Taiwanese political call-in talk shows : control and "credible participation" hidden behind the spectacle

Recently, governments have leveraged a variety of new technologies, especially new social media, to create an open government, or Government 2.0 that is transparent in its policies and gives its citizens the ability to collaborate and participate. Social media has been known for its ability to instantly connect a decentralized group of users; the ease at which the technology communicates makes the results of such technologies unpredictable and elusive. Despite television's reputation as a "passive" medium, I demonstrate that Taiwanese political call-in shows have been a successful form of credible and "controlled participation" for over a decade. With the inception of multi-party elections, these talk shows have served a purpose beyond getting good ratings and bringing in profits for the networks; they provide politicians and viewers alike an opportunity to participate. To understand the participatory culture, I studied Taiwanese political talk shows as a media system by analyzing the style and content of Taiwanese talk shows, as well as the social, cultural, legal, political, and economic institutions, practices, and protocols that shape the technology. The call-in talk shows transforms the medium into what John Gee calls an "affinity space," a term often used to describe the communities built using social media. Even with the culture of openness on Taiwanese political talk shows, the value system by which television is constructed and limited interactivity of the technology preserve the credibility content, and create an effective blueprint for bidirectional interaction between the government and the public.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Chu, Katharine (Katharine L.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ian Condry.

• Engineering Systems Division.
• Technology and Policy Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68515

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/68515