電子超連結文本是區別數位與印刷文本差異的主要特色之一，而在網路新聞環境中，超連結文本也已成為「確立性」特色。本研究透過深度訪談探問超連結文本及其連結如何運用於網路新聞報導。研究發現，超連結文本已是網路新聞的常規性實踐工作，其運用增加了網路新聞附加價值，也成為網路新聞工作者用以表達專業意理認知及論述的科技符號。超連結文本同時也重構了新聞組織內外部政治經濟勢力，造就一種「迴路式超連結文本」結構，成為增進新聞組織商業利益的工具。
Electronic hypertext is a feature that facilitates discriminating digital text from print media. This study examined how electronic hypertext is adopted in contemporary online news. Through in-depth interviews of 15 Taiwanese online-news professionals, this study determined that hypertext is used in digital news reports as an added element in the everyday practice of news production. However, hypertext is often used to indicate an online journalist’s professional ideologies, thus promoting the concept of reflexivity of professional identity. Nevertheless, in the online news business, most hypertext is produced in the context of an organization’s political philosophy. Hypertext is currently regarded as technological tool to facilitate restructuring the existing political and commercial climates, and to gain profit in a circulating model of hypertext structure for the news company.
