4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
4.2 Mass media’s reaction to Yi’s image repair discourse
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4.1.5 Summary
The researcher argues that Yi’s image repair strategies are effective in two ways.
Firstly, Yi never faced the central issue directly and that gave her a space to maneuver in respect of the issue. She used bolstering to emphasize her positive side, attacked the mass media to lower their credibility and denied news sources that did not come from her;
however, none of this dealt with her marriage issues. If she had used mortification to deal with the marriage issue, as Hugh Grant had done in his case, she might have lost the support of her fans, since many of them supported her based on her persistence that it was love.
Thus, the use of other strategies may have been more effective. Secondly, in the beginning when the extramarital affair had just been revealed, she was smart by staying mute in the face of all the criticisms. At that point in time, the public had many questions about their marriage and tried to look for answers. If we posit that she really had been disloyal, staying silent may have been the best strategy to alleviate the pressure from the media.
4.2 Mass media’s reaction to Yi’s image repair discourse
In the time segment, a total of 78 news reports were published by Apple Daily and 30 posts used Yi’s blog. 18 of the 30 posts were cited by Apple Daily, with one post reported positively, six posts reported neutrally, and 11 posts reported negatively. The table below shows the numbers of publications by Apple Daily and Yi in the time segment:
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Table 2. Frequency of news coverage and Yi’s blog, Yi’s blogging posts and number of citations.
As the table shows, Apple Daily had the most news stories regarding the extramarital affair in the first month, and the number of publications decreased as time progressed. In March 2009, the number of publications increased again. This was due to Yi’s official divorce with Harlem, which increased the newsworthiness of the event. It seems that the mass media’s use of celebrities’ blog contents is related to time and the newsworthiness of the event. Posts published right after newsworthy events have a greater chance of gaining exposure on the mass media. For example, in all the 16 posts published by Yi in the first three months since the affair broke out, 12 posts were cited as news material. However, only 6 of the 14 posts published in the last three months of the time segment were cited.
In all the 18 blogging posts cited by Apple Daily, “bolstering” has 12 presences,
“transcendence” has four presences, and “denial” has two presences. However, there are no presences of “attack accuser” at all. This suggests that, when Apple Daily adopted news
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material from Yi’s blog, they intentionally chose information that was useful to them and automatically neglected information that would have been to their disadvantage. Apple Daily’s use of Yi’s blogging posts will be detailed according to different strategies in the following section.
4.2.1 Bolstering
This is the strategy used most often by Yi and also the one cited most by Apple Daily.
Of the 12 posts that used this strategy, one was presented positively in Apple Daily, six were presented negatively, and five were presented neutrally. Although Yi used a bolstering strategy to emphasize her positive characteristics in her blog postings, half of them were presented negatively by Apple Daily.
The only post that was cited positively was [Y1201]. Yi’s charitable behavior helping poor kids was reported as her recent update. This is presented as follows:
“There is a benevolent activity in Beijing this week, the painted plate created by Yi and her son this August would join exhibition too. They will support those poor kids in Sichuan earthquake together.”
(A1202 哈林搶先抱女人 伊能靜 21 日可望出面)
This news report is also one of the few that is positive about her image. It is different from other posts since it is more about the description of the activity and the working process she had with her son. However, when the post is more about Yi herself, it is easier for Apple Daily to attack it. For example, one of her posts was a reflection of her mood, and the whole blog article was ambiguously written. Apple Daily thus commented that they did not know what she was talking about and said she should put more focus on her extramarital
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affair:
“Y-Xia saw a new post posted in Yi’s Sina’s blog in China yesterday. She wrote
“see the light, then run. Maybe in the back of the light is darkness….when I have nothing else, at least I still have myself….” Y-Xia didn’t understand what kind of light she is talking about, just felt she is getting more and more illusionary. She wrote so many without focusing on her extramarital affair and that’s really a torture.”
(A1228 伊能靜忽見光 瞎扯找回愛)
Compared to the post that was positively presented, it seems that when she wrote her post in a clear way, it had a greater chance of being presented in a positive fashion. When Yi presented herself as a talented writer and wrote in a prose style, it was not too easy for reporters to know her ideas and they had to guess and make their own interpretation.
Also, from Apple Daily’s use of Yi’s posts, it can be observed that celebrities have to be very careful about all the texts they write in their blogospheres. A word inappropriately written will be used as material for an attack. Here is another example:
“Yi wrote a greeting post on the first day of Chinese New Year. However, Y-Xia felt confused about one of the sentences. She wrote “A year has passed and there are so many good memories. So many different people, things, landscape passed in front of my eyes, then I suddenly discovered that they are all good. ” Y-Xia really didn’t see it wrong, she wrote “all good”
(A0128 伊能靜回顧去年 沾黃維德還叫好)
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When a celebrity has an image crisis, all the texts he/she has written will be over-examined by the mass media and the public. If they find that blogging texts can somehow be used and connected to newsworthiness, the mass media tend to interpret them in their own way.
Apple Daily does not necessarily cite Yi’s blogging texts in news stories every time.
They sometimes just cite key words and add their own comments. However, these comments are usually very sarcastic:
“Yi wrote in her blog two nights ago and the content was quite boring, containing nothing but “thank you for your birthday wishes” or something like that. But in the end of article, she used words such as “I am good, I am happy”
consecutively, plus the self-taken pictures in the car. One can see her facial expression is “really feeling great”. Though she is in Beijing, Y-Xia can still feel she is reborning like a phoenix.”
(Y0306 伊能靜 40 歲生日自 po 燦笑 恢復單身爽歪歪)
Also, they do not necessarily take what celebrities say in the blog as being true. They investigate and provide the audience with another version of the truth. For example, the news story below used “on the surface” and “in fact” to present two different versions of her reality:
“Yi hinted in her blog recently that she would lead her life by herself. On the surface, she is single again and has a happy life; in fact she lost much for Victor Huang. Not only did she lose Harlem’s trust to her, her clients even asked compensations for damage of image.”
(Y0319 黃維德 偷腥貓獲利 4400 萬 逃離伊能靜同住社區)
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Although Yi used a bolstering strategy to enhance her image, it is obvious that many of her efforts were ineffective. Apple Daily did not report these positive traits, but only used them for their own purposes.
Five posts using a bolstering strategy were used neutrally by Apple Daily. When used neutrally, they were either fairly paraphrased or cited without adding extra comments. For example:
“Yi had her son accompanied her in these days and she wrote the post
“possibility of well-being” happily, which is kind of rare, in her blog
（blog.sina.com.cn/u/1197931472）, appreciating her fans who did the new year count down with her.”
(A0103 伊能靜為 300 萬片酬躲大陸 不與哈林過年)
“Yi wrote a post named “burned mark” in her blog
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/yinengjing) two nights ago, saying “this is the last time I will let myself deeply hurt. I have to walk forward hardly”. It’s understood that many people tried to use her to promote news or even knocked her down since the extramarital affair. And all that made her feel very sad.”
(A0107 今日我最傷 哈林婚變自理 賞袁惟仁臭臉 嗆外人「閉嘴」)
Again, the first post shows that, when Yi’s blogging posts are related to her son, they are not usually cited negatively by the mass media; the second post is reported plus other comments; however, they are fairer comments this time.
Apple Daily often estimated Yi’s latest update from her words. For example, in two of the following news reports, they estimated Yi’s latest whereabouts from some of the texts she had written:
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“Yi Neng Jing divulged in her blog that “when I finished my job in hands, I will travel far away”. It’s apparently that Yi and Harlem have no plan to lead the Chinese New Year together.”
(A0114 伊能靜沒手牽 嚷要出走)
“Yi published a post called “outlander” in her blog yesterday, which leaking her whereabouts in Japan. It’s understood that Yi and Harlem and their son have traveled to Hokkaido in the New Year for gathering. On one hand they can accompany their sons together; on the other, Yi and Harlem finally have to talk with each other face to face.”
(A0131 伊哈一家三口 傳密遁北海道團聚部落格洩行蹤)
[A0131] is the news report that cited most of Yi’s blogging texts. The news was about Yi and Harlem’s first meeting after the extramarital affair, and the mass media found this out from this blogging post. The post itself has high news value. It is observed that, when the post is of high news value, mass media tend to process it with a fairer attitude. However, if the post cannot be connected with a major news event, they tend to give it extra interpretations to give it more news value. The post below is another example:
“first day after their official divorce, Yi came to Taipei secretly and accompanied her son…She left message in her blog yesterday, saying “Thanks to everyone for respecting our decisions. This decision has nothing to do with anyone else, and no one can speak on behalf of me. I sincerely pray that everything will go back to peace. Please give us good wishes and thanks again to those who give your concern”
(A0321 伊能靜 哈林 隔海各發超短聲明 冷漠終結 9 年婚)
This post was Yi’s statement after she officially divorced Harlem. When Apple Daily
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cited this post, no other extra comments were added; only straightforward citations of what she had written.
Bolstering is the major strategy used by Yi and it is also the one most cited. However, when the posts were presented in the mass media, not all of them were demonstrated in a fair way. Many of her blogging posts were fragmented and certain sentences or words were intentionally chosen for interpretation. It is crucial for celebrities to use bolstering in the right context, so that it can be more effective.
4.2.2 Transcendence
Four posts using a transcendence strategy are adopted by Apple Daily as news material. Three of them are presented negatively and one is presented neutrally. Yi made a connection between herself and great figures in her blogging posts. However, it seems that this connection with great figures was not effective, but was used by Apple Daily as a contrast. For example, when Yi linked herself to Mother Theresa, Apple Daily’s headline was as follows: “Yi’s abuse of Mother Theresa’s texts to hide her extramarital affair embarrassment”, and the news story further made a comparison between her deeds and Mother Theresa’s virtues:
“She cited Mother Theresa’s texts “A Simple Path” in her blog two nights ago, claiming that she will stick to her faith no matter what. She left messages and said “Thanks to those who harm and those who help. Remember all the disasters and graces. No matter what, always believe and love”. Ironically, path of love is simple but she has gone to the wrong way.”
(A1210 伊能靜 爬牆挨譙 濫用名言 竟拿泰瑞莎修女遮羞)
The same situation occurred when Yi cited texts from Japanese author, Murakami
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Haruki. Yi was citing her texts to reflect her own emotions. However, when it was used by Apple Daily, the main idea was not put on what she cited, but her typo of the author’s name:
“She left a post named “After Dark”in her China’s blog, citing famous Japanese writer 村上春樹. However, it’s unknown whether she is having a cold and or feeling uncomfortable, she writes the name as “春上村樹”and it’s quite dumb-founded.”
(A1226 伊能靜老愛裝才女 村上春樹寫成春上村樹)
Apple Daily further reported a similar mistake she had made before to mock her effort to be a talented author, when she kept making errors.
“Y –Xia remembered that it’s not her fist time of making jokes. In the song she wrote the lyrics by herself, she pronounced the word wrong and got mocked by the Internet users of her Chinese ability. She cited the work of 村上春樹 this time, but typed the name of the author wrong.”
(A1226 伊能靜老愛裝才女 村上春樹寫成春上村樹)
Transcendence is a strategy to place the act in a more favorable context and point to higher values to justify the act. In Yi’s situation, her attempt to link herself with great figures does not seem to have been a good idea, since it gave the mass media a chance to emphasize the contrast.
The post using transcendence and reported neutrally was her comment about the movie “Mei Lang Fang”. The whole post was about her feelings after watching the movie; nevertheless, she seemed to reflect her real life situation in the comments. She did not link herself with great people in this post, but only hid her expressions in the movie comments, and this gave no space for Apple Daily to make extra explanations:
“Yi revealed her mood in her blog（blog.sina.com.cn/yinengjing） yesterday by wring comments of movie “Mei Lang Fang”. She wrote ” how this world
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interpret their own languages is always an irresponsible hassle; but do harm to other people’s heart and body for whole life. Because they always watch for their benefits selfishly ” to divulge her dissatisfactions.”
(A1114 庾澄慶嗆閉嘴 自吞婚變之苦 星友枉作小人)
Yi tried to link herself with great people or movie plots to distract people’s attention and offset any possible offensiveness. However, this does not always succeed.
If the context is totally in contrast with the image, it may not be a good measure to take.
4.2.3 Denial
Two posts cited by Apple Daily used a denial strategy. One is presented neutrally and one is presented negatively. The one presented negatively is her first post and it is also her first statement about the affair. When it is presented by the mass media, her denial of her own speech was reported. However, her whole blogging article was demonstrated as her means to relinquish responsibility:
“She called her friend and cried, saying her soft heart lead to the status quo.
She confessed that her marriage had already had problems. However, two nights ago she published a statement again in her blog
（
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/annieyi-annieyi
） , saying that “none of the responses on behalf of Yi were real. And both sides will discuss over this and all the responses made by Mr. Yu will be taken as principles,” throwing problems back to Harlem.(A1114 伊能靜 大陸拍戲狀況特好 哈林閉關落淚)
By saying “throwing problems back to Harlem”, Yi’s statement was presented as her means to relinquish responsibility. This again suggests the importance of preciseness when
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celebrities write blogs after a newsworthy event. On the other hand, although Yi claimed that none of these responses attributed to her were true, Apple Daily did not forsake the use of other sources; instead, it was used as a contradiction of her own behavior. This suggests that, when the mass media cites celebrities’ blogging texts, they make evaluations from different sources, and the source of the celebrity still has to compete with their other sources.
The other post using a denial strategy was reported after Yi and Harlem already filed their official divorce statement. This post was neutrally reported. Apple Daily cited Yi’s denial of her own speeches without adding any other comments:
“After their trip to Hokkaido, there were a lot of rumors about their marriage.
There were media keeping using “Yi’s friend said” to express Yi’s thoughts.
She revealed in her blog yesterday with dissatisfaction, saying that ”I have never spoken to anyone about my private life. If anybody speaks on behalf of us, I am sorry but they are definitely not my friends. Sorry I didn’t say anything. I will still keep silence toward my privacy in the future”.
(A0212 伊能靜 享台北．上海．北京 4 豪宅 贍養費 7200 萬)
As mentioned above, when the blogging post can be linked with a major news event, it can decrease the possibility of extra explanations and also have the possibility of media exposure.
4.2.4 Summary
From Apple Daily’s use of Yi’s blogging contents, it seems that no matter what the blogging contents were Apple Daily already had their disposition. Although Yi used different strategies to enhance her image, Apple Daily could still frame their stories in a
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certain way, even though her original texts were cited. Thus, the influence of blogs can be discussed in the respect. Some used to argue that, as a grassroots medium, blogs finally turned audiences from consumers into producers. Audiences can make active publications.
However, what was not considered was the influence of a blogger. A blog’s influence is affected by the numbers of visitors and their subsequent mediations. However, in Yi’s case, if these mediations can only be communicated among people with similar qualities (e.g. Yi’s fans), instead of reaching the public, most people would still only be receiving messages from traditional media. In this situation, the effect of celebrities’ blogging may only be confined to their readers.