從「勞動權益」到「新聞專業」：自立事件的起源、過程與遺緒

From“Labor Rights”to“Professionalism”: The Origin, Process, and Legacy of“The Independent Post Incident”

解嚴前後媒體環境遭逢巨變，新聞管制鬆綁隨之而來的是資本進場，戰後重要的自由與本土派媒體自立報系衝擊下面臨易主，引發一系列後續事件。本文探索1994年「自立事件」的起源、過程轉折、遺緒與當代意義。自立事件反映當時媒體累積的困境，再加上報社買主的因素，焦點從最初的「勞資爭議」逐步轉向具有公共性的「新聞自主」議題，結合社會脈絡成功引發關注，最後超越搶救單一報社，形成跨媒體行動，上街遊行並推動編輯部公約與催生新聞專業組織，留下組織、制度與象徵等面向的遺緒。過往的研究常將媒體變遷視為政治經濟結構轉型的產物，本研究探討一場媒體變遷引發的集體行動，看見媒體的自主與能動性，並拆解「媒體作為一個整體」的看法，分析其內在過程，指出媒體場域中不同行動者從報業經營者、編輯記者到工會都積極行動回應社會，並在勞動權益與新聞專業之間，承繼工會運動的脈絡，組裝來源複雜的新聞自主概念，經由特定論述過程與理念中介，最後從單一媒體的內部爭議，邁向媒體環境與新聞體制的整體改革，顯示自立事件在戰後新聞史中的重要意義。

Taiwan’s media environment has undergone drastic transformations before and after the lifting of martial law. With the deregulation of news institutions, large amounts of capital investments entered this market. As a result, a leading liberal news organization faced the challenge of ownership transfer, triggering a series of incidents that left various forms of impact in its path. This article explores the origin and process of“The Independence Post Incident”in 1994 as well as its legacy and contemporary significance.
This article analyzes a protest and collective action triggered by the transfer of media management rights in the context of Taiwan’s post-war media history, media political economy, and social movement literature. It discusses the topic through news reports, internal publications of trade unions, campaign literature, records and memoirs of activists, and supplementary interviews. The article takes the development of the incident as the main axis, depicts the turning point of different stages of the incident, explores the social context, and dwells on its significance. The particularity of this movement is its goal of saving the integrity of a newspaper and using the newspaper as a tool for expressing protesters’demands. The journalists who participated in this movement have provided a large number of written texts, to which this article is indebted.
The incident started when the newspaper boss owed employees’wages. Words came out that the newspaper may change owners due to mismanagement and a resulting financial crisis. It was later reported that the new operator might be someone who had a deep relationship with the ruling party and a construction consortium. Such developments caused anxiety among the newspaper’s employees. After the lifting of martial law, many“autonomous trade unions,”in contrast with trade unions attached to the government, were established, and the Independent Post trade union was one of them. Campaigns led by the trade union, fearful of the negative impact of the newspaper’s change of ownership, focused on labor rights of employees. They appealed for the protection of employees’pensions and seniority. At the same time, they also became aware of the possible changes in the working environment caused by the replacement of the boss, including issues relating to editorial independence.
Starting from the 1970s, The Independent Post continued to play a significant role in spreading democratic messages. The changes that the newspaper could have faced aroused the concern of the public. Many people in cultural, social movement, and academic circles launched the“Save The Independent Post”campaign. Following it, the incident went from a labor dispute within the company to a public issue in the media. The reporters requested the new boss to sign the“Editorial Board Convention”to ensure independence of the news, and they also asked for full retirement and reemployment benefits. However, the new owner did not agree. The employees of the newspaper later launched a campaign to vote for the editor-in-chief to fight against the new owner. Journalistic autonomy and professionalism were central demands at this stage. The discourse was assembled by protesters from disparate sources. One of the sources re-narrated the history of the Independent Post, constructing its tradition of freedom and democracy with strategic essentialism. Another source used foreign theories on Internal Press Freedom (Innere Pressefreiheit) and Editorial Board Conventions to justify the claim emphasizing that Taiwan should also create the conditions to achieve them. With the protests of the activists and attention from society, more actions began to emerge. Journalists from different news organizations initiated the“901 Walk for Media Independence”and took to the streets during a typhoon. In addition to internal press freedom and Editorial Board Convention, they also proposed the establishment of a professional media organization. After the demonstration, some participants came together to form the Association of Taiwan Journalists. In the early days of the organization, there was a debate about whether to act as a professional organization or to follow the trade union line. This divergence showed the diverse concerns of participants in the movement. In the end, the Association’s positioning was mainly based on professional organizations.
With the transfer of ownership of the Independent Post, the internal disputes within the newspaper gradually came to an end, but most demands of the activists were not met. However, outside the company the Independent Post incident has left considerable legacies. At the organization level, it contributed to the establishment of the Association of Taiwan Journalists. At the institutional level, the Editorial Board Convention was adopted by many media organizations, and journalists also used them to safeguard press freedom, although the practices vary among different news outlets. At the symbolic level, the Independent Post incident became an important reference in subsequent media reform movements.
The literature often regards media change as an outcome of the transformation of political and economic structures. This article explores the collective action triggered by media ownership change, emphasizes the autonomy and agency of the media, and discusses the role of the media as both forced and forcing. It deconstructs the view of“media as a whole”and analyzes its inner dynamics. Different actors in the media field, from newspaper owners, editors, and reporters to unions, have actively responded to public opinions. Journalists have also inherited the context of the union movement, assembling the concept of Journalistic Autonomy with complex sources. The incident has left its mark in Taiwan’s post-war media history. At a time when the media environment continues to encounter many new challenges and unprofessional interventions, re-examining this incident is of relevance when thinking about new directions for media reform.