Constructing Anti-communist Ideology in Daily Life: A Study of the Radio Broadcasting Magazine, 1952-1956

Abstract

This paper has two concerns: What did the people in Taiwan learn from the radio broadcasting in the 1950s? What forms were used by the Kuomintang government to disseminate its policies to the public by way of controlled radio broadcasting? In this paper I begin my study, in the view of quasi war-time system, on the broadcasting environment and the condition of radio broadcasting in three wartime systems: the general mobilization in Japanese colonial era, China during the war of resistance against Japan, and Taiwan under the National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion. Then, by taking a perspective different from traditional approach to radio broadcasting policy, I analyze the contents of broadcasts introduced in the Radio Broadcasting Magazine. I would argue that the characteristic of the radio programs changed from compelling propaganda to soft presentation of daily life. In other words, the Kuomintang gradually got out of the crisis in 1949 and learned how to construct friendly media to disseminate anticommunist ideology through selected information. The change of broadcasts shows that the Kuomintang was able to penetrate the daily life of Taiwan people. The experiences in the 1950s laid the foundation for strict control in the 1960s.

本文目的在於探討兩個提問：縈繞於一九五○年代一般人民的生活裡，究竟從收音機中聽到些什麼？國民黨政府在壟斷廣播媒體的優勢下，用那些形式將政策理念下達於基層？本文從準戰時體制的架構，首先檢視日治時期總動員體制與中華民國抗戰、動員戡亂體制下的臺灣廣播媒體環境，梳理五○年代收音機市場、收聽習慣與廣播媒體在宣傳體系中的定位。其次，在聲音資料難以保存尋獲的情況下，別於既有研究限於外在的政策討論，而由保留大量節目資訊的《廣播雜誌》出發，直接深入考察當時的廣播節目內容。本文指出，當時的廣播表現形式，不論是廣播劇的發展、聯播節目的進行，或是各種類型的節目，都從硬性宣傳轉向生活情境的建構，顯示中華民國政府已逐漸擺脫1949年「風雨飄搖」的危機，開始學習向民眾傳達更為柔軟的形象，在黨政部門篩選和壟斷資訊的環境中，建立一個鼓吹戰備卻又容易親近的廣播世界。最後，宣傳手法的翻新，意味著黨政部門有能力更細膩地介入人民的日常生活，五○年代的摸索嘗試，成為六○年代更加細密控制的基礎。