本研究應用政治傳播學者Benoit的政治論述功能理論,分析台灣2008年總統選舉電視辯論-透過量化取徑的內容分析法檢視競選訊息中「攻擊」、「防禦」與「自誇」等三項功能,以及「政策」與「人格」兩項論題的偏重。本研究並結合相關研究的發現,討論台灣近年總統電視辯論訊息的變化,以及台灣與美國總統電視辯論訊息的異同。 本論文的主要發現可分為三方面說明。第一,有關辯論訊息的功能,如同美國的通例,台灣2008年總統電視辯論訊息的功能是「自誇」(正面論述)多於「攻擊」(負面論述),而「防禦」則占最低的比例。民調領先者馬英九的自誇論述多於對手謝長廷。而在跨年的比較中,2008年電視辯論的正面訊息比例高於2004年與2000年。第二,在辯論訊息的論題,台灣2008年電視辯論對政策訊息的偏重多於人格訊息,此點與美國辯論的通例類似;不過台灣辯論的政策論題比例仍顯著地低於美國辯論。第三,辯論的提問者似乎影響辯論的正面程度。比較2008年的首場與次場電視辯論會,「自誇」訊息比例在由一般選民擔任提問者的首場辯論會中,顯著地多於由媒體人擔任提問者的次場辯論會。
This research paper employs William Benoit's Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to analyze the functions (acclaiming, attacking, and defending) and topics (policy and character) of the 2008 Taiwanese presidential debates. It also compares the 2008 Taiwanese debates with previous presidential debates in Taiwan, and the US. presidential debate messages. The major findings can be described in three aspects. First, as the counterparts in the US, acclaims were the most common function in Taiwanese presidential debates, followed by attacks, whereas defenses accounted the least proportion. Specifically, the presidential debates in 2008 contained higher percentage of acclaims (positive messages) than previous debates. Second, similar to the presidential debates in the States, Taiwanese presidential debates stressed policy topics more frequently than character ones. However, the percentage of policy utterances in Taiwanese debates was significantly lower than the US counterpart. Third, the example of 2008 Taiwanese presidential debates showed that candidate utterances contained more acclaims in responding to citizens' questions than those in responding to journalists' questions.