有關臺灣報刊的發展史，近來傳播學界多以「侍從主義報業」框架，解釋國民黨政權如何透過政治手段和經濟誘因，建立與主流報刊的侍從關係，其目的在於合法化統治，並打壓政治異議人士。侍從主義源自人類學界，傳播學界援用之侍從主義，事實上是經過政治社會學界翻譯自人類學界而來。換句話說，傳播學界對侍從主義的援用，是經過多次翻譯而來，因此在理論使用過程中，難免有不夠細緻的問題。在理論不夠細緻的情況下，本文認為，試圖用一套歷史詮釋觀點解釋臺灣報刊發展史，可能會淪於大敘事的危險。

This purpose of this paper was to review the patron-client relationship interpre-tation frame. The communication discipline applied this frame more recently to interpret Taiwan's journalism history. The patron-client relationship originates from the anthropology. It was translated and applied by the politics discipline. In other words, there must be “translation's” deviations when communication discipline used this frame. Under this context, attempting to use the patron-client relationship interpretation frame to interpret Taiwan's journalism history may result in the risk of grand narrative.