On The Merit Times Phenomenon Of Taiwan

After Apple Daily came into being, almost all of Taiwan's newspapers try to reform and report news of Apple-style so as to maintain and expand their living space. The news reported in Taiwan media are full of "sensational message", which has become an extremely prominent problem of Taiwan's media industry; while Taiwan's new newspaper Merit Times forms a contrast to this phenomenon. Taking Merit Times as the study object, this thesis uses the following methods including reading literature, participating in observation, personal interviews and telephone survey to make in-depth research on the editorial and the Foguangshan Headquarter of Merit Times. It is hoped that some views and perspectives from editors, founding staff, audience and other people on the island can be obtained. Additionally, through presentation and analysis of Merit Times, this thesis goes further to identify its characteristics including content choice, positioning criteria, personnel training, business strategy, to reflect on its referential significance as well as causes and to point out what should be paid attention to with its development. Through description and interpretation of this new newspaper, this research points out that media with a religious background should be paid more attention to and arouses a new thinking on the location and social function of newspapers.