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LaraSetrakian_2017S-_三大办法补救败坏的新闻行業_
Five years ago, I had my dream job. 五年前,我得到了梦寐以求的工作。
I was a foreign correspondent in the Middle East reporting for ABC News. 我任职美国广播公司新闻的 驻中东特派员。
correspondent:n.通讯记者;客户;通信者;代理商行; Middle East:n.中东(包括亚洲西南部和非洲东北部);
But there was a crack in the wall, a problem with our industry, that I felt we needed to fix. 但我发现了墙上的一道缺口, 即是我们的行業出了问题, 我认为有必要去修补。
crack:v.使破裂;打开;变声;n.裂缝;声变;噼啪声;adj.最好的;高明的;
You see, I got to the Middle East right around the end of 2007, which was just around the midpoint of the Iraq War. 我在 2007 年末抵达中东, 那时伊拉克战争已经 打了一半。
midpoint:n.中点;正中央;
But by the time I got there, it was already nearly impossible to find stories about Iraq on air. 但在我抵达时,已经几乎不可能 找到可供广播的伊拉克新闻故事。
Coverage had dropped across the board , across networks. 各大电视网络报导伊拉克的篇幅 一律下跌。
Coverage:n.覆盖,覆盖范围; across the board:全面地,整体地;
And of the stories that did make it, more than 80 percent of them were about us. 那些得以广播出来的新闻故事当中, 超过 80% 是关于我方的。
We were missing the stories about Iraq, the people who live there, and what was happening to them under the weight of the war. 我们不去报导伊拉克的新闻故事、 关于当地居民的新闻故事, 以及他们在战争重压下何去何从的新闻故事。
Afghanistan had already fallen off the agenda . 阿富汗则早已不在报导议题中。
Afghanistan:n.阿富汗(国家名称,位于亚洲); agenda:n.议事日程;
There were less than one percent of all news stories in 2008 that went to the war in Afghanistan. 在 2008 年的所有新闻故事中 不到 1% 是关于阿富汗战争。
It was the longest war in US history, but information was so scarce that schoolteachers we spoke to told us they had trouble explaining to their students what we were doing there, when those students had parents who were fighting and sometimes dying overseas . 这是美国史上历时最长的战争, 但相关资讯却是如此稀少, 就连学校老师也向我们表示, 他们很难向学生解释 究竟我们在阿富汗做些什么, 而这些学生的父母 都在海外战斗甚或殉职。
scarce:adv.勉强;刚;几乎不;简直不;adj.缺乏的;不足的;稀少的; schoolteachers:n.教师; overseas:adv.在海外,海外;adj.海外的,国外的;
We had drawn a blank, and it wasn't just Iraq and Afghanistan. 我们得不到任何相关资讯, 而这不只是伊拉克和阿富汗。
From conflict zones to climate change to all sorts of issues around crises in public health, we were missing what I call the species-level issues, because as a species, they could actually sink us. 从冲突地区到气候改变, 到关乎公共衞生危机的各类议题, 我们无法报导我称为「物种层面的议题」, 因为这些议题都可以拖垮我们整个人类物种。
conflict:n.冲突;矛盾;争执;抵触;v.抵触; issues:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;(issue的第三人称单数和复数) crises:n.危机,紧要关头;危险期(crisis的复数形式); species-level:种级;
And by failing to understand the complex issues of our time, we were facing certain practical implications . 无法了解当代的复杂议题, 我们就得面对这带来的若干实际影响。
complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施; practical:adj.实际的;真实的;客观存在的;n.实习课;实践课; implications:n.蕴涵式;暗指,暗示;含蓄,含意;卷入(implication的复数);
How were we going to solve problems that we didn't fundamentally understand, that we couldn't track in real time , and where the people working on the issues were invisible to us and sometimes invisible to each other? 我们怎么解决得了问题, 要是我们没有从根本了解问题、 无法同步追踪问题, 而且处理这些复杂议题的人 都是我们看不见, 甚或互相看不见的人？
fundamentally:adv.从根本上;基础地;重要地 real time:adj.实时的;接到指示立即执行的; invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物;
When you look back on Iraq, those years when we were missing the story, were the years when the society was falling apart, when we were setting the conditions for what would become the rise of ISIS, the ISIS takeover of Mosul and terrorist violence that would spread beyond Iraq's borders to the rest of the world. 回首看看伊拉克, 我们无法报导任何有关当地新闻故事的那些年, 就是当地社会分崩离析的时期, 而我们也造就了让伊斯兰国得以崛起的条件, 让伊斯兰国得以占据摩苏尔, 让恐怖主义暴力得以跨过 伊拉克边界遍布全世界。
takeover:n.接管;验收; Mosul:n.摩苏尔(伊拉克北部城市); violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲;
Just around that time where I was making that observation , 当我正在进行观察的时候,
observation:n.观察;观测;监视;(尤指据所见、所闻、所读而作的)评论;
I looked across the border of Iraq and noticed there was another story we were missing: the war in Syria . 我望向伊拉克边界的另一边, 发现我们也无法报导另一则新闻故事: 敍利亚战争。
Syria:n.叙利亚共和国;
If you were a Middle-East specialist, you knew that Syria was that important from the start. 如果各位是中东问题专家,一定知道敍利亚 从一开始就相当重要。
But it ended up being, really, one of the forgotten stories of the Arab Spring. 但结果却是敍利亚 是在阿拉伯之春被遗忘的新闻故事之一。
I saw the implications up front. 我亲眼目睹这带来的影响。
Syria is intimately tied to regional security, to global stability . 敍利亚与地区安全以至全球安全 息息相关。
intimately:adv.熟悉地;亲切地;私下地; regional:adj.地区的;局部的;整个地区的; global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; stability:n.稳定性;坚定,恒心;
I felt like we couldn't let that become another one of the stories we left behind. 我觉得不应该任由敍利亚变成 另一则我们不报导的新闻故事。
So I left my big TV job to start a website, called "Syria Deeply." 所以我辞掉了大电视台的工作,创立网站「深度敍利亚」。
It was designed to be a news and information source that made it easier to understand a complex issue, and for the past four years, it's been a resource for policymakers and professionals working on the conflict in Syria. 这网站旨在作为新闻及资讯来源, 使理解一则复杂议题变得更容易, 而它在过去四年来已经成为 处理敍利亚冲突的政策制定者和专業人士的资讯来源。
resource:n.资源;资料;才智;财力;v.向…提供资金(或设备); policymakers:n.决策人;(policymaker的复数) professionals:n.[管理]专业人员(professional的复数);
We built a business model based on consistent , high-quality information, and convening the top minds on the issue. 我们的经营模式是 建基于具连贯性、高品质的资讯, 以及汇聚有关该议题的一流见解。
consistent:adj.始终如一的,一致的;坚持的; high-quality:adj.高质量的; convening:召开;
And we found it was a model that scaled . 我们发现这个模式可以扩展。
scaled:adj.有鳞的; v.刮去鳞片;
We got passionate requests to do other things "Deeply." 有人热切请求我们「深度」探讨其他议题。
passionate:adj.热情的;热烈的,激昂的;易怒的;
So we started to work our way down the list. 于是我们开始探讨清单上各个议题。
I'm just one of many entrepreneurs , and we are just one of many start-ups trying to fix what's wrong with news. 我和众多企業家, 我们和很多创投公司, 都尝试补救新闻業出现的错误。
entrepreneurs:n.企业家;(entrepreneur的复数) start-ups:起动;新兴公司(start-up的名词复数);
All of us in the trenches know that something is wrong with the news industry. 我们在前线工作的人都知道 新闻業的确出现了一些问题。
trenches:n.战壕(trench复数); v.挖战壕于…;
It's broken. 它已经败坏。
Trust in the media has hit an all-time low . 传媒公信力跌至历年新低。
media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉; all-time low:低谷;
And the statistic you're seeing up there is from September — it's arguably gotten worse. 各位在这里见到的统计数字是在九月, 现在情况恐怕更差。
statistic:n.统计学;统计数字;统计资料;(一项)统计数据;adj.统计(上)的; arguably:v.可论证地;
But we can fix this. 但我们可以补救。
We can fix the news. 我们可以补救新闻業。
I know that that's true. 我知道这会成真。
You can call me an idealist; I call myself an industrious optimist . 各位可以说我是理想主义者,我就自称勤奋的乐观主义者。
industrious:adj.勤奋的;勤劳的;忙碌的; optimist:n.乐观主义者;乐天派;
And I know there are a lot of us out there. 我知道外面有很多像我一样的人。
We have ideas for how to make things better, and I want to share three of them that we've picked up in our own work. 我们有办法使事情变好, 而我想介绍我们找出的其中三项办法。
Idea number one: we need news that's built on deep-domain knowledge. 办法一: 我们需要建基于深入领域知识的新闻。
Given the waves and waves of layoffs at newsrooms across the country, we've lost the art of specialization . 由于全国各地新闻媒体裁员一浪接一浪, 我们已经失去了专门报导的艺术。
layoffs:n.裁员;解雇; newsrooms:n.新闻编辑部;报刊阅览室; specialization:n.专门化;特殊化;特化作用;
Beat reporting is an endangered thing. 「路线采访」濒临绝种。
endangered:v.使遭危险;危及;危害;(endanger的过去分词和过去式)
When it comes to foreign news, the way we can fix that is by working with more local journalists , treating them like our partners and collaborators , not just fixers who fetch us phone numbers and sound bites. 在海外新闻方面, 我们的补救方法就是跟更多本地新闻从業员合作, 视他们为合作伙伴, 而不只是幫我们取得电话号码和原声摘要的仲介人。
journalists:n.新闻记者(journalist的复数); treating:v.以…态度对待;把…看作;处理;讨论;(treat的现在分词) collaborators:n.[劳经]合作者;投敌者(collaborator的复数); fixers:n.固定器;[摄]定影剂;毒贩子;调停者;
Our local reporters in Syria and across Africa and across Asia bring us stories that we certainly would not have found on our own. 我们在敍利亚以至亚、非各地的本地记者 给我们找来我们自己肯定找不来的新闻故事。
Like this one from the suburbs of Damascus, about a wheelchair race that gave hope to those wounded in the war. 就像这则在大马士革市郊的新闻,关于一场 给予战乱伤患希望的轮椅竞赛。
suburbs:n.郊外(suburb的复数); wheelchair:n.轮椅; wounded:adj.受伤的; n.伤员; v.使受伤; (wound的过去分词和过去式)
Or this one from Sierra Leone , about a local chief who curbed the spread of Ebola by self-organizing a quarantine in his district. 又或者这则在塞拉里昂的新闻, 关于一名当地首领自发隔离自己的区域 以阻止伊波拉病毒蔓延。
Sierra:n.(尤指西班牙和美洲的)锯齿状山脉; Leone:n.利昂(塞拉利昂货币单位); curbed:adj.约束的;v.抑制(curb的过去分词);约束; Ebola:n.埃博拉病毒; self-organizing:n.[计]自组织; quarantine:vt.检疫;隔离;使隔离;n.检疫;隔离;检疫期;封锁;vi.实行隔离;
Or this one from the border of Pakistan, about Afghan refugees being forced to return home before they are ready, under the threat of police intimidation . 又或者这则在巴基斯坦边境的新闻, 关于阿富汗难民在未准备好、被警察胁逼的情况下 被遣返家乡。
refugees:n.避难者;逃亡者;难民;(refugee的复数) intimidation:n.恐吓,威胁;
Our local journalists are our mentors . 本地新闻从業员是我们的师友,
mentors:n.导师,教练(mentor复数);
They teach us something new every day, and they bring us stories that are important for all of us to know. 每一天都有新东西教给我们, 也给我们带来所有人都应该知道的重要新闻故事。
Idea number two: we need a kind of Hippocratic oath for the news industry, a pledge to first do no harm. 办法二: 我们需要给新闻行業订立一种希波克拉底誓词, 即是承诺不造成任何伤害。
Hippocratic oath:n.希波克拉底誓言(医生保证遵守医生职业道德的誓言); pledge:n.誓言;保证;抵押;抵押品;v.保证给予(或做);正式承诺;抵押;
(Applause) （掌声）
Journalists need to be tough. 新闻从業员需要不屈不挠。
We need to speak truth to power, but we also need to be responsible . 我们要向当权者说出真相, 但我们也要为自己负责。
responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的;
We need to live up to our own ideals, and we need to recognize when what we're doing could potentially harm society, where we lose track of journalism as a public service . 我们要按自己的理想行事, 也要明白 如果我们忘记新闻是一种公共服务, 我们所做的有可能损害社会。
live up to:不辜负;做到;实践; recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到; potentially:adv.可能地,潜在地; lose track of:失去联系;不能跟上…的发展; journalism:n.新闻业,新闻工作;报章杂志; public service:n.公共事业;公营事业;公益事业(或服务);政府;
I watched us cover the Ebola crisis . 我密切留意我们怎样报导伊波拉危机。
crisis:n.危机;危险期;决定性时刻;adj.危机的;用于处理危机的;
We launched Ebola Deeply. We did our best. 我们成立「深度伊波拉」,并全力以赴。
launched:v.发射;发起;开展;开始;(launch的过去式和过去分词)
But what we saw was a public that was flooded with hysterical and sensational coverage, sometimes inaccurate , sometimes completely wrong. 但我们见到公众 被排山倒海般的歇斯底里和煽情报导淹没, 它们有时不准确,有时完全错误。
hysterical:adj.歇斯底里的;异常兴奋的; sensational:adj.轰动的;耸人听闻的;非常好的;使人感动的; inaccurate:adj.错误的;
Public health experts tell me that that actually cost us in human lives, because by sparking more panic and by sometimes getting the facts wrong, we made it harder for people to resolve what was actually happening on the ground. 公共衞生专家告诉我,这样其实会赔上人命, 因为引发更多恐慌甚或把事实弄错, 使人们更难解决 实地发生的事。
sparking:n.发火花;点火;v.导致(spark的现在分词);发出火星;使大感兴趣; panic:adj.恐慌的;n.惊恐;恐慌;惶恐不安;v.惊慌失措; resolve:vt.决定; vi.解决; n.坚决;
All that noise made it harder to make the right decisions. 所有这些杂音使人更难作出正确的决定。
We can do better as an industry, but it requires us recognizing how we got it wrong last time, and deciding not to go that way next time. 我们作为一个行業可以做得更好, 但必须明白我们上次何以犯错, 并决心下次不再重蹈覆辙。
recognizing:v.认识;认出;承认;接受,赞成(recognize的现在分词)
It's a choice. 这完全由你决定。
We have to resist the temptation to use fear for ratings . 我们要抵挡诱惑,不用恐惧刺激收视率。
resist:v.抵制;阻挡;反抗;回击;抵抗;忍住;n.防染剂;防蚀用涂料;防腐剂; temptation:n.诱惑;引诱;煽诱人的事物; ratings:n.评级;等级(rating的复数形式);
And that decision has to be made in the individual newsroom and with the individual news executive . 每个新闻部、每位新闻行政人员 都要作出这样决定。
individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; executive:n.管理人员; adj.经营管理的;
Because the next deadly virus that comes around could be much worse and the consequences much higher, if we do what we did last time; if our reporting isn't responsible and it isn't right. 因为如果我们重蹈覆辙, 如果我们的报导不负责任、不尽不实, 下一个来袭的致命病毒 可能更恶劣,带来更严重的后果。
deadly:adj.致命的;非常的;死一般的;adv.非常;如死一般地; consequences:n.后果,结果;影响(consequence的复数);
The third idea? 办法三？
We need to embrace complexity if we want to make sense of a complex world. 若要理解错综复杂的世界, 我们就要拥抱复杂。
embrace:n.拥抱,怀抱;v.拥抱;乐意采纳(思想、建议等);信奉;包括; complexity:n.复杂性;难以理解的局势 make sense of:搞清…的意思;
Embrace complexity — 拥抱复杂……
(Applause) （掌声）
not treat the world simplistically , because simple isn't accurate. 不把世界简化,因为简单就是不准确。
simplistically:adv.(过分)简单化地;
We live in a complex world. 我们活在错综复杂的世界。
News is adult education . 新闻是成人教育。
adult education:成人教育;
It's our job as journalists to get elbow deep in complexity and to find new ways to make it easier for everyone else to understand. 我们作为新闻从業员有责任抽丝剥茧, 找出新方法使任何人更易理解。
elbow:n.肘;弯头;肘状物;v.用肘推;挤进;讨价还价;
If we don't do that, if we pretend there are just simple answers, we're leading everyone off a steep cliff . 如果我们做不到这一点, 如果我们佯装简单答案就在眼前, 我们就像带领所有人去跳悬崖。
steep:adj.陡峭的;不合理的;夸大的;急剧升降的;v.泡;浸;使…充满;n.峭壁;浸渍; cliff:n.悬崖;绝壁;
Understanding complexity is the only way to know the real threats that are around the corner. 理解复杂关系是知道真实威胁近在咫尺的 唯一方法。
It's our responsibility to translate those threats and to help you understand what's real, so you can be prepared and know what it takes to be ready for what comes next. 我们的责任是把这些威胁以常人话语说出来, 幫助各位明白什么是真实的, 让你准备好并知道怎样准备 下一个问题的来临。
translate:v.翻译;被翻译;被译成;(使)转变;
I am an industrious optimist. 我是一名勤奋的乐观主义者。
I do believe we can fix what's broken. 我的确相信可以补救已败坏的东西。
We all want to. 我们每个人都想。
There are great journalists out there doing great work — we just need new formats. 表现卓越的优秀新闻从業员俯拾皆是, 而我们需要的只是新模式。
I honestly believe this is a time of reawakening , reimagining what we can do. 我确信现在是时候重新醒觉、 重新想像我们可以做什么。
reawakening:vt.苏醒;再度觉醒(reawaken的现在分词形式); reimagining:重新想象;再回味(reimagine的现在分词)
I believe we can fix what's broken. 我相信找们可以补救已败坏的东西。
I know we can fix the news. 我知道我们可以补救新闻業。
I know it's worth trying, and I truly believe that in the end, we're going to get this right. 我知道这是值得尝试的, 并衷心相信我们直到最后 会把事情拨乱反正。
Thank you. 感谢大家。
(Applause) （掌声）