by Peggy Chang Notorious yet dominant, the success of Apple Daily appears to be a paradox in itself. While adjectives associated with this media group are seldom positive—sensational, provocative, or simply “trashy”—it remains a curious success. How has this tabloid-style newspaper with a Hong Kong origin been able to upset the Taiwanese newspaper industry by outselling its prestigious traditional counterparts and even influencing the layout strategies of the industry as a whole? One possible clue to Apple Daily’s success lies in the lithography. Apple daily adopts better materials: better ink, better paper, while still remaining cheaper than most of its competitors. Printing material is of course not the main concern when it comes to buying a newspaper; rather, it is the content that appeals to customers. For a newspaper known for the sleaziness of its content, it is not surprising that it would trigger moral controversy in a traditionally reserved Taiwanese society. However, it seems ironic that has become a leader in the market of the very same society. A plausible explanation is that Apple Daily is not just trashy; instead, it is trashy for a reason. Turning a deaf ear to the traditional concept of the media’s role as a moral carrier, Apple Daily focuses its practice on profit orientation by assuming that the general audience want to read “trash” be it vulgarity, sleaze or sensationalism. Apple Daily thus sees gold in “rubbish.”
Why does the general audience want rubbish? Has vulgarity somehow usurped culture? The answer may lie in Taiwan’s media environment. Flashing back to the Martial Law period, the media had always been a tool of political propaganda. After the ban was lifted, the newspaper industry began to flourish, but still remains a tool of propaganda for partisanship. Tired of such ideological tug of war, people are turning instead to Apple Daily, an outlet offering sensations as well as sensualities. That is, when the profit-oriented Apple Daily presents sex, it is because sex sells. It has no apparent aims at political propaganda and, as for the possibility of vulgarizing the society, it cannot care less. Can we therefore conclude that Apple Daily is a despicably amoral media group? Apple Daily might be more moral than people imagine. Here’s an interesting fact: Apple Daily is the only newspaper nationwide that declares its full coverage ads rather than disguise them as news stories. The underlying issue here is the commercial aspect of journalism. As clients are willing to pay higher fees for more effective ads, Taiwanese newspaper groups, also prospecting for gold, choose not to distinguish news-looking advertisements from genuine ones. Apple Daily, however, pinpoints the fakes ones; all advertisements are tagged with a reminder—“This is a full coverage ad.” The tagging, although a seemingly negligible difference, is of significance—Apple Daily is willing to take the responsibility of commercialization by keeping its readers informed, whereas its counterparts would rather seek profits at their readers’ expense. Apple Daily is also undeniably influential. Its competitors, while sparing no pain in accusing it of trashiness, still hypocritically manage to copy some of its style, coining the term “applelization.” Today, every newspaper looks a bit like Apple Daily: the proportion and size of pictures have increased while news titles and summaries are deliberately made to be more attention-grabbing or sensational. Like it or not, Apple Daily has reformed the newspaper industry. Its success may seem a curious one at first glance, but it is actually a crafty maximization of its profit orientation: trash. Two questions remain to be answered: Is Apple Daily’s pursuit of profits, regardless of the potential vulgarization of society, better than the ideological propaganda of traditional Taiwanese newspapers? Or more fundamentally, does media have to be a moral carrier for the society in the first place? a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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