| 摘要: | 疾病從來就不只是一個生物現象或個人災禍，而是經由社會建構而來（Crossley, 1997; Crystal & Jackson, 1992; Doka, 1997; Miller & Beharrell, 1998）。臺灣傳染病新聞，在過去幾年內，數度因為媒體誇張的報導方式，造成了社會大眾恐慌（何哲欣、李思漢、馬自明、嚴思祺，2006），常常媒體報導新的病例出現，便引發民眾焦慮、恐慌及不安，媒體此時所扮演的角色和發揮的作用益加顯得重要。
基於上述觀察，本研究是以臺灣的三大報─《聯合報》、《蘋果日報》以及《自由時報》報導狂犬病新聞為研究個案，研究範圍則選定由2013年7月10日，即事件爆發後第一篇新聞所出現的時間，至相關新聞熱度開始消退的9月30日，合計共三個月，研究者先以內容分析對新聞報導進行編碼，接下來再就新聞樣本分析內容，透過報紙了解新聞報導中是如何再現狂犬病相關議題，解析三家報紙再現的角度與差異，希望藉此得知不同報紙，如何報導同一疾病新聞議題，並理解報紙媒體以何種報導方式引起民眾重視該新聞議題。
本研究在分析時加入健康傳播策略文獻中時常被提及的「恐懼訴求」，希望以探討三家不同的報紙，在報導傳染性疾病時，如何運用恐懼訴求以期影響民眾。
在實際分析上，本研究以Blood與Holland（2004）對報導新聞的恐懼訊息建構策略要素，以及Swain（2007）影響民眾恐慌之要素論點，分別引用Blood、Holland的「不完整的消息來源」、「提高閱聽人涉入度」、「負面標籤化」與Swain的「恐慌修辭」、「推測／預測」、「衝突／矛盾」等六項因子，探討並分析狂犬病新聞報導中恐懼訴求的要素呈現。
研究發現，報導高峰期的新聞數量為1030則，三報平均一天有超過20篇的相關新聞報導，從報導的數量上顯示狂犬病新聞報導之重要性。新聞消息來源則以「政府衛生單位」為主，尤其到報導高峰期時，主要消息來源偏向更為明顯。
在報導版面上，《聯合報》與《自由時報》集中分佈在「生活版」及「地方版」，《蘋果日報》則是集中在「頭條要聞」，也顯示出不同報紙，在版面的配置上確實有所差異。
在報導呈現恐懼訴求的要素方面，以各時期呈現恐懼訴求要素總比例比較，報導高峰期呈現恐懼訴求的要素最多，而三報皆以「恐慌的修辭」數量為最多，高達六成新聞出現「恐慌的修辭」要素。本研究也發現，三報在恐懼訴求要素中，以「恐懼恐慌」、「疫情失控淪陷」、「衝突矛盾」所占比例較多。
本研究發現有助於提醒媒體工作者在危機事件發生時，媒體大量引用聳動標題，雖然較能吸引閱聽眾注目，但亦可能造成民眾困惑不安或恐懼，未來媒體在相關議題的報導上，或許可以減少此類報導方式。
Disease is never just a biological phenomenon or personal disaster. It comes through the structure of the society （Crossley, 1997; Crystal & Jackson, 1992; Doka, 1997; Miller & Beharrell, 1998）. The news about infectious diseases has caused panic to the public a few times in recent years due to the exaggerated report style of the media （Ho, Lee, Ma & Yen 2006）. Once a new incidence appears, the public may be led to anxiousness, panic, upset and other negative emotions, which makes the role and function of the media more critical.
The major subjects of this study included the three leading newspapers in Taiwan, i.e. the United Daily News, Apple Daily and The Liberty Times. The range of the study covered the three months from Jul. 10, 2013, when the first news report appeared after the incident had been revealed, till Sept. 30, 2013, when the news fever began to subside. The news reports were encoded first based on content analysis and then the contents were analyzed for news text. Through the representation of rabies in the newspaper reports, the views and differences of the representation by the three newspapers were analyzed. At last, it was expected to know how the newspapers with different stands reported the disease news pertaining to the same issue and understand how the newspaper media caused panic to the public.
Besides, the fear appeal frequently used in the healthy-product advertisement was explored in the current study, investigating how various newspapers utilized fear appeal in reporting the infectious diseases in order to affect the cognition and behavior of the public drastically.
The strategy elements, in response to the fear messages revealed in newspaper news, determined by Blood & Holland （2004） and the elements that impacted public panic （Swain, 2007） were the theories applied in the current study. Additionally, the six factors, including the three ones by Blood & Holland, i.e., incomplete news source, increase of the audience’s involvement, negative labeling, and the other three ones by Swain, i.e., panic rhetoric, assumption/prediction, and conflict/contradiction, were used based on the characteristics of the individual rabies cases to discuss and analyze the element presentation of the fear appeal in the news reports about rabies.
According to the results of this study, there were up to 1030 pieces of news about coverage of rabies within the peak period. On average, there were more than 20 pieces per day in the three newspapers. This also revealed the importance of news coverage of rabies. As to the major source, it mainly came from the government health units. It was more obvious especially at the peak period.
As to the news pages of the reports about rabies, both the United Daily News and the Liberty Times focused on their life edition and local edition, while Apple Daily focused on headline news. This indicated that the layout varied from newspapers to newspapers.
In comparison with the total proportion found at different periods, there were the most elements of fear appeal presented on news at the peak period. Panic rhetoric was more than the others in the three newspapers. In fact, it appeared in more than 50% of the news reports. Through the analysis of the present study, it was shown that fear, panic, epidemic disorder and fall, and conflict/contradiction took up a larger proportion.
This study shows that it is vital for the reporters to provide the audience with the correct information because they serve as the major source when the crisis occurs. Although the sensational headlines tend to attract the attention of the public, it is also easy to cause panic or fear to the public. Therefore, it is advised that the media can decrease such ways to report the disease news pertaining to the same issue in the future. |
