邁入數位電視紀元乃是全球之趨，而其對於增進身障者獲取各類資訊的「媒介近用權」具有莫大助益，其中針對聽障社群接取內容最重要的近用需求──「字幕」和「手語」服務，在數位科技匯流發展下，皆可以「隱藏式」之方式供應，同時造福聽障和非聽障之傳播權益，以及減輕廣電業者相關技術的支付成本。因此，近用服務的提供從過去的消極被動轉向現今的積極樂觀。而外國先進國家大多皆以公共廣電媒體之設立價值與目標，作為該國近用服務推動的核心主體，希望藉由數位電視的技術研發，達成更多聽障輔助應用之需求和供應滿足，協助其順利進入數位包容社會。故本研究以探詢國外落實近用服務情形，以做為我國公共廣電服務借力使力之參考，期許對我國聽障社群在傳播權益上產生影響。 　　 　　研究發現，英國、歐盟針對聽障社群的媒體近用落實，無論在法規的制定、實務的推行以及技術的研發等各層面皆有所重視，認為數位電視平台的時代，應協助聽障融入數位包容社會，並設法增進其傳播權益，以彰顯聽障與一般大眾之平權的公民地位；而在我國公視部份，其營運目標始終視英國BBC為效法對象，希冀在內、外資源充份下能達至同BBC供應近用服務之標準水平。然而在多種因素交織下，現階段公視對於聽障媒體近用服務的提供，則依舊保持類比電視時代之作為，不過，經本研究與其互動後了解，公視未來可能朝向增加其他近用服務項目發展，期望數位電視真正來臨時，其能化過往被動態度轉向積極進取：公視目前在電視平台持續兩個「手語專門」節目的製播，並預計規劃將手語服務擴大至「運動」類型節目，以符合聽障收視的期待；至於字幕服務，在已完備的基礎上，試圖朝向「表情字幕」與「即時字幕」發展；另外，於2011年HiHD數位頻道將推出「隱藏式字幕」功能。在網路平台方面，公視服務仍然延伸至電視頻道的節目宣傳與相關資訊供給為主，對於加強聽障的網路近用權益，例如「無障礙網頁空間」以及「近用小組」，認為必然有公共義務介入加以落實，但礙於目前並無相關資源規劃與投入，因此要實際推行仍有很大的進步空間。 / The main purpose of this study is to discover the practice of the right of media access in foreign countries, in order to provide reference to Taiwan’s Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) and to make progress on communication interests for hearing impaired community. “Caption” and “Sign Language” are the most important tools for hearing impaired people to gather all kinds of information and fulfill the necessity of access service. Under the digital convergence, these tools can be provided in special ways, which makes the hearing impaired people and the hearing people share the benefits simultaneously and the cost-down effect of broadcasting industry. We know that most developed countries positioned their access service project by referring to nation’s PSB. They believed the new era of digital TV is a solution to attend the balance between demand and supply of hearing impaired aid applications. While the provision of access services is getting more active and optimistic, the digital inclusion is much close to us. The study shows, British and Europe Union think they should assist hearing impaired people to be involved in e-Inclusion society and highlight equally citizen status by enhancing the rights of hearing impaired people. All the aspects such as regulation enactments, practical implementations and technique developments has been considering all the time on the stage of digital TV platform. Just like the BBC in British area, Public Television Service (PTS) in Taiwan is taking BBC as a benchmark to achieve the access services standard in condition of sufficient resources. However, changing the status quo is not so easy for inextricably interwoven reasons. PTS still works in an analog status. In spite of the circumstances haven't changed much till now, there are much more possibilities in the future. The study discovered some new progressive plans are possible for PTS’s access services in digital journey: PTS will continue to provide two programs which are sign-presented, and moreover, sign language service is going to show up in sports genre; As to caption services, PTS is working on facial expression caption and real-time caption provision; HiHD would have closed caption function in 2011. In the case of Internet platform, PTS is focused on propaganda and related information of TV programs. Barrier-free web space and access group are considered necessary for strengthening hearing impaired people’s Internet access rights and interests, but with insufficient resources planning and investment to put into realization. We can see there is still so much to do if we believe we have the affirmative obligations.

The main goal of this thesis was an investigation into the ways in which whiteness is constructed and positioned in the South African soap opera, 7de Laan, and the Flemish soap opera, Thuis, with the emphasis on the possible implications of these constructions for local as well as global discourses on whiteness in the media. In conjunction with the above, this thesis endeavoured to answer a number of subquestions relating to the origin and history of the construct of “whiteness” and Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) as a theoretical approach and its relevance in the South African and Flemish contexts, specifically as it pertains to the analysis of mass media texts like 7de Laan and Thuis. It, moreover, sought to explore if and how whiteness functions as an organising principle in the narratives and representations of these soap operas with the emphasis on potential similarities, differences and the kinds of whiteness constructed in these texts. Finally, the goal was to draw conclusions on the possible implications of these differences and similarities in the wider context of the way in which whiteness functions in the media. To that end I conducted a controlled case comparison of a sample from these two community soap opera texts, which was informed by a literature review and deep description of each context as part of the qualitative approach I chose to take. Despite a number of similarities between the two contexts, they still differ significantly, and this afforded me an opportunity to highlight both the consistencies and particularities in the ideological patterning of representations of whiteness, across seemingly unrelated domains, to illustrate its pervasiveness. Added to the emergence of three shared rhetorical devices perpetuating whiteness in both texts, I was also able to draw conclusions about the unique way in which whiteness functions in 7de Laan in particular, since South Africa remains the primary context of the study. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)