探討女性在各種媒體中呈現的形象之研究數量繁多，但以「電視新聞」作為一種媒介類型，探討在電視新聞中女性的形象是如何在電視新聞這個特殊的文本上被呈現的研究卻付之闕如。台灣的電視新聞競爭激烈，經常為了收視率而錙銖必較，電視媒體成為了一窩蜂追逐八卦新聞的嗜血者，台灣的媒體幾乎年年都以「壞女人」為劇本，炒作驚世駭俗的新聞題材。本研究以電視新聞的報導作為分析的對象，希冀找出在電視新聞中這種被歸類為「壞女人」的爭議性女性是如何的被呈現，這種女性因為其哪些爭議性特質而成為媒體的焦點，進而被大眾消費。研究方法以量化內容分析法，分析台灣九家電視新聞台如何報導三位具爭議性的女性及其形象為何。

在媒介暴漲的現代社會中，資訊的掌握成為新興權力的象徵。台灣社會的八卦文化，由口語之消息傳播，轉變為媒體大幅腥羶色之報導。其深入公領域生活，挑起個人隱私與公眾求知慾之間的拉鋸戰，學界對於八卦文化之盛行，莫不表現高度之重視，然其觀察取向多由媒體、新聞之角度作一道德價值的反省，鮮少針對八卦之實際行為與互動加以研究。本研究以社會網絡分析方法，針對小團體之成員予以測量觀察，瞭解個人於日常之人際網絡中，加何獲得八卦消息，以期對於八卦之現象做一探索。 本研究以友誼網絡為參照之對象，分析團體內成員由八卦關係組成的網絡，其結構特性、權力角色、成員八卦關係的聚合狀態、八卦互動之模式、八卦者所持有的態度。研究發現，八卦深植於日常生活，由友誼關係發展而來；於日常生活之中掌握八卦資訊的個人，在八卦訊息的溝通中，亦扮演重要的角色，該結果證實學者對於八卦與權力高度相關之看法。其次，團體內個人的八卦關係，遠比友誼關係來得親近，其互動模式呈現放射狀，成員基於交換訊息所組成的八卦次團體，具有單一的核心，這些特性顯示出八卦傳遞的時效價值，以及團體內八卦活絡之現象。最後，本論文檢證學者所提出之八卦理論，並提出八卦之社會功能，予以修正與重新詮釋。 關鍵字：八卦、社會網絡分析、社會功能 / In the modern society, the acquisition of information has become the new way to gain dominant position. In Taiwan, the gossip culture has been transformed from interpersonal communication topic to popular news on mass media. Gossip not only challenges the boundary between public and private realm but also provokes the debate between personal privacy and the right of information access. In the discipline of mass communication, the issue of gossip is examined from the ethical perspective. However, this study takes a sociological approach that adopts the social network analysis. A pre-selected concrete small group is used as a research sample to explore how gossip circulates in our daily interactions. This thesis presents the results from the comparisons between the gossip network to the friendship network. They are demonstrated in the order of network structure, roles, proximity, interaction patterns, and the attitudes of the gossipy people. This study suggests that gossip is deeply rooted in the friendship relations. It further shows that the prominent actors in our daily life occupy an important position in the transmission of gossip, which corresponds to the hypothesis of social control theory. Additionally, the social distance within the gossip network is much more closer than that within the friendship network. Moreover, the gossip network is composed of a single-core structure with a star-shaped interaction pattern. This unique structure is formed by the frequent exchange of information and instant diffusion of gossip. Finally, various theories of the social functions of gossip are reexamined, and new understandings of these theories are provided in the end of this thesis. Keywords: gossip, social network analysis, social functions.