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It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk
just behind a façade of order—and, yet, deep
inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order.
--Douglas Hofstadter (quoted in Gleick, 1987)
Taiwan has been undergoing momentous transformation from authoritarian rule to
a formal democracy, with all its precious achievements and vast problems. Straddling the
process of democratizing the authoritarian regime have been three major revolts of the
“guerrilla media:” the Dangwai political magazines (1976-86), the illegal cable channels
collectively known as Channel Four (1990-93), and the underground radio stations (1992-
95).
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Over the years these outlawed, resource-poor, low-cost, small-scale, and
technologically crude channels of communication--run by a small group of political
activists rather than professional journalists--rose from the margin to wage “hit and run”
battles with state censors and the mainstream media by constructing counter-hegemonic
realities. The guerrilla media provided chief sites of contestation for the dissenting
voices and protest groups to launch ideological campaigns against domination of the
power center. They took aims at the legitimacy of the authoritarian party-state,
challenging its patron-client system, its rigid control, and its hegemonic myths-cum-
consensus intended to make such practices seem more acceptable (Lee, 2000). Instead of
existing in social vacuum, they were integrated into political movements as powerful
organizational and ideological instruments. They galvanized mass support, articulated
the grievances and interests of the oppressed, exposed the clothless kings, and questioned
the party-state’s exclusiveness and favoritism that were in contravention of its lip service
Convention