針對在台灣的三家英文報對於兩岸經濟合作架構協議的新聞評論 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communications Studies College Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩士論文 Master’s Thesis. 針對在台灣的三家英文報對於兩岸經濟合作架構協議的新聞評論 News discourse of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in Taiwan’s three English newspapers. Student: David Williams Advisor: Prof. L. Chu. 中華民國 100 年 7 月 July, 2011.

(2) 針對在台灣的三家英文報對於兩岸經濟合作架構協議的新聞評論 News discourse of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in Taiwan’s three English newspapers. Student: David Williams Advisor: Prof. L. Chu. 碩士論文 Master’s Thesis. Submitted to International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies National Chengchi University In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master in International Communications Studies. 中華民國 100 年 7 月 July, 2011.

(3) Abstract This thesis examines how Taiwan's three English language newspapers covered the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China (China). By gaining an understanding of the discourse structure of how these newspapers reported ECFA will demonstrate the role they play in either trying to create a nationalistic Taiwanese or pan-Chinese identity to their English speaking audience. This identity construction is important because it will add legitimacy to whichever direction Taiwan eventually sets its social and political course towards. Examining how the Taipei Times, The China Post and The Taiwan New use discourse in their headlines, articles and editorials when reporting and interpreting ECFA, the thesis has found that they all use similar strategies to present their respective position. These strategies can be broken down into the omission of only reporting either the pros or cons of the agreement, the exclusion of the public voice, and the dominant voice of the elite who either support or oppose ECFA. The Taipei Times and The Taiwan News appear to both structure their dominant discourses around overlapping themes that ECFA is a highly controversial agreement that will quickly lead an irreversible loss of sovereignty in Taiwan. In contrast, The China Post establishes a dominant discourse around ECFA’s economic benefits, while ignoring the negative aspects of the agreement. Key word / ECFA / newspaper / discourse analysis / textual features / headlines / articles / editorials. i.

(4) Table of contents 1. Introduction. 1. 1.1 The research problem 1.2 Taiwan 1.3 Instrumentalization of Taiwan’s newspapers 1.4 Taiwan’s lingual media environment 1.5 ECFA and globalization. 1 4 7 10 13. 2. Review of literature: Discourse analysis. 16. 2.1 Discourse Analysis 2.1.1 Discourses create inquiry through their construction 2.2 News headlines and lead sentences 2.3 Voices and actors in discourse 2.4 Dominant discourses as reproduction of power structures. 16 17 18 20 22. 3. Collecting data for discourse analysis. 25. 3.1 A Brief History of English Newspapers in Taiwan 3.2 Research question and choice of newspapers for analysis 3.2.1 Selection of news articles for analysis 3.2.2 Doing discourse analysis. 25 33 35 36. 4. Findings. 38. 4.1 Headline discourse analysis 4.1.1 Taipei Times headlines 4.1.2 The Taiwan News headlines 4.1.3 The China Post headlines 4.2 Discourse and tone within the lead sentence 4.3 Voices and actors in editorials and articles 4.4 Dominant discourse and language in ECFA articles 4.5 How the newspapers reported ECFA. 38 39 43 46 49 51 56 58. 5. Conclusion and discussion. 61. Appendices Appendix A Newspaper articles used as text sources Appendix B Parker’s Twenty Steps. 85 88. ii.

(5) List of tables Table 1 Readership of three Taiwanese English dailies. 34. Table 2 Key ECFA dates and developments. 35. Table 3 Headline discourse by tone positive, negative or neutral message structure 39 Table 4 Taipei Times headlines in articles and editorials. 42. Table 5 The Taiwan News headlines in articles and editorials. 45. Table 6 The China Post headlines and articles and editorials. 48. Table 7 Common actors found in all three newspapers. 55. Table 8 Dominant themes and word use. 56. iii.

(6) 1. Introduction 1.1 The research problem English is a global language and has acquired the status of lingua franca in many parts of the world, and it is considered the leading language of discourse in business, science and politics (The triumph of English, 2001; Kawai, 2003). There has been an extensive amount of research on Taiwan‘s Chinese language media; however there has been very little research on its English media. This could be due to the fact that local Taiwanese and Chinese scholars are more comfortable doing researching in their native language. However, since Taiwan is home to a group of English newspapers, which have been continuously publishing since 1949, that they must hold some kind of deeper role. This paper will demonstrate how English is being used in a predominantly Chinese speaking society like Taiwan‘s to inform the rest of the world on its internal developments. Its goal is to understand how Taiwan‘s English language newspapers covered a recent regional trade agreement between China and Taiwan that has the potential of changing the face of Asia. As of 2010, both Taiwan and China signed a controversial trade deal called the Economic Cooperative Framework Agreement (ECFA). ECFA is part of a larger trend of globalization and regional integration that follows loosely in the footprints of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and more specifically in the shadow of the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between China and Hong Kong. Many Taiwanese critics point to the rapid erosion of democratic and political freedoms that have occurred in Hong Kong since it signed CEPA (Hsiu-chuan,. 2010, July 11). ECFA is considered controversial because some say that it is really a ploy to reunify democratic Taiwan with communist China. Officially Taiwan and China are still technically at war, and Beijing has passed a law that if Taiwan ever declares independence or tries to change the current status quo that it will invade. At the same time, America has. 1.

(7) vowed to protect Taiwan from any attempts of forceful unification with China. In sum over the last 50-years the Taiwan Straight has remained one of the world‘s most volatile flash points and now is transforming into a new economic development model that has the potential of reshaping the social and economic structure of Asia. To many ECFA is considered a milestone event in ushering in an era of peace and stability to the Taiwan Straight (Chung, 2010, July 01). However, the political gulf that separates the Taiwan Straight still runs deep on the notions of nationality, culture and identity (Spence, 1990; Fenby, 2005; Lynch, 2004; Pakula, 2009). The issues that separate these uneasy neighbors have played a decisive role in the recent democratization of Taiwan, including the rise of a Taiwanese identity movement that strives for political and cultural independence from China. With all the competing forms of media available newspapers are still a relevant medium in how we gain our knowledge about the world. Even though newspapers are quickly shifting towards digital formats, the fundamentals of what they contain still appears to be the same. Heavy newspaper readers spend an equal amount of time reading the ‗paper‘ and scanning the online headlines. Newspapers now more than ever have the ability of reach both local and global audiences, and it is crucial for us to understand how the mass media continues to play a vital role in the reality-construction process (Tai, 2003). Taiwan‘s English newspapers represent a unique dimension of international communication that reaches far outside of the island‘s national boundaries. These English newspapers are engaged in a complex discourse of persuasion as they attempt to sell their interpretation of ECFA to their audiences. The use of the words ‗sell‘ and ‗interpretation‘ are used to highlight the fact that the consequences of accepting or rejecting ECFA are far reaching. Since there is no universal standards of what defines discourse this paper will follow a simple definition that a discourse refers to a written communication or debate. 2.

(8) (Oxford, 2001). However this definition will also include that discourse is also a system of statements that constructs an object which is the message, supports institutions, reproduces power relations and has ideological effects (Parker, 1990; 1992). These discourses will demonstrate various representations of how Taiwan is communicating with itself and the outside world on how they see their collective future in relation to ECFA. The goal of this thesis is to understand the discourse structure in Taiwan‘s three English dailies around ECFA, and how they would prefer their audiences to understand and react to the agreement. To study discourse we must understand and isolate the language or more specifically the words being used in the newspaper‘s headlines, articles and editorials. Due to its very nature very few people have any idea of the complexity of agreement on the scale of ECFA, and the only way the public can gain an understanding of it is by using the media. Unlike other trade agreements ECFA falls into the ambiguous category because of Taiwan‘s undetermined status; to some Taiwan is a sovereign nation and to others it is a territory that is currently outside of the control of the People‘s Republic of China (PRC). Therefore this study will also examine if these English newspapers portray ECFA as an inter-national agreement between two sovereign nations or as an intra-Chinese trade agreement. Ever since Taiwan split from China it has had the distinction of having English newspapers, and even today Taiwan does not have any dedicated TV based English broadcast news media, but because of the Internet it does have three (inter)national English newspapers. To sum up, this study will shed light of on how these newspapers have informed their audiences and the world on one of the most important yet least understood trade agreements of the twenty-first century. It will investigate a newspaper‘s discourse by studying the underlying messages contained in its headlines, news reports and editorials in Taiwan‘s three English language dailies. The thesis will also attempt to demonstrate the extent Taiwan‘s media are being instrumentalized to represent the ideologies that dominate and have split its social and cultural identity.. 3.

(9) To achieve this objective, this thesis will first briefly discuss the complicated and complex relationship between the Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan, and the People‘s Republic of China, and the media‘s lingual environment comprising of the English language press and its role in comparison to the Chinese language press. In addition ECFA‘s meaning to Taiwan in the current globalized world will also be addressed. Doing this shall lay a foundation for understanding the social, political and enormous context in which the research is conducted, contributing as well to understanding the review of discourse analysis in Chapter 2, and the method used in collecting the news samples for discourse analysis in Chapter 3.. 1.2 Taiwan Since the nature of this study is a discourse analysis of a major trade agreement between China and Taiwan we must first have some background information to better understand this complicated situation. For most of its recorded history, Taiwan has had the seeds of a multilingual society planted deep within it (Tsai, 2010). It can be argued that this multilingualism was established over 400 years ago when the Dutch, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese respectively attempted to colonize the island. However, even though these multilingual seeds were sown, European languages such as Dutch and Spanish did not take root. Taiwan has always stood on the periphery of the Chinese Empire, and it has played a major role in the twentieth century in reshaping Asia's socio-economic landscape (Lynch, 2004). These repeated patterns of colonization triggered a wave of competing Eastern and Western influences that have shaped modern Taiwanese identity. Out of these colonizing influences some foreign incursions appear to have left longer lasting cultural footprints than others. Japan wrestled Taiwan from Qing dynasty China in 1895. Over the next 50 years (18951945) the Japanese attempted to transform the linguistical and cultural identity of Taiwan to 4.

(10) match its imperial ambitions, and although this colonial experiment came to an end in 1945, have continued to play an important cultural role in influencing Taiwanese identity (Ching, 2001; Lynch, 2004; Pakula, 2009). After the defeat of Imperial Japan in 1945, Taiwan was relinquished to the stewardship of the Republic of China (ROC). Currently there is a considerable amount of international ambiguity as to the status of the ROC and Taiwan (Spence, 1990; Lynch, 2004; Fenby, 2005; Pakula, 2009). This ambiguity lies in the controversial questions: is Taiwan a sovereign nation, how to interpret the ROC in relations with the People‘s Republic of China (PRC), and does the now democratic ROC have the right to become an independent nation known as Taiwan (Spence, 1990; Lynch, 2004; Brown, 2004)? It is a matter of historical record that pre (1911-1949) and post (1949-2000) Republican China has been deeply influenced and guided by Washington (Spence, 1990; Lynch, 2004; Fenby, 2005; Pakula, 2009). This relation between the ROC and the USA has been both socio-economical and political in nature. It was through large sums of America aid that Republican China (pre 1949) was able to withstand the devastating effects of the Japanese invasion (1937-1945), and this foreign aid also played a key role in helping China defend itself during the Second World War (Spence, 1990; Fenby, 2005; Chang & Halliday, 2005; Pakula, 2009). From 1949 to 1971, the ROC (Taiwan) was officially the representative of China in the United Nations. However in 1971, the United Nations General Assembly expelled the ROC in favor of the PRC, which became the official representative of China. In 1979, after the US diplomatic reconfirmation of the People‘s Republic of China, Washington signed The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), a legally binding agreement between the USA and ROC (Taiwan), that Washington will provide the ROC with sufficient defensive weapons, and that the issue surrounding who is the legitimate representative of China must be settled peacefully. In addition, the TRA also maintains that all national agreements and treaties between. 5.

(11) Washington and the ROC prior to 1979 still maintain their validity. By virtue of the TRA Washington continues to maintain a close yet unofficial working relationship with the ROC (Taiwan) through its de facto embassy the American Institute of Trade (AIT). During the Japanese invasion (1937-1945), China was embroiled in a devastating civil war between Republican and Communist forces. By 1949, the forces of Mao Zedong‘s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claimed victory over Mainland China and the defeated Republican Nationalist Party of China (KMT) retreated to Taiwan taking with them among other things the frayed ties of their American ally (Spence, 1990; Fenby, 2005; Chang & Halliday, 2005; Pakula, 2009). During this time over two million KMT soldiers became refugees and fled to Taiwan. This large-scale migration tipped the ethic and political balance of power in Taiwan in favor of the newly landed KMT mainlanders (Lynch, 2004). From 1895 to 1945, Japanese was the official language of Taiwan. However, after 1945, the KMT began the process of re-sinosizing Taiwanese society to bring it under a cultural and language homogeny of a KMT Chinese cultural identity (Lynch, 2004; Pakula, 2009). In 1948, the KMT announced a Mandarin-only National Language Policy in Taiwan banning the use of local Taiwanese dialects and Japanese on the penalty of punishment (Tsai, 2010). This language policy was not aimed at eliminating the use of English, as English was not a widely spoken language, but instead used to consolidate the Chinese cultural homogeny of the KMT. It has been well documented that English was heavily used by the KMT to solicit resources and political support from the USA and its allies (Spence, 1990; Fenby, 2005; Chang & Halliday, 2005; Pakula, 2009). Many influential American publications firmly supported the KMT as the official and legitimate representative of China (Spence, 1990; Fenby, 2005; Pakula, 2009). This support can still be found in various pro-Taiwan American media publications such The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, including the powerful American congressional pro-Taiwan lobby. Kawai (2003) contends that the state will use. 6.

(12) their education systems to create and reinforce their ‗nationalist ideologies‘. Taiwan‘s National Language Policy was necessary to diffuse the cultural influence of the Japanese and create a bond of belonging between the people and their new national identity (Kawai, 2003). According to previous research, in 1950s the KMT adopted many English educational policies, and these were designed with the goal of helping Taiwan transform itself economically (Hung, 2010; Tsai, 2010). Tsai (2010) contends that since 1949, the Taiwanese government has mandated various forms of English instruction at the secondary school level, and that English was supposed to be a semi official language by 2008. Indeed English has been used as a tool by various Taiwanese governments in their attempts of bringing Taiwan onto the world stage through the instrumentalization of its English media (Tsai, 2010). The historical and socio-political context between China and Taiwan has also led to the development of Taiwan‘s media structure from an authoritarian to a liberal democratic one. In 1949, under the pretext of defending against communist insurgency an authoritarian press ban was initiated in Taiwan and it remained in force for 37-years and was finally lifted in 1988 (Wei, 1997). This press ban falls in the ranks as one of the longest in history and Taiwan was considered an ‗oligopolistic monopoly‘ to how tightly the state controlled media licenses (Wei, 1997). However, this press ban did little in trying to officially interfere and censor Taiwan‘s English language newspapers. This could largely be due to the fact that the ruling authoritarian KMT government was playing lip service to the deeply held American belief of freedom of expression, and saw it as a minor concession as it scrambled for international political recognition and influence.. 1.3 Instrumentalization of Taiwan’s newspapers Taiwan‘s English newspapers are unique in that they belong to a pervious era of instrumentalization that appears to be maintaining its influence even though Taiwan has 7.

(13) transitioned into its democratic era (Hallin & Mancini, 2005). In most Western styled democracies newspapers are nearly all aligned to a profit oriented business model, but this does not appear to the case in Taiwan. Noam Chomsky (1993) argues that major media are large corporations and they are tied to even larger corporations. He states that the media‘s main goal is to sell advertising space, which in sum is the reader‘s attention to other businesses. Therefore, the media specialize in providing a target audience to the business community, which in turn provides the newspaper with its advertising revenue and profits. According to Chomsky, the media will then tailor its content to fall in line with the values of the advertisers. However, this model does not reflect Taiwan‘s English newspaper industry, as there is not any noticeable advertising base to create this relationship between the media and the business community. Hung (2010) contends that the Taipei Times has lost over NT$100 million since it began publishing in 1999 and that its parent company (The Liberty Times Group) is not concerned with the losses as they can afford to subsidies it indefinably. Similarly, over 90 pre-cent of what little advertising can be found in the Taiwan News is directly related to retail products from the parent company the I-Mei Group. According to Wei‘s (1996) research on Taiwan‘s Chinese newspapers, he benchmarked their performance according to Lars Engall‘s (1978) concept that the dual goals of a newspaper are business profits and excellence in journalism. Taiwan‘s English newspapers do not appear to follow either of Engall‘s dual goals of business profits and excellence in journalism. However, the Taipei Times has won international awards, but those have been in the fields of their layout and design, and not for its editorial content (Taipei Times, 2010). It is well understood that news is a commodity and various market forces may influence it. Currently the state of the Western newspaper industry has been experiencing a significant decline in profitability, and its business model is in jeopardy (Wei, 1997; Pernez-Pena, 2008). Taiwanese daily newspapers including both print and Internet fall into three types: general,. 8.

(14) entertainment and specialized. However, there has been little attempt in classifying Taiwan‘s English news publications (Lee, 2007). In many countries there is a concern that financial pressures may seriously undermine a news organization‘s journalistic objectivity, and many traditional newspapers have decreased their content diversity in their attempts at maintaining a sustainable business model (Lee, 2007; Beam, 2008). In this research the three newspapers being studied are privately owned and appear to be resistant to the same market pressures that affect their peers. Previous American research has demonstrated that publicly and privately owned newspapers are more alike than different, even though they maintain a reliance on locally produced content (Beam, 2008). Therefore, this study is the first step to understanding the discourse and content structure of Taiwan‘s English newspapers to see if they mimic their American counterparts. According to research done on Taiwan's Chinese newspaper and broadcasting market, product diversification and market structure is formed to mirror advertiser preferences (Lee, 2007). However, this does not appear to be the case for Taiwan‘s English newspapers as their advertising content is almost non-existent in both their print and online formats (Hung, 2010). A brief note on the business model of Taiwan's English news organizations. Currently the Taipei Times, The Taiwan News and The China Post all publish daily hard copy publications and also maintain online versions. These online versions mirror their hardcopy editions in content structure and design. Unlike their Western or Chinese language counterparts, both online and print publications occasionally carry the odd advertisement (Hung, 2010). This lack of advertising is a strong indicator that none of the three English news organizations are generating any substantial profits and are relying on an alternative source of funding. In Taiwan, the English newspapers enjoy somewhat of a geographical advantage, as the majority of their readers are concentrated in Taiwan's five largest cities. All three English newspapers. 9.

(15) are priced at a uniformed NT$15, and are therefore on average NT$5 more expensive than their Chinese language counterparts. This uniformed pricing structure could indicate that the hardcopy readership is not price sensitive. It is well understood that newspapers that operate on a profit model should adjust their product to match the market‘s needs. If a newspaper does not adjust itself to market demands it runs the risk of alienating its readership and more importantly erodes its crucial advertising base. To determine whether Taiwan's English language newspaper industry operates to generate sustainable revenue or follows an alternative agenda would require further study. This raises the natural question of what is the purpose of Taiwan‘s English language newspapers? This paper takes the position that this question can be partially answered through a discourse analysis. Since it appears that Taiwan‘s English newspapers are not subjected to the same market pressures of their Western counterparts the answer must then lie in the discourses they are creating. This thesis will attempt to demonstrate that their discourses mirror the political and economic interests of either the pro-independence and pro-unification groups in Taiwan. This means that economic gains are not their primary concerns, but instead they are reverting back to promoting the foreign policy of the KMT or advocating the policies of the opposition, and these issues will be further dealt with in the coming section.. 1.4 Taiwan’s lingual media environment Taiwan is a Chinese speaking society that is currently home to three English daily newspapers that serve a small but influential audience both domestically and internationally. Due to its modest size, these English newspapers are in effect circulated nationally. In comparison, Canada a predominantly English speaking country, excluding French-speaking Quebec, there are only two national English newspapers. When comparing Canada‘s national newspaper market with Taiwan‘s it is important to note the similarities between these two. 10.

(16) countries. Canada‘s population of 33.7 million is similar to Taiwan‘s population of 22.8 million in that they are relatively modest (List of countries by population, 2010). Much larger socio-economic neighbors overshadow both Canada and Taiwan. For Canada, it is the USA and for Taiwan, it is China. Both Canada and Taiwan share similar linguistical, cultural and economical linkages with their larger neighbors. The issue of trying to maintain a unique cultural identity, while also allowing for separatist ideologies can also be found within both countries. For Canada it is clear that its vast geography makes launching a national daily a challenging venture. Currently, one of Canada's national dailies The National Post has entered bankruptcy protection due to the tough economic climate, and this is mainly because of the erosion of its advertising revenue (CBC, 2010). This means that Canada is better served by regional newspapers and their online counterparts that play the role of informing the public on local issues. Taiwan does not face the same geographic challenges as Canada, but it does have greater obstacles in maintaining three ‗national‘ English news organizations. These obstacles include the language barrier of its Chinese speaking society and the overall market viability of the English newspaper industry. According to the Government Information Office (GIO) newspaper readership in Taiwan peaked in 1991 at 76.3 percent, and since 2008 has fallen by 30 per cent (Mass Media Chapter 15, 2010). However, what is surprising and somewhat contradictory is that as of June 2010, there were 2,091 newspapers registered in Taiwan, but that advertising revenue has largely migrated to the TV and Internet (Mass Media Chapter 15, 2010). To what amount do Taiwan‘s three English newspapers differentiate their news content? Previous studies during Taiwan‘s authoritarian era have established that their content was nearly identical. However, there have been no recent studies since end of the authoritarian era (Bishop & Hansen, 1981). Likewise, there has been very little research done in measuring Taiwan‘s newspaper market diversity (Lee, 2007). However, it has been clearly established. 11.

(17) that English newspapers published in China have a clear goal, and this is to influence their Western audiences with political themed messages (Kenney, 1993; Wang 2009). In China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses advanced Western methods and theories of media production to target their foreign audiences (Brady, 2007). This is also consistent with previous research that has correlated the mass media's role in building and developing national identity (Billig, 1995; Lewis, 2008). Wang (2009) argues that ‗media institutions in China and Taiwan manipulate language to represent politically significant events in the ways that are compatible with their political or ideological standpoints‘ (p. 180). According to an American study, regardless of a newspaper's ownership structure, it appears that newspaper content is becoming a uniformed and a generic commodity (Beam, 2008). Moreover, in comparison based on research done on Taiwan‘s Chinese language newspapers, it appears that the more developed the media concentration, the more widespread the content diversity (Lee, 2007). Once again these differences show that Taiwan is indeed a diverse and unique place and its media systems deserve to be studied to understand the role they play in both regional and international developments. Taiwan‘s main language groups are Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese and various Hakka dialects (CIA Fact Book, 2009), and English is still somewhat restricted to the island's elites and expats, overseas Taiwanese. Tsai (2010) contends that Taiwan has implemented many comprehensive English education polices since 1949, and is now required for students at all levels of Taiwan‘s public school system, however English is still not widely used in daily communication (Tsai, 2010). Taiwan is well served with a wealth of popular ESL (English as a Second language) publications (Mass Media Chapter 15, 2010). One simple way of judging if these Taiwanese students are the target audience of the English newspapers is by looking for corresponding advertisements. In my five years of reading all three newspapers on a near daily basis, there appears to be no ESL or youth demographic targeted. 12.

(18) advertising. Therefore, it is realistic to assume that Taiwanese students are not the audience that is consuming these publications. Because of Taiwan‘s limited market size it seems implausible that the residing English speaking expats could financially support all three national English dailies in either Internet or print form. In a market study of the Chineselanguage newspapers in the U.S, Chinese readers have been satisfied as long as they received news from their homelands (Lau, 1989). Due to the diverse nationalities of the expats residing in Taiwan this source of information is better serviced by the Internet. However, it is clear that the Taiwanese disapora is one of the most successful communities in the world and they are heavily concentrated in English speaking countries, predominantly the United States (Lin, 2010, July 31). This area deserves further research as Taiwan‘s English newspapers are a unique blend of regional news reflecting human-interest stories, civic and national politics. Here it should be noted that the political news emphasizes heavily on geo-political developments concerning Taiwan and its relationship to China and the United States. The present research will allude to the possibility that these online newspapers are part of the identity construction process necessary to create Billig‘s (1995) ‗banal nationalism‘ and Anderson‘s (1991) ‗imaged community.‘ Due to Taiwan‘s unique historical development it is still unclear how it will eventually define its national identity. As previously mentioned ECFA is trade agreement in theory, but represent much more to the newspapers that are discoursing about its long-term economic impact and political consequences.. 1.5 ECFA and globalization ECFA is part of a larger trend of globalization and its corresponding regional integrations. Many of the arguments for and against ECFA have previously surfaced during various trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The arguments against Free Trade Agreements (FTA) such as. 13.

(19) NAFTA include the erosion of political, cultural and economic sovereignty (Jackson, 1997; Boudreaux, 2004; Maklin, 2009; Rickards, 2010). The arguments for FTAs have included enhanced economic competiveness, anti-isolationism and global integration (Rickards, 2010). Unlike a national FTA such NAFTA, ECFA is much more similar in structure to Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between China and Hong Kong (Rickards, 2010). Therefore, many consider ECFA and CEPA to be more akin to an intra-Chinese economic agreement than a true FTA as those signed by sovereign countries (CNA, 2010; Tung, 2010). Many in Taiwan point out that under CEPA Hong Kong has been both economically and politically marginalized and brought under a tighter centralized influence or control from Beijing (The Liberty Times Editorial, 2009). ECFA is preferential trade agreement between the People‘s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan). It was signed on June 29, 2010 in Chongqing, China. ECFA is the most comprehensive agreement to date between the two political adversaries (Chung, 2010). The ROC retreated to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949), yet to this day a peace treaty has never been signed, and both sides are technically still at war (Staff writer, 2011, February 15). ECFA was embraced by Taipei in the hope that Beijing would ease pressure on Taiwan and allow it to sign other Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with other countries. It is believed that if Taipei can maintain a trade pact with China and sign FTAs with other countries, this should stop the erosion of Taiwan‘s economic competitiveness (Chung, 2010). Yet, as previously mentioned many critics have considered ECFA to be uncomfortably similar in structure to the trade agreements Beijing has with Hong Kong (CEPA) and Macau, which are commonly known as ―the one country, two systems‖ model (Chang, 2010). Currently, ECFA addresses tariff issues on 539 Taiwanese products and 267 Chinese products (Chung, 2010). It is considered to offer Taipei a very competitive advantage of. 14.

(20) nearly US$ 14 billion compared to China‘s US$ 3 billion. Under the terms of the trade agreement China will open 11 service sectors while Taiwan will expand access in 7 sectors. In Taiwan one of the most vocal concerns to ECFA is that it will hollow out Taiwan‘s core industries and flood the island with Chinese white collar workers (Chung, 2010). Proindependence groups argue that ECFA will rapidly lead to eventual unification with China as it opens Taiwan to Chinese investments and this capital is designed to integrate the two economies (Lin, 2009). These are both similar to reactions that have appeared in pervious FTA arguments that have caught the public‘s imagination (Jackson, 1997; Boudreaux, 2004; Maklin, 2009; Rickards, 2010). The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) organized largescale anti-ECFA protests took place days before the agreement was signed (Ho & Kao, 2010). The present thesis intends to employ a discourse analysis to understand a complicate issue such as ECFA, not its specific legal or trade contents, but its implications such as whether it will erode Taiwan‘s political, economic and cultural sovereignty or bring it closer to China. The following chapters will address the theories and concepts relevant to discourse analysis and understand news reports of ECFA in Taiwan‘s three English newspapers. 15.

(21) 2. Review of literature: Discourse analysis 2.1 Discourse analysis More than a tool of for studying language, discourse analysis is a method to establish an interpretive framework. According to van Dijk (1995), we live in a world of ideological constructions and these constructions give us our understanding and knowledge on how we relate to politics, policies and the economy. To establish and reinforce these ideological constructions, they must enter a cycle of being produced and then more importantly reproduced (van Dijk, 1995). These cycles of production and reproduction are most commonly created in the discourse of public text traditionally found in newspapers (van Dijk, 1995). Fairclough (1993; 1995) contends that discourse contains social identities, social relation, and systems of knowledge and belief about the world, methodologically legitimizing discourse analysis in the study of the news and editorials of these English newspapers. It is important for scholars and the public to understand the structures that control our media discourse also controls its access (Van Dijk, 1989). Various scholars have created indepth bodies of work that demonstrate that media access is a key dimension of control (Chomsky & Herman, 1988; van Dijk, 1989). The media creates and then reinforces this as a public consensus when dealing with the manufacturing and distribution of what it considers news content. This media created public consensus then complements the dominant discourses of the ruling elite (Chomsky & Herman, 1998; van Dijk, 1989; Seedat, 1999; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). It is thus important to examine especially who is speaking in the text and the groups that they represent. Does the newspaper offer a balance of voices and opinions or does it use a strategy of only including carefully selected actors to strengthen its ideological position? Thus discourse analysis can help reveal the dominant and non-dominant ways ECFA has been discussed un Taiwan‘s English newspapers.. 16.

(22) 2.1.1 Discourses create inquiry through their construction A newspaper‘s discourse is a carefully constructed form of communication that helps their audience understand an event from a particular point of view (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). Parker (1992) indentifies the various elements of discourses traditionally used in the print media. He argues that these elements of discourse are realized in text and are about objects and subjects; they create a coherent system of meaning that link to other discourses; they mirror their own patterns of speaking; they are historically located and support corresponding institutions that reproduce and reinforce power relations that have ideological effects (as cited in MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). More importantly, Parker (1992) believes that a news discourse is not created in vacuum, therefore one of his criteria is to speculate with others on the meaning of what is being said. Finally, by speculating with others creates a more realistic interpretation of the social nature of discourse and how it effects our perception (Parker, 1992). Burr (1995) establishes that discourses are based on a set of meanings and metaphors. These discourses are representations of the stories, images, and statements that lead to the creation of certain perspective of events (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). Discourses may offer subjective truth claims that attempt to be objective in how they interpret our important events. These interpretations may become our version of reality and they allow us to form opinions which we would not be previously aware of (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). As discourses are used as a technique to frame and establish agendas, they create public knowledge about specific events (London, 1993; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). London (1993) argues that a frame is the central organizing idea for making sense of relevant events and suggesting what is at issue. News and information has no intrinsic value unless embedded in a meaningful context, which organizes and lends it coherence (London, 1993). News stories can be understood as narratives, which include information and factual elements that also. 17.

(23) carry an implicit message and a newspaper‘s subjectivity (London, 1993). It would not be possible for the public to understand such a complicated event as ECFA without the media first informing, and then offering its interpretations as the event unfolds. This thesis is based around these core developments of how Taiwan‘s English newspaper are informing and interpreting ECFA‘s impact both domestically and internationally. As each newspaper creates its own unique narrative through its headlines, articles and editorials it is then possible to link other issues such as how these publications indentify with Taiwan‘s position in relation to China and the world.. 2.2 News headlines and lead sentences A news headline is the gateway to an article or editorial. News headlines are the most visible method of attracting a reader‘s attention and quickly communicate a newspaper‘s values to its audience (van Dijk, 1985). In addition, a news headline can quickly communicate complicate social and discursive interactions all within a few words (van Dijk, 1985; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). News headlines are the most persuasive aspect of a text, however the lead sentences then reinforces these themes by drawing the reader in. All news relies on and is influenced by social schemata and social representations of how we interpret our values (van Dijk, 1985; Morrison, 2006; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). More importantly headlines and lead sentences help readers in their characterization of news and indentify with the ―relevance‖ of the event (van Dijk, 1985). Therefore the ―relevance structure communicates to the reader‖ which information in the text is most important or prominent (van Dijk, 1985, p. 70). Some critics claim that headlines may be ambiguous, but to the public these headlines tend to hold deeper meanings and associations through the use of their linguistical features such as puns and emotional vocabulary (Develotte & Rechniewski, 2002; MacRitchie & Seedat, 18.

(24) 2008). Newspapers and the print media in general use influential social values in combination with headlines and lead sentences to create a persuasive message (van Dijk, 1985; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). When reading headlines and the corresponding lead sentences the public can quickly create a roadmap on how the article will most likely frame an event. Simply put, when the public is scanning a newspaper or website their first point of contact is with the headlines. It is thus logical to deduce that headlines are one of the most influential parts of a newspapers message because they reinforce the article‘s key messages (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). As already established, a headline is the reader‘s first point of contact with a newspaper. Potential readers usually scan the headlines and lead sentnces before making a decision to continue or abandon reading a newspaper in either print or online (van Dijk, 1988). As people live in a world filled with messages competing for attention, a newspaper‘s headline may be the only aspect of its overall message that has the ability to persuade a potentially a reader in a momentary scan of the content. A headline showcases to the reader the importance of the issue within its message, and its impact relies on the persuasion power of the linguistic construct of vivid, forceful and dramatic vocabulary (van Dijk, 1988). Newspaper headlines offer flexibility and represent an important message the publication is trying to highlight to its readers. In addition, editorials have been established to reinforce the underlying message structure of a newspaper‘s headlines (van Dijk, 1996b). According to Lee and Lin (2006), a newspaper‘s editorial plays a special role as it is written to be persuasive compared to the more objective stance it takes with its non-editorial content. This study will demonstrate the similarities in messaging structure in how a Taiwanese English newspaper writes it headlines in comparison to its editorial stance. This paper will pay special attention to the newspaper‘s editorial page as it is a special arena where the publication enters the public debate by taking an ideological position on issues that it. 19.

(25) considers important (Hacket and Zhao, 1994; Le, 2003). Therefore it is fitting that this study uses discourse analysis to find out how ECFA is being ‖reconstructed‖ in the English dailies to Taiwan‘s foreign audiences. Even though this study is on newspapers it does not differentiate between hard copy content (print) and online content. As more readers migrate to the Internet newspapers have in effect become publishing hybrids.. 2.3 Voices and actors in discourse The media is a powerful social and discursive institution that helps regulate and organize social life (Li, 2009). The media plays an important role in the production of social knowledge, and the creation of values and beliefs through various linguistical methods (van Dijk, 1993; Fairclough, 1995; Fowler, 1996; Li. 2009). Studies demonstrate that persuasive and strategic news discourses imply that the goals of the dominant class appear to mirror the interests of the greater society (Kellner, 1995; Louw, 2001; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). More importantly these discourses reinforce the creation and maintenance of key socio political and economic institutions, beliefs and values that appear to be universal and normal to the entire society (Kellner, 1995; Louw, 2001; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). Therefore, if news is only a selection of selective sources that fall in-line with the social values that the media represents, then it is necessary to understand which voices and actors the media includes or omits when covering an event of impact. As mentioned before, news cannot be formed in an objective vacuum. Therefore, it is safe to argue that news construction is based on symbiotic relationships between influential voices and actors (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). Many times these voices and actors are professional communicators, that include public relations agents and established institutions that give validity to how the event is being covered (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). When certain voices become familiar and consistent, they take on the role of a professional communicator (actors) 20.

(26) who then reinforces the image the media is trying to establish (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). Scholars argue that these professional communicators (actors) use symbols and specific language that creates the illusion of a common vision and public consensus (Louw, 2001; Matheson, 2005; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). For a theoretical framework to have merit, it must examine language use and language variations, such as what are the particular representations of the social actors: what are their social identities, and the version of reality they build a discourse around (van Dijk, 1993; Fairclough, 1995; Li, 2009). This is very similar to the 20 Steps used by Parker (1992), although his framework builds a more mythological structure in breaking down and understanding discourse (MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). As previously discussed strong evidence suggests that elites use media discourses to reinforce their legitimacy and authority in framing socio-political policies for public acceptance and action (Chomsky & Herman, 1998; van Dijk, 1989). News then establishes and fuels the elite agenda and creates a consensus, and that includes the depth of the discourse and how it will be communicated (Louw, 2001). This thesis will identify within Taiwan News, The China Post and the Taipei Times who is given a voice and see if there is any relationship to them having a position influence. Many symbolic power structures play out in the media, and the debate surrounding ECFA will provide an insight into how these are portrayed to their English audiences (van Dijk, 1995). It has been well established that the media can be classified as a limited social resource that maintains barriers of open public participation (van Dijk, 1989). Chomsky and Herman (1988) have argued that the public is unable to shape media discourse because of the corporate ownership structure of the media. In Taiwan however, it is clear that the media follows an ownership structure that is not based on a profit-oriented model. This is unique to Chomsky and Herman‘s argument in that it appears that in Taiwan politics may be more important than money. However, this digresses. 21.

(27) from their underlying assumption that the media is part of bigger structure that works toward its own best interest. Elites maintain a considerable amount of authority in shaping public discourse because they have the most say in social situations and have the necessary influence within our institutions (Chomsky & Herman, 1988; van Dijk, 1989). Elites have the power to influence public opinions and ideologies because they have created a relationship of mutual dependence between themselves and the media (van Dijk, 1989). Media elites are also deeply tied into this relationship as they need other elites to become the sources, actors and more importantly the topics of interest (van Dijk, 1989). Finally, it is the political elites who especially need the media to legitimatize and demonstrate their power to the public (van Dijk, 1989). This link establishing Taiwan‘s English newspapers to an elite structure has been established, and it follows that these newspapers should adhere to media/elite dynamic when discoursing ECFA.. 2.4 Dominant discourses as reproduction of power structures As it has been established newspapers play an important role in public communication, and more importantly the information we read in them maintains a high level of recall (van Dijk, 1989; Lo & Chang, 2006). They are a part of a fundamental process in the production and reproduction of social power structures, and it is through the creation of these social power structures that we gain our understanding of the world (Chomsky & Herman, 1988; van Dijk, 1989; van Dijk, 1995; Guo, Hin, Chen, 2007). In addition, previous research has shown that newspapers are an important vehicle of public discourse that can create a public consensus or challenge the dominant discourse previously established by others (Kellner, 1995; Consalvo, 1998; Seedat, 1999; Picard & Brody, 2000; Louw, 2001; MacDonald, 2003; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008). 22.

(28) Li (2009) contends that newspapers play a critical role in creating national identities and acts as an important channel of debate in framing the national agenda. As this thesis takes the position that ECFA as a trade agreement in practice represents how Taiwanese view their national identity in relation to their social and political identity with China. According to Anderson (1991) and Hall (1996), a nation is very similar to an imagined community that is built on how a society creates various symbolic relationships with itself. This imagined community is built on an ongoing process of creating a national culture through discourse that is a part of our ‗systems of cultural representation‘ (Hall, 1996, p. 612). The imagined community is a direct challenge to our previous notions that a national society is based on geography, linguistics or even a shared cultural background (Anderson, 1991; Hall, 1996; Lynch, 2004). The naming structuring in the Taipei Times, The Taiwan News, and The China Post can show how this process is being (re)created in Taiwan. The concept of nationalism is an ideology that is used to cement the nation into its imagined construct of a natural community (Billig, 1995). Therefore, for nationalism to appear natural, a daily ideological ritual must be played out. Known as ‗banal nationalism‘ (Billig, 1995), this daily ideological ritual of is played out in the media, and it is the media that reinforces ideas of what our imagined community is (Anderson, 1991; Billig, 1995; Guo, et al., 2007). Lynch (2004) argues that in Taiwan there are various forces at play actively trying to either create a Chinese or Taiwanese national identity. It is plausible to assume that since only one of the three Taiwanese English newspapers has kept its original name (The China Post) that this newspaper could be aligned to a pan-Chinese identity structure. Therefore, this study may also demonstrate if this concept of ‗national imagination‘ is being recreated within Taiwan‘s three English newspapers when reporting ECFA to influence how their foreign readers and we ‗see‘ Taiwan and the Taiwanese people in relation to China. Many scholars have argued that the concept of a national community is allowed to expand. 23.

(29) and be (re)produced through the mass communication of ideas that newspapers diffuse so well (Anderson, 1991; Billig, 1995; Guo, et al., 2007). This re(production) is played out in headlines, articles and editorials, and they offer us a unique window in understanding how a newspaper helps build a national identity, which then in turn become shared through a discourse that links the readers of the same newspaper (Anderson, 1991). The analysis of the headlines, lead sentences, and voices and actors in the articles and editorials should be able to reveal the power structure and corresponding ideology of each newspaper.. 24.

(30) 3. Collecting Data for Discourse Analysis 3.1 A Brief History of English Newspapers in Taiwan This thesis will analyze the discourses in news about ECFA in Taiwan‘s three English newspapers to examine their ideological or political positions in communicating Taiwan‘s identity to their international audiences. To this goal, a brief history of English newspapers in Taiwan is first presented, and then details on how news articles are selected for analysis will be discussed. Since 1949, Taiwan has had the distinction of maintaining a continuous tradition of English newspapers (China Post, 2010; Hung, 2010; Taiwan News, 2010; Taipei Times, 2010). Taiwan‘s first English newspaper The China News was established in 1949 (The Taiwan News, 2010), and three years later The China Post was founded in 1952 (The China Post, 2010). What is surprising is that both The China News now known as the Taiwan News and The China Post are still operating as newspapers in both print and online mediums. During its handover after the end of World War II, Taiwan went from a developed former Japanese colony, into the last refuge of the ROC (Spence, 1990; Lynch, 2004; Fenby, 2005; Chang & Halliday, 2005; Pakula, 2009). By 1952, Taiwan had two English newspapers, even though it did not have a sufficient local Taiwanese audience to consume these newspapers (Hung, 2010). Because of its limited size and language barriers, it was difficult to find people who had a living memory or a professional relationship with Taiwan‘s early English newspapers. This link is necessary to gain a better understanding of the role these newspapers have played, as 25.

(31) there is very limited scholarship to reference back to. In an interview with veteran journalist Joe Hung, President and Chairman of the Central News Agency (CNA) and former managing editor of The China Post, The China News was originally published as a morning styled mimeograph sheet in 1949, and was part of the KMT‘s English language propaganda department (Hung, 2010). Over his long career Hung, now 82-years old, has worn many hats ranging from reporter to diplomat. Besides his current duties as CNA president and chairman, Hung has a 50-year career as a journalist, he has worked as the regional United Press International (UPI) correspondent in the 1960s, the CNA‘s Washington, Tokyo and London bureau chief, journalism professor, and an ambassadorial level envoy to the Holy See. Hung (2010) recalls that the early propaganda department was under the direct authority of the Taiwan Provincial Security Command and acted among other things as a secret police and intelligence agency that helped enforce martial law that lasted from 1949-1987. Over the next decades this security apparatus evolved in name and structure, however its basic function remained the same (Hung, 2010). Taiwan‘s early Chinese and English press followed a pattern of authoritarian instrumentalization. The term instrumentalization refers to when the media acts as an ‗instrument‘ in pushing through the state‘s agenda or is closely aligned with a political party or movement (Hallin & Mancini, 2005; Hung, 2010). One of the most important examples of this instrumentalization is found in the state news agency the CNA. The CNA was established in 1924 (China) by the KMT, and in 1949 was relocated to Taiwan. Before Taiwan entered its democratic phase the CNA was the official state news agency of the ROC. In 1996, the CNA became an autonomous news agency that continues to receive partial funding from the central government (Mass Media Chapter 15, 2010). In 1952, The China Post was first published as mimeograph sheet and soon switched over to a morning newspaper format to meet the demands of the American soldiers stationed in Taiwan in response to the Korean War (Pakula, 2009; Hung, 2010). At this time The China. 26.

(32) Post was considered ―the only real regular English newspaper‖ in the ROC and was mainly consumed by American military personnel and other residing expats (Hung, 2010). During the early 1950s, The China News flirted briefly with becoming a morning publication, but quickly reverted back to an afternoon publication as the KMT‘s propaganda department was having limited success in turning it into a stand alone newspaper (Hung, 2010). It was only later in the 1960s that The China News transformed into an independent newspaper free of the direct governmental control of the Taiwan Provincial Security Command propaganda department (Bishop & Hansen, 1981; Hung, 2010). Hung (2010) believes that the early success of Taiwan‘s English newspapers was directly linked to the larger geo-political events such as the Korean War (1950-1953), and Vietnam War (1955-1975). Together these conflicts played a role in stimulating Taiwan‘s developing export economy, while at the same time helped rebuild a frayed relationship with Washington (Spence, 1990; Fenby, 2005; Pakula, 2009). Between 1950-1965, Taiwan received billions of dollars of economic and military aid from Washington, reversing a previous policy of disengaging from the ROC (Spence, 1990; Chan, 1997; Fenby, 2005). ―In the late 1960s, these newspapers made a hell of a lot of money,‖ said Hung (2010), ―Taiwan was going through unprecedented economic prosperity, and people had to line up to advertise in either Chinese or English newspapers.‖ Bishop and Hansen (1981) state that in the early 1970s, the foreign community made up of 60 per cent of the readership of these two English newspapers (1981). Hung (2010) disputes the possibility that 40 per cent of the English newspaper‘s could have been consumed by Chinese readers arguing that as one of the few English speaking Chinese journalists working, English was not a widely spoken language in Taiwan, as the government had limited success with its overall English educational policy. From 1949 to 1988, Taiwan was under an authoritarian national press ban, however, Hung. 27.

(33) (2010) argues that this press ban was mainly directed at the local Chinese newspapers since very few Taiwanese had sufficient English abilities, and that the English newspapers were not aimed towards them. It should be noted The China News and The China Post did refrain from publishing overt governmental based propaganda, as this would undermine their credibility with the foreign community (Bishop & Hansen, 1981; Hung, 2010). Both English publications were sensitive to the guidelines of the Taiwan‘s security agencies and did their best to adhere to them, while also trying to serve their foreign audience (Bishop & Hansen, 1981; Hung, 2010). Bishop and Hansen (1981) contend that The China Post and China News where a virtual reflection of each other in content, and that they both refrained from publishing negative news about the KMT. This demonstrates that there was some press control in the English newspapers; however, the Chinese newspapers experienced the brunt of it as they had the widest influence on the general public (Bishop & Hansen, 1981; Hung, 2010). Taiwan has come a long way since its authoritarian birth in 1949. For decades Taiwan's media was restrictive and mirrored the ruling power structure of the KMT government. In 1988, Taiwan‘s KMT party lifted the decades old press ban, and this is considered the beginning of a golden age for the island‘s newspaper industry (Wei, 1996; Lee, 2003; Hung, 2010). Taiwan‘s transformation into an open society is largely attributed to KMT president Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000) as he is credited for pushing through the democratization process by heavily advocating an independent Taiwanese national identity that was separate from China. It took decades for Taiwan's media to undergo its gradual liberalization, and since the 1990s, Taiwan‘s media has evolved into one of Asia freest (Chao, 2010, May 01). Taiwan‘s English newspapers follow a pre-established strategy used in the Chinese press of niche-seeking and politicization their publications by leaning heavily towards independence or unification agendas (Wei, 1996). This follows very closely the same model. 28.

(34) of political pluralism proposed by Hallin and Mancini (2005). Both English and Chinese newspapers follow an earlier pattern of being influenced by socio-political movements, and this is played up heavily in their editorial orientation (Wei, 1996). Taiwan‘s English newspapers are somewhat paradoxical as they do not follow the profit-oriented model of their Chinese counterparts as market pressure does not appear to erode their audiences or business models (Wei, 1996). In 1999, the Taipei Times entered Taiwan‘s English language newspaper market by becoming the third national newspaper (Taipei Times, 2010). During the same year, the 50 year-old The China News was acquired by a local food conglomerate, the I-Mei Corporation and renamed The Taiwan News (The Taiwan News, 2010). In 2000, the Democratic Progressive Party‘s (DPP) Chen Shui-bian broke the KMT‘s 50-year hold on power and became the first non-KMT politician to hold the presidency (2000-2008). President Chen Shui-bian was a strong advocate of the Taiwanese independence movement and his administration attempted to reinforce a national Taiwanese identity that was culturally and ideologically separate from China. According to Hung (2010), the renaming and rebranding of The China News to The Taiwan News was a direct reflection of the growing sense of Taiwanese identity and corresponding independence movement. In the mission statement of the Taipei Times, it states that it is dedicated to pursue non-partisan journalism that highlights Taiwan focused issues nationally and internationally (Taipei Times, 2010). The Taipei Times is a subsidiary of the Chinese language media organization the Liberty Times Group and it follows the parent company‘s "Taiwan First, Liberty Foremost" mandate which is associated with an pro-independence political stance (Wei, 1997; Taipei Times, 2010). Billionaire Lin Rong San who was a national policy advisor to the pro-independence presidents Lee TengHui (KMT) and Chen Shui-bian (DPP) (Flannery, 2008) owns the Liberty Times Group. In addition, there is further evidence of instrumentalization if we examine the editorial staff of. 29.

(35) the Taipei Times. Their current deputy editor is a former Canadian Intelligence Secret Service agent J. Michael Cole who writes both signed and unsigned editorials; and then there is special advisor to the Liberty Times Group, former AIT Chairman and retired American ambassador Nat Bellochi who also contributes both signed and unsigned editorials. Both men write extensively on cross-strait politics, Taiwan‘s role in the Asia Pacific region and the need of keeping Taiwan outside a Chinese sphere of political influence (Bellocchi, 2011; Cole, 2011). Even though it is evident that there is a unique audience of each publication, there appears to be no recent studies comparing the content of Taiwan‘s three English newspapers. Honglei Wang (2009) contends that The China Post is the leading English newspaper in Taiwan and compares it with having the same influence as the Chinese Communist‘s Party‘s China Daily. Wang argues that both papers uphold the eventual reunification of Taiwan and China, although The China Post also hopes to maintain the ambiguous status quo between China and Taiwan (Wang, 2009). Hung (2010) contents that the current KMT government considers the Taipei Times as the newspaper with the greatest foreign influence. He adds that the current KMT administration has created a new online governmental publication called Focus Taiwan, which has CNA resources at its disposal. Within these various stated funded publications we have examples of the continuation of the English media as a tool of political instrumentalization (Hallin & Mancini, 2005; Hung 2010). The KMT believes that Focus Taiwan will act as an additional online counter weight to the pro-independence Taipei Times (Hung, 2010). In addition, the KMT administration of President Ma Ying-jeo (2008-present) has established various online governmental news publications such as Taiwan Today to also compete with the pro-independence Taipei Times and The Taiwan News (Hung, 2010). This appears to be consistent with the KMT‘s policy of eventual reunification with China (Lynch, 2004; Adams, 2005; Pakula, 2009).. 30.

(36) It is also possible to directly gather information indicting the political leanings from these government-funded publications themselves. The government publication Taiwan Today maintains the slogan; ―Delivery top stories from the local media‖ (Taiwan Today, 2010). Doing an informal scan through Taiwan Today’s content categories, it quickly appears that a majority of the content has been internally sourced through various official state news sites. This warrants further research to uncover if Taiwan Today really does ―deliver top stories from the local media‖. The ―About Us‖ page under the Readership section states that ―Taiwan Today readers include media professionals, government officials, politicians, academics, business leaders and those seeking an accurate and balanced view of Taiwan‖ (Taiwan Today, 2010). Once again further study is needed to see if this is indeed a true reflection on the content that Taiwan Today carries. Also available in print and online are the government published Taiwan Review and Taiwan Panorama. Both publications received funding during the administrations of former president Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) and were published to help increase Taiwan‘s independence movement and increase its international space (Hung, 2010). Under the About Us section in Taiwan Review the following can be found: The purpose outlined in the first editorial remains remarkably close to Taiwan Review‘s mission statement. The two-stage name change (from Free China Review to Taipei Review in April 2000 followed by the adoption of the current name in March 2003) tracked rising Taiwanese consciousness. Whereas the first publisher of the Free China Review identified with the Chinese Nationalists‘ goal of delivering unfree China from oppression in 1951, the current publisher identifies with Taiwan‘s goal of gaining greater international recognition of its statehood (Taiwan Review about us, 2008).. 31.

(37) This style of mission statement is also found in the government published Taiwan Panorama: In keeping with our reporting on Taiwan and Taiwan‘s efforts toward internationalization, in January 2006 we formally changed the magazine‘s name from Sinorama to Taiwan Panorama. Our content is unchanged—we remain committed to reporting on all facets of Taiwan and Taiwanese society, and to tracking developments affecting ethnic Chinese around the globe. We at Taiwan Panorama hope to make the magazine an important spokesperson for Taiwan in the world‘s print media, one that keeps the world better informed about Taiwan and raises our island‘s international profile (About Taiwan Panorama magazine, 2010). Even though Taiwan lifted its press ban in 1988, it appears that both the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the pro-unification KMT governments continue to be actively involved in maintaining English media channels to push their own political agendas and influence foreign audiences. The growing division of independence versus unification political identity in Taiwan is not a new issue (Lynch, 2004; Adams, 2005). However, as this division continues to increase it has created another dimension to the longstanding and consistent policy of the KMT to reunify Taiwan with Mainland China (Lynch, 2004; Adams, 2005; Wang, 2009; Pakula, 2009). This pro-unification policy of the KMT appears to be in direct conflict with the growing sense of Taiwanese identity and the demand that the issue be determined solely by the public and not through governmental policy (Carpenter, 2008). It is clear that Taiwan‘s various public and private English media channels have been leveraged to influence external audiences. Hung (2010) argues that that KMT‘s Focus Taiwan is a direct online challenger to the pro-independence leaning Taipei Times in swaying international public opinion. Moreover, this has been part of a previous government strategy 32.

(38) that started with the DPP‘s use of expanding the online reach of the CNA to help create more international awareness of the Taiwanese independence movement (Hung, 2010). It is now a matter of the historical record of the ongoing conflict between Taiwan and China, and how this conflict has divided Taiwanese society in either the pro-independence and prorenunciation camps; however, the identity construction issues of what Taiwan represents are far from over (Lynch, 2004; Wang, 2009).. 3.2 Research question and choice of newspapers for analysis As discussed earlier, this thesis attempts to address a simple yet complicated question: how has Taiwan‘s three English newspapers informed and interpreted ECFA to their audiences? To answer the many dimensions of the question the research has chosen the three English language dallies The Taiwan News, The China Post, and the Taipei Times, each newspapers is circulated ‗nationally‘ and maintains an online version (see Table 1). These three newspapers are chosen because a. they are the only local English newspapers in Taiwan, b. can be broken into a pro-unification or pro-independence ideology, c. are some of the oldest (The Taiwan News, 1949 & The China Post, 1952) and arguably most international media in Taiwan, and d. can be interpreted as either friendly or hostile to China. As the largest circulating paper, the Taipei Times is the paper with the greatest influence in Taiwan and with the international community (Hung, 2010). The China Post was chosen as it is a political opposite to the Taipei Times and The Taiwan News, and maintains a high search engine ranking due to its name (Hung, 2010). The Taiwan News is currently the smallest publication of the three, however, it maintains the highest search engine ranking when searching for news about Taiwan (Hung, 2010). The language use of each newspaper will offer direct comparisons of the discourses that are being created on how ECFA will affect Taiwan.. 33.

(39) Table 1. Readership of the three Taiwanese English dailies The Taiwan News (Daily readership of 250,000) The China Post (Over 400,000 unique readers through print and online media) Taipei Times (200,000 hits a day or up to 6 million readers a month) Source: Each daily‘s website - there is no newspaper audit bureau in Taiwan. These newspapers no longer offer circulation figures.. All three English language dallies have played a role in the Taiwanese mediascape that started in 1949 and continues until the present. In 2000, Taiwan experienced a huge transition as it evolved from an authoritarian into a democratic state. Previous to this democratic shift Taiwan did have the distinction of having had the longest period of martial law of any country in the world (1949-1987). As Taiwanese society continues to liberalize new segments are challenging the existing order. Or to put this in another perspective, this democratic shift also coincides with the establishment of the Taipei Times (1999) and the rebranding of The China News into The Taiwan News (1999) and this is linked to the emergence of a large scale Taiwanese independence movement (Hung, 2010). Finally as Chinese is not widely spoken outside of Asia, these English newspapers play a critical role in informing the world on Taiwan‘s social and political developments. ECFA is a major trade agreement that has the potential of playing an important role in reshaping how democratic Taiwan and communist China globalize and integrate.. 34.

(40) Table 2. Key ECFA dates & developments Location Initial discussion. Dates December, 2009. First round of talks. Beijing, China. January 26, 2010. Subsequent rounds of talks. Taipei, Taiwan Beijing, China. March 31, 2010 June 13, 2010. Final agreement signed. Chongqing, China. June 29, 2010. Executive Yuan approves. Taipei, Taiwan. July 02, 2010. Legislative Yuan approves. Taipei, Taiwan. August 17, 2010. ECFA comes into effect. September 12, 2010. 3.2.1 Selection of news articles for analysis Before we can report the findings of the corpus of articles analyzed, it must be noted that this study neither exhaustive not all encompassing. Due to the extensive coverage ECFA has generated within the Taiwan‘s English newspapers, this paper will only attempt to isolate the dominant discursive themes that appear. Originally the researcher planned to access LexisNexis as the source of the texts, however The Taiwan News was not archived in their database. Due to the limitations of maintaining a consistent and balanced text selection method it was decided to use each newspaper‘s internal search engine function. The researcher found that the Taipei Times and The China Post both had suitable internal search engines, however, The Taiwan News did not. This left a dilemma on how to get the necessary samples? As Google is the world‘s largest and most extensive search engine it was decided to acquire the corpus of texts through it (Tracer & Womack, 2011). 35.

(41) The search dates where set between January 01, 2010 and December 31, 2010, which covers the main developments leading up to ECFA‘s ratification (Table 2). Even though the selected articles and editorials cover the one full-year the majority of them fall between the March – August, 2010, during which major rounds of ECFA negotiation were held and debated with the final approval in the Executive Yuan in July, and coming into effect in September (Table 2). For each newspaper Google was used to choose the first 20 articles or editorials from each newspaper (Appendix A) that matched the criteria of ECFA and the one-year time frame (January 01 – December, 31) within its headline. Therefore the Google search followed a consistent method (ECFA + Taipei Times), (ECFA + The Taiwan News) and (ECFA + The China Post) when sourcing the corpus of texts. Due to the nature of the Internet the articles sourced ended up representing a well-rounded sample group. In hindsight Googling the source articles offered the opportunity of mimicking how the public might search for information or follow an event such as ECFA. According to various scholars (Potter & Wetherrell, 1987; Elliot, 1996; MacRitchie & Seedat, 2008) a large sample is not necessary with discourse analysis as this study is only trying to establish how these newspapers represented ECFA. The reasoning for this generalized representation is the highly interpretive nature of discourse analysis which is open to the researcher‘s discretion (Elliot, 1996). Therefore, it is not necessary to read all articles published on ECFA by these three newspapers as it is highly unlikely an average newspaper reader would have the opportunity to do this. By selecting 20 articles per newspaper over ECFA‘s major developments will create a generalized yet detailed window into how each publication crafted their discourses and how their foreign audiences could possibly interpret them.. 36.