美国国家公共电台 NPR 'New York Times' Editor: 'We Owed It To Our Readers' To Call Trump Claims Lies

'New York Times' Editor: 'We Owed It To Our Readers' To Call Trump¹ Claims Lies

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0003:12repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser² to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

The other day, The New York Times published a story. It examined the way that Donald Trump's presidential campaign promoted his tax plan. Trump had offered a big tax break to businesses. His campaign told a leading business group that he supported the tax break, and he got their endorsement³. Then his campaign told independent budget analysts⁴ he was against the same tax break. The point of this story for our purposes here is that the Times called this a lie - specifically, the trillion-dollar lie. The Times is using that word lie quite often in its coverage⁵ of Donald Trump, so we've called Dean Baquet, who is the paper's editor, to talk about its coverage of the Republican candidate.

Welcome to the program.

DEAN BAQUET: Thank you so much. Good to be here.

INSKEEP: Has something changed in the way you cover and write about Donald Trump?

BAQUET: Yes. Yes. The simple answer is yes. Politicians often exaggerate their records, obfuscate⁶, say they did something great when they - when it wasn't so great. I think in the last few weeks, he sort of crossed a little bit of a line. For me, the moment was the birther story, where he - he has repeated for years his belief that President Obama was not born in the United States. That's not an obfuscation⁷, and that's not an exaggeration. I think that was just demonstrably a lie, and I think that lie is not a word that newspapers use comfortably.

INSKEEP: Sure. And let's talk about why that is. When I think about the word lie, it seems to me different than even saying something is false or wrong because when you say lie, you are suggesting you know the person intentionally⁸ told an untruth. You feel...

BAQUET: Right.

INSKEEP: ...You know their mind.

BAQUET: And I think that was the case with birther. I mean, I just - I think to say that that was a falsehood wouldn't have captured the duration of his claim - to be frank, the outrageousness⁹ of his claim. I think to have called it just a falsehood would have put it in the category of usual political fare, where politicians say, you know, my tax plan will save a billion dollars but it's actually half a billion and...

INSKEEP: Yeah.

BAQUET: ...They're using the wrong analysis - this was something else. And I think we owed it to our readers to just call it out for what it was.

INSKEEP: Some analysts have said they feel the tone of media coverage about Trump has changed since the Republican convention - since he clinched¹⁰ the nomination¹¹. Have you done anything differently since then?

BAQUET: I don't think so. I think that we've done a tremendous amount of investigative reporting about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. And I don't think the tone has changed for us. I mean, I think we're in a remarkably¹² partisan¹³ moment, where people who don't like Donald Trump feel like the media is not doing enough about him. I think that's just wrong. I think that people who don't like Donald Trump honestly believe that if people knew what they knew, saw what they saw, understood what they saw, that people couldn't possibly support Donald Trump. I think that's demonstrably false.

INSKEEP: Are you telling people how to think?

BAQUET: No. No. I think that this just so - it would almost be illiterate¹⁴ (laughter) to have not called the birther thing a lie.

INSKEEP: The reason I ask about that is because NPR, at the moment, has come up with a slightly different formulation. And the senior vice¹⁵ president of news wrote, (reading) we give citizens the information they need to make the choices the democracy asks them to make. We should not be telling you how to think. We should give you the information to decide what you think.

Do you think you're following that same standard when you call Trump a liar¹⁶?

BAQUET: I think that - I think I'm using the same standard. I'm just using a different word. I think I'm using a more accurate word.

INSKEEP: How would you describe Hillary Clinton's relationship with the truth?

BAQUET: (Laughter) I think all politicians obfuscate, exaggerate, etc. I think that that's what I would say about Hillary Clinton and most other politicians.

INSKEEP: Have you been using the word lie very much with Hillary Clinton?

BAQUET: I don't think Hillary Clinton, to be honest, has crossed the line the way Donald Trump did with the birther issue.

INSKEEP: Dean Baquet of The New York Times.

Thanks very much.

BAQUET: Thank you so much.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 obfuscate   

v.使困惑，使迷乱

参考例句：

• He delighted in his ability to obfuscate.他对自己有本事把别人搞得晕头转向感到得意。
• This message might appear if you obfuscate the solution code.如果您对解决方案代码进行模糊处理，可能显示此消息。

7 obfuscation   

n.昏迷，困惑；发暗

参考例句：

• Only pedants believe in the advantage of obfuscation. 只有书呆子才相信使人困惑会有好处。 来自辞典例句
• An automated way to get shorter names is to use obfuscation tools. 自动获取短名字的办法就是使用混淆工具。 来自互联网

8 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

9 outrageousness   

n. 残暴 蛮横

参考例句：

• It's a matter of outrageousness to about his body shape. 嘲笑他的体形是一件残忍的事。

10 clinched   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• The two businessmen clinched the deal quickly. 两位生意人很快达成了协议。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Evidently this information clinched the matter. 显然，这一消息使问题得以最终解决。 来自辞典例句

11 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

12 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

13 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。

14 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

15 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

16 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。