美国国家公共电台 NPR Activist Shaun King On Why He's Reviving Frederick Douglass' 'North Star' Paper

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to continue our conversation about the media with someone who's looking to the future by reviving a newspaper from the past. One hundred and seventy years ago, Frederick Douglass published one of the most influential¹ antislavery newspapers of its time. It was called The North Star. In the newspaper's first issue, the abolitionist, himself formerly² enslaved, wrote, it is evident that we must be our own representatives and advocates, not exclusively but peculiarly not distinct from but in connection with our white friends. Now, Shaun King, a writer and activist³, is part of a team reviving The North Star for the digital age. And he's with us now from our bureau in New York. Shaun King, thanks so much for joining us.

SHAUN KING: Thank you.

MARTIN: So we just read that quote from Frederick Douglass explaining why he wanted to start The North Star. Tell us why you wanted to see it revived. What need do you think this news outlet⁴ will serve?

KING: It was so powerful for me to hear you read that quote. And we could, in so many ways, cut and paste that quote ourselves. It's so important for us even today and a huge reason why we really wanted to start something new. There are great outlets⁵ that I love and read and subscribe⁶ to, but they weren't necessarily created for us. And they weren't necessarily created to fight back against some of the injustice⁷ and problems that we see. And what Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Delany knew all the way back in 1847 was that, for 250 years in the United States, newspapers really were on the fence about slavery. And what they knew was that we need a periodical that we manage, that we curate that isn't on the fence that's strongly against it. And there is kind of this spirit in journalism⁸ to tell both sides of the story and just let the listeners choose what they want to choose. And I understand that. And there's a place for it. But on some issues, we really do need to take a stand. And we felt like instead of starting over from scratch, it would also give us an opportunity to revitalize something beautiful that was started generations ago.

MARTIN: Well, there are news outlets like The Root, for example, that definitely has a point of view. I mean, I credit you that there are a number of sites like websites and blogs that are very much lifestyle and gossip-oriented or that have a particular niche⁹, you know. But The Root isn't - on the one hand, on the other hand, I mean, The Root definitely has a point of view.

KING: Oh, no, there are many great outlets that we love and respect. But The North Star really is going to be a hard news outlet with with reporters and journalists, White House correspondents. I think we'll be hard news with some cultural commentary.

MARTIN: I understand that you're doing this with the support of the descendants of Frederick Douglass. Can you tell us about that, and what kinds of conversations did you have with them?

KING: Yeah. You know, Frederick Douglass's great-great grandson is a man named Kenneth Morris, and he leads the Frederick Douglass Family Initiative. And when we had the idea to start this new outlet, first, we didn't know if we were going to revitalize something old. But we really thought part of being able to do that was going to give ourselves the opportunity to tell, hey, we have a rich journalistic tradition that goes back hundreds of years. And when we settled on the name and identity of The North Star, we reached out, we found the family, reached out to the family and talked with them for weeks. And they really loved the idea.

MARTIN: There are a lot of conservatives who think that the news is already very partisan¹⁰. For whom is this content directed? Is it meant to persuade people?

KING: No, that's a great question. I think what irritates both conservatives and liberals alike is when news outlets pretend that they don't have an agenda but then clearly do, be it in the editorial decisions they make, in the guests they have, the material that they cover. And so it does, it frustrates¹¹ people. So we're really going to wear our heart and soul and beliefs on our sleeve. I'm not sure many conservatives who are so deeply entrenched¹² in their own views would come to our platform and be persuaded. I used to believe that. For most of my adult life, I saw myself as a bridge builder. And I still have the heart of a bridge builder, but our time now is so partisan. And people get their information in such silos that I found more and more and more it's just difficult to build those bridges.

MARTIN: But aren't you part of the silo then?

KING: Here's the thought that I have. I used to think this notion that preaching to the choir¹³ was a problem. And we kind of use it in a bit of a pejorative¹⁴ sense like, hey, this site, this platform, this person is just preaching to the choir. But I've actually grown to adopt that perspective that the choir needs good preaching. They need good information. They need good tools and insight. And so while we may be a silo, we'll be an informative¹⁵ one, but we also have our heart to speak to people outside of it. It's not that we won't be in that silo. It's just that they've gotten much harder shells and exteriors¹⁶ than they used to.

MARTIN: That was Shaun King. He is bringing back The North Star next week. Shaun King, thank you so much for talking with us.

KING: Thank you.

1 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

2 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

3 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。

4 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

5 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》

6 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。

7 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

8 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。

9 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

10 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。

11 frustrates   

v.使不成功( frustrate的第三人称单数 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• What frustrates him is that there's too little money to spend on the project. 使他懊恼的是，可用于这个项目的资金太少。
• His trouble is that he frustrates much easily. 他的毛病是很容易泄气。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

13 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

14 pejorative   

adj.贬低的，轻蔑的

参考例句：

• In the context of ethnic tourism,commercialization often has a pejorative connotation.摘要在民族旅游语境中，商品化经常带有贬义色彩。
• But news organizations also should make every effort to keep the discussion civil and to discourage the dissemination of falsehoods or pejorat

15 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。

16 exteriors   

n.外面( exterior的名词复数 )；外貌；户外景色图

参考例句：

• You mustn't judge people by their exteriors. 你不能以貌取人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some artists only paint exteriors. 有些艺术家只画户外景色。 来自《简明英汉词典》