经济学人133:新闻产业的未来,重回咖啡屋时代

 　　The future of news新闻产业的未来

　　Back to the coffee house重回咖啡屋时代

　　The internet is taking the news industry back to the conversational¹ culture of the era before mass media

　　互联网正在将新闻产业带回到大众传媒出现前的时代。

　　THREE hundred years ago news travelled by word of mouth or letter, and circulated in taverns² and coffee houses in the form of pamphlets, newsletters and broadsides. “The Coffee houses particularly are very commodious³ for a free Conversation, and for reading at an easie Rate all manner of printed News,” noted⁴ one observer. Everything changed in 1833 when the first mass-audience newspaper, the New York Sun, pioneered the use of advertising⁵ to reduce the cost of news, thus giving advertisers access to a wider audience. At the time of the launch America’s bestselling paper sold just 4,500 copies a day; the Sun, with its steam press, soon reached 15,000. The penny press, followed by radio and television, turned news from a two-way conversation into a one-way broadcast, with a relatively⁶ small number of firms controlling the media.

　　三百年前，新闻以口头或书面形式传播，并且以小册子、简报的形式在小餐馆或咖啡屋中流传。据一名观察员说，咖啡屋是进行自由交谈的不二选择，并且也是休闲阅读的理想场所。但是事情在1883年发生重大转变，第一个面向大众的报纸，纽约太阳报诞生，并且首次引入广告来降低新闻成本，一举两得地为赞助商寻到更多的观众。当纽约报面世时，美国销量最好的杂志每天可以卖4，500份；但是太阳报却很快达到15，000的销量。报纸以及随后而来的广播、电视将新闻传播方式从两方面的交流变为一方面的由少数公司控制的传播。

　　Now, as our special report explains, the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house. The internet is making news more participatory, social, diverse and partisan⁷, reviving the discursive⁸ ethos of the era before mass media. That will have profound effects on society and politics.

　　现在，正如我们的特别报道所言，新闻产业正在向之前咖啡屋相近转变。互联网使新闻变得更易参与，更具有社会性，更容易听到不同的声音，让新闻从大众传媒时代重回百家争鸣的盛况。这对社会及政治将产生重大影响。

　　Going West

　　In much of the world, the mass media are flourishing. Newspaper circulation rose globally by 6% between 2005 and 2009, helped by particularly strong demand in places like India, where 110m papers are now sold daily. But those global figures mask a sharp decline in readership in rich countries.

　　在世界大部分地区，大众传媒都在蓬勃发展。世界范围内的报纸销量从2005年到2009年增长了6％，特别是有巨大需求的印度地区，每天就有１亿１千万的销量。但在富裕国家读者人数却大幅下降。

　　Over the past decade, throughout the Western world, people have been giving up newspapers and TV news and keeping up with events in profoundly different ways. Most strikingly, ordinary people are increasingly involved in compiling, sharing, filtering, discussing and distributing news. Twitter lets people anywhere report what they are seeing. Classified documents are published in their thousands online. Mobile-phone footage of Arab uprisings and American tornadoes⁹ is posted on social-networking sites and shown on television newscasts. An amateur video taken during the Japanese earthquake has been watched 15m times on YouTube. “Crowdsourcing” projects bring readers and journalists together to sift¹⁰ through troves of documents, from the expense claims of British politicians to Sarah Palin’s e-mails. Social-networking sites help people find, discuss and share news with their friends.

　　过去十年整个西方世界中，人们逐渐放弃报纸和电视，而是通过其它的方式与时俱进。更引人著目的是更多的普通民众参与到新闻的收集、分享、筛选和讨论中。推特使人们可以随时随地将他们的所见所闻相互分享。各种各样的文件被无数在线用户上传。手机拍客们拍摄的阿拉伯暴乱以及美国龙卷风的视频和照片在社交网络中广泛传播并且为电视报道所引用。YouTube上一部摄于日本地震期间的相关视频被浏览一千五百万次。“众包”将读者与记者紧密联系在了一起，共同处理各种新闻文件，从英国政客的消费声明到Sarah Palin的邮件。社交网络为人们与好友之间寻找、讨论和分享新闻提供了平台。

　　And it is not just readers who are challenging the media elite¹¹. Technology firms including Google, Facebook and Twitter have become important (some say too important) conduits of news. Celebrities¹² and world leaders, including Barack Obama and Hugo Chávez, publish updates directly via social networks; many countries now make raw data available through “open government” initiatives. The internet lets people read newspapers or watch television channels from around the world: the Guardian¹³, a British newspaper, now has more online readers abroad than at home. The web has allowed new providers of news, from individual bloggers to sites such as the Huffington Post, to rise to prominence¹⁴ in a very short space of time. And it has made possible entirely¹⁵ new approaches to journalism¹⁶, such as that practised by WikiLeaks, which provides an anonymous¹⁷ way for whistleblowers to publish documents. The news agenda is no longer controlled by a few press barons¹⁸ and state outlets¹⁹, like the BBC.

　　不仅仅是读者在向传统传媒发起挑战。包括谷歌、脸谱、Twitter在内的科技公司也逐渐成为新闻传播的重要渠道。包括奥巴马在内的许多名流和政要通过社交网络公布他们的实时动态。互联网打破了人们阅读报纸及收看电视频道的地域限制：the Grardian, 一份英国报纸，现在较其本土读者有更多的网上读者。从博客到类似Huffington Post的网站，互联网使更多人成为新闻的可能提供者，在很短时间内就获得大量关注。互联网也为新闻的发布提供了一种全新的可能，正如维基解密所做的那样，为揭密者提供匿名发布信息的平台。新闻媒体再也不会为少数传媒巨头或部分政府部门所控制，就像BBC。

　　We contort, you deride²⁰

　　In principle, every liberal should celebrate this. A more participatory and social news environment, with a remarkable²¹ diversity and range of news sources, is a good thing. A Texan who once had to rely on the Houston Chronicle to interpret the world can now collect information from myriad²² different sources. Authoritarian²³ rulers everywhere have more to fear. So what, many will say, if journalists have less stable careers? All the same, two areas of concern stand out.

　　原则上来说，每个自由主义人士都应该为此庆祝。一个更具有参与性与社会性的新闻环境，一个更加集思广益、百家争鸣的新闻环境是值得庆祝的。德克萨斯人曾经必须依靠Houston Chronicle来与外界保持联系，但现在却可以通过无数的渠道得到他们想要的消息。专治统治者忧心忡忡。但也有很多人发问，这会不会对记者这个职业产生冲击呢？同样引起关注的还有两点。

　　The first worry is the loss of “accountability journalism”, which holds the powerful to account. Shrinking revenues have reduced the amount and quality of investigative and local political reporting in the print press.

　　首先就是担心负责任的媒体会越来越少，这些媒体会对他们报道的内容负责。经费的减少降低了调查研究和本地政治报道的数量和质量。

　　But old-style journalism was never quite as morally upstanding as journalists like to think. Indeed, the News of the World, a British newspaper which has been caught hacking²⁴ into people’s mobile phones, is a very traditional sort of scandal sheet (see article). Meantime, the internet is spawning²⁵ new forms of accountability. A growing band of non-profit outfits²⁶ such as ProPublica, the Sunlight Foundation and WikiLeaks are helping²⁷ to fill the gap left by the decline of watchdog media. This is still a work in progress, but the degree of activity and experimentation²⁸ provides cause for optimism.

　　但传统传媒却并不总是像记者所想像的一样高尚。世界新闻报，一份英国报纸，被指证窃听人们的手机，这是非常普遍的丑闻之一。同时，互联网正在传播一种新的责任形式。一些个还在增加的非盈利组织，像Propublica, the Sunlight Foundation and wikiLeaks，正在帮助减小由于watchdog media下降带来的断带。这是一项仍未完成的任务，但是活动和实验的程度为乐观主义者提供了信心。

　　The second concern has to do with partisanship²⁹. In the mass-media era local monopolies often had to be relatively impartial³⁰ to maximise their appeal to readers and advertisers. In a more competitive world the money seems to be in creating an echo chamber³¹ for people’s prejudices: thus Fox News, a conservative American cable-news channel, makes more profits than its less strident rivals, CNN and MSNBC, combined.

　　第二个值得关注的就是党派性。在大众传媒时代，地方寡头必须保持相对的公正性以吸引读者和赞助商。在一个更具有竞争性的世界中，金钱似乎正在为偏见提供肥沃的土壤：就像Fox News，一家美国保守派有线新闻电视台，比没有它言语犀利的两家CNN和MSNBC合起来赚得还要多。

　　In one way the increasing availability of partisan news is to be welcomed. In the past many people—especially right-wing Americans, since most American television was left-leaning—had nothing to watch that reflected their views. But as news is becoming more opinionated, both politics and the facts are suffering: witness some American conservatives’ insistence³² that Barack Obama was born outside America, and others’ refusal to accept that taxes must rise (see article).

　　在某种情况下，大量政党新闻的涌入是会被欢迎的。在过去，许多人－特别是右翼人士，因为大多数美国电视是左倾的－在电视上找不到反应他们政治立场的节目。政治与事实都在忍受固执己见的新闻的打击：有人坚称奥巴马是在国外出生的，也有人拒绝接受税收必须上调。

　　What is to be done? At a societal level, not much. The transformation³³ of the news business is unstoppable, and attempts to reverse it are doomed³⁴ to failure. But there are steps individuals can take to mitigate³⁵ these worries. As producers of new journalism, they can be scrupulous³⁶ with facts and transparent³⁷ with their sources. As consumers, they can be catholic in their tastes and demanding in their standards. And although this transformation does raise concerns, there is much to celebrate in the noisy, diverse, vociferous³⁸, argumentative and stridently alive environment of the news business in the age of the internet. The coffee house is back. Enjoy it.

　　有什么需要做的呢？在社会层面需要我们做的并不多。新闻产业的转型势不可挡，任何意图阻止转型的行为都注定失败。但个人确实可以采取有效措施来减轻前面提到的几种担心。大众作为新式传媒的缔造者，可以自己对所谓事实的真实性把关并公开信息来源。而作为新闻受众的时候，大众可以接触更多领域的信息并且降低需求的标准。虽然转型确实带来了一些麻烦，但更值得庆祝的是在互联网时代有这样一个集思广益、百家争鸣的新闻平台。咖啡屋时代即将回归。与它共舞吧！

1 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

2 taverns   

n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They ain't only two taverns. We can find out quick." 这儿只有两家客栈，会弄明白的。” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Maybe ALL the Temperance Taverns have got a ha'nted room, hey, Huck?" 也许所有的禁酒客栈都有个闹鬼的房间，喂，哈克，你说是不是？” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

3 commodious   

adj.宽敞的；使用方便的

参考例句：

• It was a commodious and a diverting life.这是一种自由自在，令人赏心悦目的生活。
• Their habitation was not merely respectable and commodious,but even dignified and imposing.他们的居所既宽敞舒适又尊严气派。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

7 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

8 discursive   

adj.离题的，无层次的

参考例句：

• His own toast was discursive and overlong,though rather touching.他自己的祝酒词虽然也颇为动人，但是比较松散而冗长。
• They complained that my writing was becoming too discursive.他们抱怨我的文章变得太散漫。

9 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

10 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

11 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

12 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

13 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

14 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

15 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

16 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

17 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

18 barons   

男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨

参考例句：

• The barons of Normandy had refused to countenance the enterprise officially. 诺曼底的贵族们拒绝正式赞助这桩买卖。
• The barons took the oath which Stephen Langton prescribed. 男爵们照斯蒂芬？兰顿的指导宣了誓。

19 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

20 deride   

v.嘲弄，愚弄

参考例句：

• Some critics deride the group as self - appointed food police.一些批评人士嘲讽这个组织为“自封的食品警察”。
• They deride his effort as childish.他们嘲笑他的努力，认为太孩子气。

21 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

22 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

23 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

24 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

25 spawning   

产卵

参考例句：

• Encounter sites have a small chance of spawning a "Commander" NPC. 遭遇战地区有很小的几率遇到NPC指挥官。
• Instantly revives your Champion at your Spawning Pool, 9 minute cooldown. 立即在出生地复活你的英雄，冷却时间9分钟。

26 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

27 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

28 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

29 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

30 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

31 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

32 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

33 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

34 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

35 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

36 scrupulous   

adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的

参考例句：

• She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
• Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。

37 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

38 vociferous   

adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的

参考例句：

• They are holding a vociferous debate.他们在吵吵嚷嚷地辩论。
• He was a vociferous opponent of Conservatism.他高声反对保守主义。