Content area
Abstract
The nationalist government, the KMT, in Taiwan had been infamous for its authoritarian control before the lifting of Martial Law in 1987. For forty years people were deprived of most of their basic political rights. However, the past decades witnessed a dramatic but peaceful democratization in Taiwan.
The factors contributing to the great transition are many. Socioeconomic factors such as rapid economic growth, higher education, urbanization, and the rise of a middle class and political factors such as the contribution of opposition movement, the willingness of the KMT leadership for reform, and the US influences contributed greatly to the success of democratization.
The Taiwanese press played important roles during the democratization process. In the martial law years, the press, specifically political opinion magazines, functioned as a de facto political party for the opposition movement, facilitating the speed of earlier stage of democratization.
In the post-martial law years, anecdotal evidence shows that the Taiwanese press became freer. By using content analysis based on the data coded from the contents of TV and radio programs and of newspaper editorials and letters-to-the-editor, I empirically prove that the Taiwanese press did offer more channels for public use, allow diverse voices to be heard and more various groups to express their opinions, and more critically assess government performance.
The findings suggest that to a certain degree the liberated Taiwanese press in the post-martial law years assured the citizens of complete and unbiased information on public issues, of open forum for the free flow of idea exchange, and of holding policy makers accountable to their decisions. In a sense, the press has become a facilitator of the later stage of democratization process.
However, the Taiwanese press is facing challenges such as the lack of professionalism, objectivity, credibility, and social responsibility. The Taiwan press needs to overcome these obstacles if it is to continue playing a role in the democratization process.
