October  2011 18
研究論文Research Articles
客觀真實、多元真實與超真實: 後現代社會的新聞認知
Objective Reality, Multi-dimensional Reality and Hyperreality: Popular Concepts of News in Postmodern Society
  (4485)
作者 劉平君
Author Ping-Chun LIU
關鍵詞 新聞認知、真實觀、現代性、後現代
Keywords popular concept of news, epistemology of reality, modernity, postmodern
摘要 本研究欲探求當代社會中人們的新聞認知,而新聞是現代性真實觀的日常實踐,其於社會生活中,專責生產「真實」的意義以及再現真實的技術。因此,本研究以深度訪談和新聞論壇網站蒐集人們對於新聞的看法,分析其所表徵之真實觀,並詮釋此新聞認知和真實觀的生成。

本研究發現,在現今之後現代社會,人們心中同時存有三種矛盾的新聞認知與真實觀:新聞是扭曲真實的社會中介,其應發掘外在客觀的社會真實;新聞是建構真實的社會實體,其建構多元流動的社會真實;新聞是無關真實的社會故事,其為懷疑真實存在的超真實。而此弔詭並存的新聞認知和真實觀來自追求(再現)真實的現代性運作。
Abstract In contemporary society, the use of news is indispensable, yet at times appears unnecessary. This seeming contradiction demonstrates that the popular concept of news is changing. This article explores the social significance of news, to rethink what journalism means in modern society.

The article argues that the epistemology of “the real” is what gives shape to news as a social practice in modern society. As a representation of reality, news not only produces meaningful narratives, it also reproduces and validates our recognition of them as true within our social framework. In order to demonstrate how this news affects perceptions of truth, the study explores the popular concept of news and reality through in-depth interviews and textual analysis. For the study, interviews were conducted with 12 people who read the news; they were of different genders, ages, educational levels and occupational backgrounds, and lived in different places. It also collected online discussions from Taiwan’s two popular news websites (NOWnews and Satellite Television Broadcasting Association) to analyze people’s opinions of the news.

The findings demonstrate that news is tied to reality through three paradoxical concepts in postmodern society. The first concept considers news a problem, because it distorts social reality, and calls for a return to external, objective reality. The second sees news as a reflection of the multi-dimensional reality of the society; therefore, as what the social entity designates it to be. The third identifies news as fictional and irrelevant to social reality and, consequently, as “hyperreal,” where the existing reality should be suspended.

The study argues that these three paradoxical concepts about news and reality reflect the changing process of the epistemology of reality in modernity. In representing reality in modernity, they “(re)produce” the objective and multidimensional meaning of reality, the distortion and construction of reality when represented through technology and the emerging phenomena of hyperreality that suspend the existing reality. The multiplicity of the concept of news as demonstrated in this article may pave the way for further academic research in the fields of journalism and education.



本文引用格式

劉平君(2011)。〈客觀真實、多元真實與超真實:後現代社會的新聞認知〉。《傳播與社會學刊》,第18 期,頁79–114。



Citation of this article:

LIU, P. C. (2011). Objective Reality, Multidimensional Reality and Hyperreality: Popular Concepts of News in Postmodern Society. Communication & Society, 18, 79–114.
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