From the perspective of labor, this study elucidates the history of Taiwanese television news in the past fifty years. The development of television news in Taiwan is divided into five stages according to changes in news production, consumption, and regulation. During the first two stages, from 1962 to 1980, despite control from the authoritarian regime, for a short period the three terrestrial television stations competed in news production and journalists had a certain degree of autonomy. Because of the cartel in television production from 1980 to 1993, profits generated by the television stations increased and the working conditions of journalists improved dramatically. Nevertheless, these stations were completely controlled by the KMT government during the third stage. In the mid-1990s because the government lifted the ban on broadcasting license, new participants in the TV market led to competence in news production and temporary autonomy for journalists. However, during the final two stages, working conditions and the degree of autonomy for the average journalist declined because of the privatization of the media.