美国国家公共电台 NPR Who Controls Think Tanks? Shift In Funding Highlights Changes In The Industry

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

These are pretty rough times for one of Washington, D.C.'s hometown industries - think tanks. These are where scholars get paid to study issues and offer advice. But now one of them is dealing¹ with a controversy² over the influence of a big funder, and those who think about think tanks say there's probably more turmoil³ coming. Here's NPR's Peter Overby.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE⁴: Washington has about 400 think tanks. The New America Foundation has been working since 1999 on public policies for the digital age. Now it's at the center of the latest money controversy. Here's the short version. New America had a program that studied monopolies and how to fight them. Last month, New America management closed it down. The program director said it was because he criticized Google as monopolistic. Google and its longtime CEO Eric Schmidt are among New America's biggest funders. New America denies the accusation⁵ and says the program director didn't work well with colleagues. A spokesman said if any funders suggested firing a foundation staffer, they would be categorically refused. Now the anti-monopoly program has become its own think tank. Its board chair is law professor and activist⁶ Zephyr⁷ Teachout.

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT: Just common sense tells you that having these big companies in this space is going to have an influence, and it's not a good influence.

OVERBY: Washington got its first think tanks a century ago. For a long time, they presented themselves as universities without students. But that's history now, said sociologist⁸ Thomas Medvetz, author of the book "Think Tanks In America." Speaking via Skype, Medvetz said think tank experts need skills not commonly used on college campuses.

THOMAS MEDVETZ: Skills that one would use in a PR firm, for example, or a lobbying firm, as an aide on Capitol Hill, as a scholar or a journalist.

OVERBY: Another seismic⁹ shift involves the funding for think tanks. Once they lived on broad grants from foundations and reticent¹⁰ millionaires. Now funders are often wealthy businesspeople, philanthrocapitalists, notably¹¹, many from the tech industry. Their giving is usually targeted to a program, an expert or even a single project. Political scientist Daniel Drezner wrote the book "The Ideas Industry."

DANIEL DREZNER: You're seeing, interestingly enough, traditional foundations as well as sort of the new generation of philanthrocapitalists being very much obsessed¹² with impact, which is to say they want to know exactly what they are getting for their - their dollars' worth.

OVERBY: This targeted giving has forced think tanks to change the way they operate. Arthur Brooks¹³ is president of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He talked about his job in 2015.

ARTHUR BROOKS: A hundred-and-fifty speeches a year, which is what modern think tank presidents need to do because we spend 75 percent of our time raising funds.

OVERBY: There's every expectation the time and money pressures will keep increasing. James McGann is director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

JAMES MCGANN: These trends create a much different environment than think tanks operated in 15 years, 10 years, certainly 20 years ago.

OVERBY: Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 zephyr   

n.和风，微风

参考例句：

• I feel very comfortable in the zephyr from the sea.从海上吹来的和风令我非常惬意。
• Zephyr,the West Wind,blew away the clouds so that Apollo,the sun god,could shine and made this flower bloom.西风之神吹散了云朵，太阳神阿波罗得以照耀它并使它开花。

8 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

9 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

10 reticent   

adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的

参考例句：

• He was reticent about his opinion.他有保留意见。
• He was extremely reticent about his personal life.他对自己的个人生活讳莫如深。

11 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

12 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

13 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》