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美国新闻业最近的经历可以用两个词来信形容:耻辱和伤心。
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The recent story of American
journalism is a tale of sorrow and shame. |
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去年，《纽约时报》(New York
Times)丢了一回面子，被迫登报承认一个年轻记者杰森•布莱尔(Jayson Blair)剽窃和捏造新闻。这次丑闻导致两名主编引咎辞职。 |
Last year, The New York Times
suffered the humiliation of having to acknowledge in print that one of its young
reporters, Jayson Blair, had plagiarised and fabricated stories. The scandal led
to the resignation of its two top editors. |
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现在，美国发行量最大的日报《今日美国》（USA
Today）又在遭受煎熬。其著名驻外记者杰克•凯利（Jack
Kelley）因被指控在过去十几年里捏造新闻故事，而于今年一月被迫辞职。凯利写过一些被认为十分出色的新闻，曾有五篇文章获得了普利策新闻奖(Pulitzer
Prize)提名（但是从未获奖）。 |
Now, USA Today, America's largest
circulation daily, is in the line of fire. Its star foreign correspondent, Jack
Kelley, quit in January after accusations that over a decade he, too, had
concocted stories. Some were considered so outstanding that five articles had
been nominated for Pulitzer Prize consideration (he never won the prize).
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针对指控，《今日美国》指派了一个调查组，由三名经验丰富的老记者组成，对麻烦的凯利事件展开调查。不日将提交调查报告。
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In response to the charges, USA
Today appointed a panel of three veteran journalists to investigate the mess.
Their report is expected soon. |
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在目前这股热潮中，对那些不道德的记者指指戳戳是多么的容易。毕竟，他们违背了新闻业“揭示真理、无私无畏”的基本原则，难道不该受到编辑、发行人、制作人和公众的斥责吗？
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How easy it has been in this febrile
atmosphere to point the finger at miscreant journalists. After all, did they not
deserve the opprobrium of editors, publishers, producers and the public for
violating a basic journalistic tenet: truth-telling without fear or favour?
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但是，让公众觉得好象错误在于少数记者的话，那么美国媒体管理部门就把一个更加令人不安的问题简单化了，或者是故意地低估了。事实是，新闻业的文化修养与职业道德近年来逐渐退化，又因为对奖项和赢利的追求而更加恶化，以致歪曲价值观，并鼓励了唠叨不停的全天候脱口秀节目。
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Yet, by making it seem as if the
fault lies mainly with a few reporters, the management of US media
oversimplifies or deliberately downplays a more disturbing problem. The fact is,
the culture and the business of journalism have been degraded in recent years -
and corrupted by a pursuit of prizes and profit that distorts values and
inspires non-stop chatter on round-the-clock talk shows. |
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《华盛顿邮报》（Washington
Post）的编辑伦纳德•唐尼（Leonard Downie）谴责“新闻明星”
（celebrification）做法(编者注：“新闻明星”指的是因报道重大新闻而成为公众名人的新闻从业人员。)，这种趋势甚至促使最优秀的新闻从业人员夸大新闻、捕风捉影、虚张声势，有时甚至越过底线，干脆“创造”一个事实、一段引言，甚至整个故事。有些记者渴求更高的薪酬、编辑的称赞，或者一封参加流行脱口秀的邀请函，他们不惜出卖自己的专业操守。当然，他们自己对这些情况认识得更清楚；但是他们也知道，在这种竞争的大气候下，迎合当前的风气有好处。
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Leonard Downie, editor of The
Washington Post, decries the "celebrification of journalism", which drives even
the best in the business to hype a story, to exaggerate "just a bit", to
sensationalise the ordinary and, on occasion, to go over the top and simply
"create" a fact, a quote or a whole story. So hungry are some journalists for a
bigger pay cheque, an editor's praise or an invitation to appear on a popular
talk show that they are seduced into selling their professional souls. They know
better, of course, but they also know that in this competitive climate it helps
to play to the mores of the moment. |
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“我撒谎了，我撒谎了，我还撒了一些谎，”布莱尔先生在他的新书中承认道。在电视镜头前，他也这样承认。他的故事可能还会拍成电影。
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"I lied, I lied, and I lied some
more," admits Mr Blair, as he shamelessly rides the joys of a new book, a likely
film deal and multiple television appearances. |
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令人心痛的是，新闻业明显为此付出了代价。《今日美国》最近报道，只有36%的美国人相信他们从媒体上读到、看到和听到的东西。那么他们从哪里获得可以信任的信息呢？年轻人越来越多地求助于互联网，年长者则要么根本不看新闻，要么转向有线电视或广播脱口秀节目，收视预先包装的“新闻”。保守派掌控着许多脱口秀节目的意识形态，自由派则刚刚在为自己中意的节目开办广播网。当我们需要严肃而真实的信息的时候，电视广播却是充斥着废话的噪声。
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There is a price; that is painfully
clear. USA Today reported recently that only 36 per cent of Americans believe
what they read, see or hear in the media. Where, then, are they to get
information they can trust? Young people are increasingly turning to the
internet. Older people either bypass news completely or turn to cable or radio
talk shows for prepackaged "news". Conservatives have an ideological lock on
many talk shows; liberals are only now starting a radio network for their kind
of show. The airwaves are noisy with nonsense at a time when we need serious,
substantive information. |
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最近，“优秀新闻计划（Project for Excellence in
Journalism）”研究小组制作了一份长达500页的研究报告，报告强调了美国新闻业的长期衰退。1990年以来，报纸发行量下滑了不止11个百分点，2200名报人随之失业。报纸在全国的市场占有率由75%下降到50%，随着互联网使用的激增和少数族裔报纸的流行，这一趋势很可能将持续下去。
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A recent 500-page study by the
research group Project for Excellence in Journalism highlights a long-term
decline in US journalism. Since 1990, 2,200 newspaper jobs have been lost, as
circulation has slipped more than 11 per cent. National penetration of
newspapers has dropped from 75 per cent to 50 per cent and, as internet usage
soars and ethnic newspapers spread, this trend is likely to continue.
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1993年以来，电视晚间新闻的观众猛跌了28%，由每个工作日平均4000多万观众下降到不足2800万。随着有线电视的发展，电视广播网的观众有所下降。去年，观看有线电视的美国人首次超过了电视广播网。一个具有讽刺意味的结果是，有线电视已经取代了电视广播网，成为观众获取严肃新闻事件报道（如有关战争和选举的报道）的途径。
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Since 1993, audience figures for
evening TV newscasts has plunged 28 per cent, from more than 40m viewers on an
average weekday to fewer than 28m; and as cable TV grows, network audiences
decline. Last year, for the first time, more Americans watched cable TV than
network TV. One ironic consequence is that cable TV has replaced the networks as
the place viewers go for coverage of serious news events, such as wars and
elections. |
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新闻曾经是一种可贵的商品，传达意识形态冲突的两种意见。当今的新闻往往过分简单地区分善与恶，传统而可靠的新闻便成了稀缺商品。那些能够防范错误、防范报纸含沙射影和捏造事实的“看门人”、编辑和新闻管理人员到哪里去了？难道他们现在已经认同了虚假的新闻业，以求促进发行量和帮忙赢得普利策奖？
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Once news was a treasured commodity
that helped smooth the edges of clashing ideologies; now news, old-fashioned and
solid, is a rare commodity in a world of simplistic generalisations about good
and evil. Where are the gatekeepers, the editors and news managers who guarded
against mistakes, editorial insinuation and fabrication? Have they now
sanctioned hyped journalism to boost circulation and help win a Pulitzer?
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据预测，《今日美国》的调查将斥责凯利先生、对新闻来源提出更严格的要求，并痛陈当代新闻业的现状。然后呢？会有主编或发行人受到公开谴责吗？早就有人警告说，凯利先生是一个需要帮助的麻烦明星，这些人却始终未察觉，或者忽视这种警告。
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Advance word has it that USA Today's
investigation will scold Mr Kelley, recommend stricter sourcing requirements and
lament the state of modern journalism. Then what? Will any of the top editors or
publishers be publicly blamed (or fired) for consistently missing or ignoring
warnings that Mr Kelley was a troubled star who needed help? |
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本文作者是美国哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）和美国国家广播公司（NBC）前记者和主播，哈佛大学修伦斯坦新闻政治与国家政策研究中心（the
Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard
University）创始董事。 |
The writer, a former correspondent
and anchor at CBS and NBC, is founding director of the Shorenstein Center on the
Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University |
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译者/严潇潇 |
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