Does competition make a difference? An examination of the impact of the 'Apple Daily' on three major newspapers in Taiwan.

摘要

This thesis examined the effects of the Apply Daily on three leading Taiwanese newspapers: the United Daily, China Times and Liberty Times. The present author content-analyzed the changes in these newspapers -- in terms of their news stories and photographs -- before and after the publication of the Apple Daily in Taiwan in 2003. Specifically, this research documented the tabloidization of these three newspapers by comparing the subjects and sizes of their articles and photographs in 2002 and 2004. Findings show that these newspapers have added more "soft news" on their front pages in 2004 in comparison with 2002 in order to compete. It can be argued that the Apple Daily has forced its rivals to become more sensational. Competition does not improve news quality in this case.