美國菁英報<<華盛頓郵報>>與<<華爾街日報>>如何報導2001-2008年小布希執政時期有關美中台關係報導之分析

Abstract

2001-2008為影響世界霸權國美國與兩岸和國際社會的一個重要階段，這個階段中，美國由小布希首次擔任總統，台灣則由第一次政黨輪替後民進黨陳水扁擔任總統，然而美中台關係在這個階段中卻因為不同事件而起了變化。2001年九一一事件的爆發，改變了小布希對兩岸與國際他國的對外政策，由一開始立場偏向反共，擔心崛起中國未來在國力上對美國造成威脅，增強軍售台灣武器，加強與台灣的關係，轉為逐漸向中國靠攏，目的是欲和中國合作「反恐」。在對外政策上，由一開始採「單邊主義」（unilateralism）認定美國為唯一的霸權國，開始向「雙邊主義」（bilateralism）與「多邊主義」（multilateralism）靠攏，與他國合作「反恐」。另外，陳水扁在2004年競選連任後，致力於「本土化」的政策，且提出一連串激怒中國的政策，也都使美中台關係陷入緊張。 針對以上國際事務，由於一般民眾並沒有辦法親身經歷，多會依賴媒體所提供的資訊來了解。因此本研究欲探討，立場分別偏向於自由派與保守派的《華盛頓郵報》（The Washington Post）與《華爾街日報》（The Wall Street Journal）在報導與美中台有關的政治、經濟、軍事議題時，是否會受到執政者小布希保守派立場的影響，報導也會有所偏頗。 本研究首先使用內容分析法，以「框架」理論找出兩報所共同關心的新聞議題，而研究結果顯示兩報最重視的議題包括：兩岸政治關係、美中政治關係、中共武力脅迫台灣。本研究接著採論述分析法，探討文本中的真正意涵，研究結果顯示，郵報政治立場雖和小布希不同，但其立場卻會隨著小布希對兩岸關係立場的改變，而有所變化。日報政治立場雖偏向保守派小布希，但報導始終維持其一貫「反共」的立場，並沒有隨著小布希立場的不同而有所改變。最後，也可看出，兩報藉由報導美中台關係議題來建構台灣的形象。在政治方面，兩報皆認同台灣的民主政治但強調陳水扁對中國的挑釁是沒有必要的；在經濟上，郵報立場較日報明顯，可以說幾乎和小布希一致，期盼兩岸關係能以雙方在經貿上所得的利益，達到政治上的和緩；在軍事上，兩報皆認為台灣軍事實力薄弱、需要美國的援助以對抗中國的威脅，此也體現美國強調其國際霸權的地位。

The relationships between the United States, China, Taiwan and the many international societies had a significant change from 2001 to 2008. During this time, Bush was president of the United States and Chen Shui-bian was the Taiwanese President after the Democratic Progressive Party took office for the first time. Also, the relationship between the U.S., China, and Taiwan was affected with the occurrence of different events. The outbreak of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks changed Bush’s policies towards China and Taiwan as well as the international societies. Also, Bush gradually altered its political stance of anti-Chinese, from originally worrying about the threat of China’s growing national power by selling weapons to Taiwan as a defensive strategy, to strengthening the relationship with China and working together on “anti-terrorists” tasks. Bush’s foreign policies have also changed from “unilateralism,” seeing America as the only super power country, to 'bilateralism” and “multilateralism,” cooperating with other counties on “anti-terrorist” policies. Also, the “localization” policies President Chen Shui-bian implemented after re-election in 2004, has angered the Chinese government, and increased tensions between the U.S., China and Taiwan relations. People who do not have much access to the information from these international affairs would rely on the media to obtain it. This study is going to discuss how the two elite newspapers within the United States - The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, each leaning towards liberal and conservative ideals- report on political, economic, and military issues between the U.S., China, and Taiwan relations, deciding whether or not the news would be affected by Bush’s political stance. The study will first use content analysis and the frame theory to analyze the issues discussed within the two newspapers, which are the cross- Strait political relations, the political relations between the U.S. and China, and Chinese’s military threats toward Taiwan. This study then uses discourse analysis to find a deep meaning within the news content, which shows that The Washington Post, although having a different political stance from Bush, it changed when Bush changed. The Wall Street Journal, with its political stance leaning towards conservatives like Bush, however, stuck with its “anti-Chinese” stance which did not change much with Bush. Lastly, the image of Taiwan started developing when the two newspapers began reporting on the U.S. and cross-Straits relations. Politically, both newspapers encouraged Taiwan’s democratic government, however criticizing the unnecessary policies that Chen proposed. Economically, The Washington Post, focused more on a successful trade relationship between Taiwan and China as compared to The Wall Street Journal, hoping the cross-Strait political relations can be improved. Lastly, both papers portrayed Taiwan as an island with a weak military, and because of that, require the help of the U.S. to deal with the Chinese threat, which shows that they emphasized the concept of the U.S. as a super power.