世新大學九十三學年度碩博士班考試試題卷

學 系 別	考 試 科 目
傳播研究所	英文

※ 考生請於答案卷內作答

1. Read the excerpt on the “new media ” (Croteau and Hoynes: Media/Society) below, and then write a short essay in Chinese summarizing its man argument as well as presenting your own views (500-800 words ). (50 points)

“New Media” and the News

Television and newspapers continue to dominate the world of news. However, the nature of these media is being changed and supplemented by the introduction of so-called “new” media. The problem with specifying “new” media is, of course, that such lists quickly become dated. These lists also miss the point of new media, since one of the most important aspects of these media is their “convergence” into a single form of multimedia communication. While complete convergence is unlikely to occur for some time, some of the more recent technologies-computers and cable television with interactive capabilities, for example-have already changed the political landscape.

Since the early 1980s, political actors, especially political elites, have been using new technologies in their attempt to communicate with the public. In a combination of campaign advertising and direct-mail solicitation, presidential candidates have distributed videocassettes to voters. Candidates have used satellites to set up interviews on local television stations, thereby avoiding the more aggressive (and, usually, better informed) national news media. Electronic mail and fax machines are already staples of election campaigns. The Internet is now widely used in political campaigns. The 1996 campaign was the first to extensively use the Internet to post press releases and position papers on line and to quickly respond to developing stories. Among the advantages of Internet campaigning is that candidates can control their message-they do not have to rely on journalists to transmit it to the public-and they are not constrained by the high cost and limited format of the 30-second campaign commercial. These few examples demonstrate how agency by political actors has influenced the application of media.

Social movements, too, have tried to use some of these new technologies. Since movements have often been shut out of mainstream media, they have used the Internet extensively to post information, promote their causes, and solicit new members. Thousands of Web sites from across the political spectrum, along with numerous politically oriented discussion groups and listserves, populate the Internet (see Exhibit 7.1). Human rights groups, environmental groups, and labor organizations have used the Internet to help organize across national borders. In the relatively unregulated cyberworld, this also means that hate groups-supporting everything from white supremacy to violent homophobia-have also created their own Web sites, raising a cautionary note about the future role of Internet politics.

The future of these new technologies is being intensely debated. Some see great hope for new technologies, while others warn about potential dangers (Abramson, Arterton, and Orren, 1988). For example, the Internet allows uses to develop “personalized” newspapers that present information only on stories in which a reader has already expressed an interest. Responding to your pattern of interests, your electronic “paper” might deliver baseball scores, but not golf or tennis results; it might feature stories on the environment, but not on crime. Much more elaborate versions of this basic technology are expected to develop in coming years. Would such capabilities encourage learning about social and political issues by tailoring information to individual needs and interests? Or would such a system future fragment society eliminating the possibility for common ground among citizens?

Other technologies, too, could have an impact on our political process. Interactive television could be used for ” electronic town meetings,” incorporating instant plebiscites on issues of the day. Could this be a technological fix for our ailing democracy, or would those with the power to set the agenda for these programs manipulate such an arrangement? Would instant polling or voting be a positive development, or would such a technique simply record emotional responses devoid of serious deliberation? Would people become more engaged in contemporary affairs, or would electronic town meetings just contribute to the further decline of face-to –face debate and deliberation? Such questions haunt the arrival of new technologies on political landscape.

When organizer created the first-ever on-line material to accompany the 1996 Republican National Convention, they called it “media history in the making, on par with the 1932 radio broadcast of FDR’s nomination acceptance speech and the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates” (quoted in Whillock, 1997, p.1209). But media scholars are increasingly skeptical of the long-term impact of “new media” outlets like the Internet and cable news channels. When Neuman (1996) asks, “Will the evolution of C-SPAN, CNN, and the Internet political discussion group have a measurable impact beyond those policy wonks and news junkies already addicted to the intricacies of political life? His answer is , “Probably not” (p.14). Although various new media outlets make more information readily available than ever, citizens must first feel the need to investigate such sources.

However, the political disengagement that has characterized American society in recent decades appears to be largely unaffected by this new technology. One survey found that although the total number of Americans who used the Web for election news increased from 7 to 11 million between 1996 and 1998, this change was due entirely to the overall increase in Wed users during that time. The percentage of Web users who used the Internet for election-related information actually decreased from 22 percent in 1996 to just 15 percent in 1998. Also, more active use of the Internet for political discourse is relatively rare. In 1998, only 11 percent of users said they engaged in political discussions on line, and only 15 percent sent an e-mail message with political content (Pew Research Center, 1999).

Davis and Owen (1998) examined all forms of “new media”-broadly defined-that play a political role but have primarily nonpolitical origins. In addition to the Internet, this includes media forms such as talk radio, TV talk shows, television newsmagazines, and cable news. After their extensive review of research and analysis of these media, they concluded that “the new media are not the new democratic facilitators. Instead, the profit motive that drives all new media and structures the discourse in these channels compromises the new media’s ability to provide genuine and meaningful citizenship initiatives” (pp. 258-259).

More information, by itself, is unlikely to overcome the high level of political disengagement. As Barnett (1997) notes, “There is no evidence that increasing exploitation of new media by campaigning and pressure groups has actually brought more people into the political fold” (p.211). Instead, “The real challenge-to change the dominant political culture from one of alienation, cynicism and detachment to one of concerned involvement-cannot be left simply to new communicative devices”(p.213).

2. What good book, either Chinese or English, have you read lately? Write an essay in English (about 500 words) recommending the book to non-Chinese readers. (50 points.)