《摘要》 一個國家形象的轉變，往往須經由內部長期的政經改革與外部國際形象的有 效宣傳方有可能達成。有鑑於此，本研究試圖透過分析過去20 年(1986-2005)紐 約時報及華盛頓郵報涉及台灣的新聞報導，以內容分析法探索新聞媒體形塑下的 台灣國家形象，及其隨著內部政經變革所經歷過的形象變遷趨勢。本研究使用系 統化抽樣兩報20 年期間以台灣為主題的新聞報導共501 篇，以內容分析法進行 類目交叉分析，結果發現兩報對台新聞報導於1995 年達到質與量上的高峰，也 使該年度成為台灣國家形象重大變革的關鍵年。但就長期變遷之趨勢而言，兩報 所呈現的台灣國家形象，遠從80 年代的模糊失焦，到90 年代呈現兩岸衝突與對 立的形象，及至2000 年以後以統獨議題為主軸所形塑出的國家輪廓，都顯示台 灣的國家形象向來是以兩岸關係為框架，統獨議題為主軸，其外表輪廓會隨著美 台、兩岸三邊關係的起伏而變化。

《Abstract》 The transition of the Taiwan’s national images are examined in this article through analyzing news coverage related to Taiwan in the two elite newspapers, both New York Times andWashington Post, for two decades from 1986 to 2005. Results, by employing content analysis approach to cross-examine multiple categories of news events for 20 years, indicate that the year of 1995 was the milestone for the transition of Taiwan’s national images, reflected by the quantity and the quality of all Taiwan’s news coverage in the two newspapers. The Taiwan’s national images, have been off-focused in 80’s, emerged from the confliction of the cross-Strait relationship in 90’s, and framed by the collision of debating between issues of Taiwan independence and cross-Strait unification in the last decade. In short, the national images of Taiwan through the last two decades, actually occurring in different stages, have been keeping changes, and have always been framed by the cross-Strait relationships.