Swinging between politics and art: mainland image behind the Golden Horse Awards news constructed by Taiwan media

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between politics and the art, starting with the news of the Golden Horse Awards relating to mainland China by Taiwan media with different political positions. We collect all the news relating to mainland China in GHA in past 6 years (2014- 2019) from the presses United Daily News and Liberty Times News, and encode information of the news. On the one hand, we conclude the changes of national image of mainland China by discourse analysis, and try to explain the construction of the image of the mainland by the Taiwan media from political, economic and cultural reasons. On the other hand, we conclude the consensus and marginal parts held by the two coalitions by Hallin’s spheres model. It can be concluded that the Golden Horse Award itself is being neutral and objective. However, the evaluation of the media is not the same case. Moreover, polarized views can be noticed on the media construction. Only by reshaping the authority of the media and stressing again the objectivity of the media, that is, to report the events or incidents outside the political context, can remain space for negotiation of both side and deconstruct the polarized and extreme image of Chinese films.