狗仔隊的誠信度

　　1、 Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.

　　為什么那么多美國人不相信自己在報紙上看到的東西？美國新聞編輯協會正試圖回答這個痛苦的問題。該組織正深深陷入一個長期的自我剖析過程，即新聞可信度調查項目。

　　2、Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.

　　遺憾的是，這次新聞機構可信度調查計劃結果只獲得了一些膚淺的發現，諸如新聞報道中的事實錯誤，拼寫或語法錯誤，和這些低層次發現交織在一起的還有許多令人撓頭的困惑，譬如讀者到底想讀些什么。

　　3、But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard templates (patterns) into which they plug each day's events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.

　　但這種對媒體的不信任有更深刻的根源。多數新聞記者都學著用一套標準的模式去看待世界，并把每天發生的事件納入這種模式。換言之，在媒介機構的新聞采編室文化中存在著一套約定俗成的寫作模式，為紛繁復雜的新聞報道提供了一個主干框架和一個現成的故事敘述結構。

　　4、There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the "standard templates" of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.

　　新聞記者和讀者之間存在著社會和文化方面的脫節，這就是為什么新聞編輯室的“標準模式”與眾多讀者的意趣相差甚遠的原因。在最近一次調查中，問卷被送到了全國五座中等城市及一座大都市的記者手中，然后隨機地給這些城市的居民打電話，問他們同樣的問題。

　　5、Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedeses, and trade stocks, and they're less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.

　　結果表明，與其他美國人相比，新聞記者更有可能居住在富人區，有女傭，有奔馳車，炒股，而他們去教堂，參加支援服務，扎根社區的可能性卻很小。

　　6、Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The astonishing distrust of the news media isn't rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.

　　記者們往往屬于廣義的社會文化精英的一個部分，因此他們的工作往往反映了這些精英傳統的價值觀。讀者對新聞媒介令人震驚的不信任的根源并非是報道失實或低下的報道技巧，而是記者與讀者的世界觀每天都發生著碰撞。

　　7、This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.

　　這對任何一個工業產業來說都算是爆炸性的形勢，對于一個正在衰落的行業來說尤其如此。這是一個棘手的行業，卻不斷地雇用觀點總體上使客戶惱怒的雇員。然后它又出資組織研討會和可信度調查項目，去探究為什么顧客們惱火了，為什么會有那么多人逃避新聞。但它似乎從來就沒回過頭來去注意那么多以前的顧客所抱怨的文化和階級偏見。如果它能注意這個問題的話，它就應該進一步開放其多樣化項目（這個項目現在還只單純考慮招收不同種族和性別的員工），進一步尋找那些世界觀、價值觀、教育水平和社會階層各不相同的各種記者。

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