension. One quote was selected below as an example.
“For Taiwan’s women’s basketball, will you keep watching the games when there is always the same team winning the championship? With the top players all in the same team, the team wins the championship easily. We all know the results before the game is played. There’s no attraction and suspension. The attractiveness of the professional sport like basketball is the suspension. For example, in NBA, with the better strength and equal capacities (among teams), anything impossible may happen. This is the attractiveness of the game. But in terms of women’s basketball in Taiwan, where’s the attraction? There is nothing valuable at all.” (Yu-Long Ma, Reporter of United Daily)
「像國內女籃，老是看同一支球隊拿冠軍，你會想繼續看嗎？全台灣最好 的選手都在你這邊，比賽不用打就知道冠軍是誰。沒有吸引力、張力、懸 疑性。比賽好看好看在哪？像籃球這麼職業化的運動， 重點就在懸疑性。
例如 NBA 強度要夠、實力接近、任何異想不到的結果都有可能發生，這就 是球賽好看的地方。可是你說國內女籃，有什麼好看的？一點賣點都沒 有。」 (馬鈺龍，聯合報文字記者)
“For women’s basketball (in Taiwan), in addition to the poorer competitiveness, there is a very serious problem. There have been problems in the environment.
There are few materials to be reported positively. There are few things for coverage.” (Peter Liao, Reporter Apple Daily)
「我覺得籃球這部分，除了女籃賽事競爭強度差，還有一個很大的問題，
台灣女籃是一個很有問題的環境。能正面報導的東西不多，沒有那麼多東 西可以報導。」 (廖柏璋，蘋果日報體育中心記者)
In addition to the gender difference found in the news production process,
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interviewees indicated that there was the gender difference rooted in the sport environment. The system was pointed out as the reason why women’s
basketball was not popular in Taiwan. The basketball association, the official organization in charge of management and promotion for basketball in Taiwan, was also accused of neglecting women’s basketball with biased gender
ideology. For example,
“The Basketball Association, the responsible official authority, has something to do with this as well. The basketball association doesn’t pay much attention to women’s basketball when holding games. There is the small scale with four to six teams. Even the game was nearly canceled last year. There is something to do with the attitude of the responsible official authority. They think men’s basketball is more profitable, then the media will follow the trend (to focus on men’s basketball more).” (Maddux Huang, Reporter Apple Daily)
「籃協主事者也有關係。因為主事者對女籃虛應故事，隊伍四到六，規模 就這麼小，去年還傳出停辦。其實主事者的心態也有關係，因為她們認為 男籃比較有錢賺，報導也跟這個趨勢走。」
(黃建仁，蘋果日報體育中心記者)
Small Audiences
Another challenge for women’s basketball is the small audiences in Taiwan. With the smaller population, Taiwan was considered as the less potential market for developing sport. With small audiences, small attention was attracted and few profits were involved, leading to less emphasis and less attention, causing the vicious circle which could not increase more audiences and improve the women’s basketball environment in Taiwan. Two quotes were selected below as the examples.
“I do think there is no market for women’s basketball and it is not exclusive to Taiwan only; instead, it is universal. For example, WNBA is also in crisis for management. . . . For the small population and the small market in Taiwan, the surviving condition for women’s basketball is harsh, which influences our
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reporting. The information used to be very valuable when the newspaper industry was not developed yet in the past. However, now with the information explosion, the clicking rate (checking rate) for women’s basketball news is apparently low (by the readers) in comparison. Therefore, when the newspaper holds the power in decision, we’ll choose to cover on men’s basketball and may give up news on women’s basketball.”
(Weini Peng, Reporter of United Daily)
「我也的確覺得女籃比較沒有市場，這不是只發生在台灣，全球都一樣。
“This is the vicious circle and the benign circle. The benign circle appears when the tickets are on sold out. With the profits, there are more marketing approaches. As for those (games) with less tickets being sold, even free tickets are not attracting people. In addition, enterprises are not willing to sponsor.
Thus, the vicious circle appears.”
(Miss Dung, Editor in Chief of Apple Daily)
「這就是惡性循環跟良性循環。良性循環就是妳賣的門票多，當然錢賺的 多，行銷的方式就多；那賣的人少，甚至於要送票都沒人看，那要去找企 業贊助也不受歡迎不願意贊助，那就變成惡性循環。」
(鄧總編輯，蘋果日報體育中心)
Consequently, the small audiences for women’s basketball would not gain wide attention and massive profits, leading to the result that less coverage or even no coverage was given to the women’s basketball when the reporters faced limitation or pressure from the higher level of the authority in
newspaper. The following two quotes were selected as the example.
“Media are not obliged to cover one certain sport. What the media can do is to
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inform the athletes or coaches what kind of news is considered as valuable and welcome. However, limited to time and energy, reporters may not be able to do that much. Or limited to the page space or the pressure from the higher level in the newspaper, reporters just can’t do that much. It’s usual that they don’t want to do anything for improvement.”
(Yuan-Fu Kuo, Assistant Deputy Editor in Chief of Apple Daily)
「媒體沒有義務要多報導某項運動，但媒體可以告知運動員或是教練們怎 麼樣的新聞、怎麼樣的賣點是她們想要的。但受限於時間與精力，記者也 不一定能做這麼多。或是說受限於版面或是上層給的壓力，就是沒辦法做 這麼多。他們自然而然也不會想要去多做什麼改進。」
(郭運復，蘋果日報體育中心助理副總編輯)
“I can’t say that there is no reader (for women’s basketball). However, we (Apple Daily) target at the popular news so we have to cater to the taste of the public. So it is impossible for me to do coverage for the niche market. That’s why the coverage is limited (for women’s basketball.)”
(Yung-Jen Cheng, Reporter Apple Daily)
「我不能說沒有讀者，但我們有的是大眾化的路線，所以我們要去迎合大 眾的口味。所以我不可能針對一些小眾市場去做東西，所以篇幅就會受
限。」 (陳庸仁，蘋果日報體育中心記者)
Poor Media Relations
The other main challenge that the reporters and editors found during the news reporting was the isolated women’s basketball environment. The interviewees all agreed that the related authority of women’s basketball, especially the coach, tended to avoid building relations with the media. With the poor media relations, women’s basketball would hardly gain more or better coverage. All the reporters considered that there was nothing they could do to promote women’s basketball if the people involved were not being cooperative or willing to send out news sources actively. For example,
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“As I know, women’s basketball is in a relatively isolated environment. It’s weird that they don’t want to get popular. It’s okay not to be friendly to the media. However, if they want to promote themselves, they may have many activities. But they don’t want to do that and they just play the games. The result is that it is difficult for us to do the coverage. They are not friendly and are not willing to promote (women’s basketball). Then why should we, the reporters, do reports for them? We don’t have to enthusiastic for those who give us cold shoulders. That’s why the problem is getting serious. ”
(Weini Peng, Reporter of United Daily)
「我知道她們就是一個比較封閉的環境，很奇怪的是她們也不太想要很普 及化，對媒體不友善沒關係，但如果你們想要 promote 你自己的話，可能 可以推行很多活動，她們也不想，就悶著頭打完。那就變成我們很難去報 導，你已經不友善了，又不是很想推廣，那我們幹麼去幫你們報導？我們 也沒必要熱臉貼冷屁股吧？所以這個狀況才會越來越嚴重。」
(彭薇霓，聯合報文字記者)
“There is no star or recognizable player for women’s basketball. And they are not that willing to cooperate.”
(Yuan-Fu Kuo, Assistant Deputy Editor in Chief of Apple Daily)
「女籃沒有明星或是講得出來的球員，配合度也很低。」
(郭運復，蘋果日報體育中心助理副總編輯)
Suggestions for Women’s Basketball in Taiwan
To solve the above-mentioned problems observed by the interviewees, suggestions were also offered by the interviewed reporters and editors for
organizations related to women basketball promotion. Major suggestions include (1) to change the current system for more focus, (2) to put emphasis on marketing and (3) to establish media relations.
Change the Current System
When all the interviewees identified the system as the problem for women’s
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basketball promotion, they all provided suggestions to change the current system in order to attract more focus for women’s basketball. Most of the interviewees
suggested that the monopoly of Cathay Women’s Basketball Team must be destroyed in order to radically solve the rooted problem of women’s basketball in Taiwan.
“Once there is monopoly in the environment, there will be seldom improvement.
It is impossible for women’s basketball in Taiwan to be competitive unless Cathay Women’s Basketball Team, the monopoly in Taiwan women’s basketball, gives up the idea of monopoly. Why should I cover women’s basketball without competitiveness? What’s the point in covering their consecutive
championship?” (Weini Peng, Reporter of United Daily)
「只要環境裡有一個獨占事業的話，這個環境就很難進步。台灣女籃就是 國泰，她們一天不放棄獨占的念頭，女籃就不可能會有競爭力，沒有競爭 力我何必報導？一值報導她們連霸，有什麼意義？」
(彭薇霓，聯合報文字記者)
With the radical change for the system is nearly impossible, other reforms were suggested to increase the excitement of the game, including opening up for foreign players, extending the scale for the game system, holding games exclusively without men’s basketball etc.
“The problem is really resulted from the system. If there is a huge change, like forming a team to have an international series games against Japan or what, or organizing a women SBL, which we already had, (maybe it is possible to help women’s basketball promotion). It might be possible if there is a fresh and different reform, like finding foreign players, to add enjoyment to the games.”
(Yu-Long Ma, Reporter of United Daily)
「這真的是體制上的問題。如果體制上籃協有一個很大的改變，或是我們 組一個隊去跨國跟日本或什麼的打個聯賽，或是組一個女子的SBL，好像 已經有了。如果跟現在有一個很不一樣的改革，例如找洋將這類的，來增 加可看性，可能可行。」 (馬鈺龍，聯合報文字記者)
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“If the games (for men’s basketball and women’s basketball) come together, either one after another or simultaneously, it is disadvantageous for women’s basketball. I think it’d be better to separate the games. Women’s basketball can have an international invitation series games for themselves, excluding from men’s basketball, with one in the first half of the year, the other in the other half.
This will help the media to be more focused (on women’s basketball).”
(Yu-Long Ma, Reporter of United Daily)
「如果比賽同時放在一起，前後銜接，或是同時進行的話，這樣對女子組 的比賽是不利的。我個人覺得是，乾脆就分開辦，女子組自己辦一個世界 邀請賽，不要跟男生併在一起。一個在上半年，一個在下半年，都可以。
這樣會讓媒體更聚焦。」 (馬鈺龍，聯合報文字記者)
Put Emphasis on Marketing
All the interviewees provided the suggestion of marketing. From the media’s perspective, all the interviewees agreed that marketing would help for women’s basketball gain more attention and opportunities to be exposed in media, thus
elevating popularity for the athletes, the games or even the sport. The popularity and attention among the public will thus prove women’s basketball as valuable news and attract media for coverage, resulting more attention. Thus, the benign circle will be completed. The following quotes were selected as the example.
“I think it is possible to do marketing and heat up (women’s basketball). There must be something worth reporting for women’s basketball. There is the problem that they don’t care about management or they do care about the management, but neglect marketing. Take Taiwan Beer for example. No matter better or worse, at least more fame and exposure were received by now, which is the initial goal for marketing. So I think after all, it’s not the media who are not paying attention to it (women’s basketball); it’s the team that didn’t pay attention in managing it. So why should the media pay attention to it?”
(Yung-Jen Cheng, Reporter Apple Daily)
「這些東西都是可炒作、可做的，我自己覺得。你說女籃沒有話題嗎？一
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“I found that there was a serious problem in the sport world, the marketing problem. No matter for athletes or teams, they did less on marketing. Of course in the arena of sports, the performance is the first priority. However, marketing is seriously neglected in Taiwan. Therefore, I found it difficult to interview athletes when I wanted to package the athlete and do more extensive coverage.
So I hope that I can give them more suggestions, or educate and inform them what the media need and that the athletes have to do to market and promote themselves.”
(Yuan-Fu Kuo, Assistant Deputy Editor in Chief of Apple Daily)
「我發現國內的體壇有一個滿大的問題，行銷上的問題，不管球員球隊，
“To attract the media, some news is made out on purpose. It depends on how you do marketing. To be honest, if women’s basketball intends to expand, there can be a decent press conference. . . . The performance can be trained in long term, but the marketing (effects) can be reached temporarily. They can have 100 days for training, but they still need one do to do marketing.”
(Miss Dung, Editor in Chief of Apple Daily)
「妳要吸引它(媒體)，有些新聞本來就是做出來的，看妳怎麼行銷嘛。憑
「妳要吸引它(媒體)，有些新聞本來就是做出來的，看妳怎麼行銷嘛。憑