3 ways to fix a broken news industry | Lara Setrakian

翻译人员: Yan Gao 校对人员: Jimmy Feng

Five years ago, I had my dream job.

五年前，我找到了自己的理想工作。

I was a foreign correspondent in the Middle East

我为美国广播公司新闻部

reporting for ABC News.

做外派中东的记者。

But there was a crack in the wall,

但我发现事情有些不对劲，

a problem with our industry,

我们的行业出了问题，

that I felt we needed to fix.

让我感觉必须要修正的问题。

You see, I got to the Middle East right around the end of 2007,

我在2007年底到达了中东，

which was just around the midpoint

那时的伊拉克战争

of the Iraq War.

正打到一半。

But by the time I got there, it was already nearly impossible

但我到中东之前，在广播里

to find stories about Iraq on air.

已经很难找到关于伊拉克的新闻了。

Coverage had dropped across the board,

所有电视网络报道中

across networks.

伊拉克的新闻都在减少。

And of the stories that did make it,

在获准发布的新闻中，

more than 80 percent of them were about us.

80%以上说的是我们自己。

We were missing the stories about Iraq,

我们失去了伊拉克的新闻，

the people who live there,

当地居民的新闻，

and what was happening to them under the weight of the war.

以及战争影响下的居民 所发生的故事。

Afghanistan had already fallen off the agenda.

阿富汗早就在新闻中消失了。

There were less than one percent of all news stories in 2008

在2008年的所有新闻中，

that went to the war in Afghanistan.

阿富汗战争占据不到1%。

It was the longest war in US history,

那是美国历史上历时最长的战争，

but information was so scarce

但是相关信息却那么稀少，

that schoolteachers we spoke to

以至于学校的老师对我们说，

told us they had trouble explaining to their students

他们很难向学生们解释我们究竟

what we were doing there,

在那里做了些什么。

when those students had parents

而那些学生中有些人的父母

who were fighting and sometimes dying overseas.

正在海外奋战或面临牺牲。

We had drawn a blank,

我们留下了一片空白，

and it wasn't just Iraq and Afghanistan.

而且不只是伊拉克和阿富汗。

From conflict zones to climate change

从冲突地区到气候变化

to all sorts of issues around crises in public health,

再到涉及公共卫生危机的各种问题，

we were missing what I call the species-level issues,

我们缺失了我称为 ”物种级别问题”的报道，

because as a species, they could actually sink us.

因为作为一个物种， 这些问题会让我们崩溃。

And by failing to understand the complex issues of our time,

如果不能理解我们 这个时代的复杂问题，

we were facing certain practical implications.

我们就要面对某些实际影响。

How were we going to solve problems

我们怎么能解决问题，

that we didn't fundamentally understand,

如果没有从根本上了解问题、

that we couldn't track in real time,

不能实时跟踪问题，

and where the people working on the issues

而那些在解决问题的人

were invisible to us

并不为我们所见、

and sometimes invisible to each other?

并且有时互相也不可见？

When you look back on Iraq,

回头看看伊拉克，

those years when we were missing the story,

我们缺失新闻故事的那些年

were the years when the society was falling apart,

正是社会分崩离析的时期，

when we were setting the conditions for what would become the rise of ISIS,

是我们提供的条件 导致伊斯兰国崛起、

the ISIS takeover of Mosul

伊斯兰国得以占领摩苏尔、

and terrorist violence that would spread

恐怖暴力蔓延到

beyond Iraq's borders to the rest of the world.

伊拉克边境以外的世界各地的时期。

Just around that time where I was making that observation,

就在那段时间，我在观察，

I looked across the border of Iraq

我望向伊拉克边境的另一侧，

and noticed there was another story we were missing:

发现我们正在错过的另一件事：

the war in Syria.

叙利亚内战。

If you were a Middle-East specialist, you knew that Syria was that important

如果你是中东问题专家， 你一定知道叙利亚从一开始

from the start.

就相当重要。

But it ended up being, really,

但最终只是变成

one of the forgotten stories of the Arab Spring.

“阿拉伯之春”中被遗忘的故事之一。

I saw the implications up front.

我亲眼目睹了这一切带来的影响。

叙利亚与地区安全、全球稳定

Syria is intimately tied to regional security,

to global stability.

密切相关。

I felt like we couldn't let that become

我觉得我们不能让这

another one of the stories we left behind.

成为另一个被我们遗忘的故事。

So I left my big TV job to start a website, called "Syria Deeply."

所以我辞掉光鲜的电视工作， 创办了“深入叙利亚”新闻网。

It was designed to be a news and information source

网站的主旨是作为新闻和信息来源，

that made it easier to understand a complex issue,

使复杂的问题更容易理解。

and for the past four years, it's been a resource

在过去四年中，它已经成为

for policymakers and professionals working on the conflict in Syria.

在叙利亚处理冲突的 政策制定者和专业人士的资源。

We built a business model

我们建立的商业模式

based on consistent, high-quality information,

基于稳定、高品质的信息，

and convening the top minds on the issue.

并就这个问题汇集顶尖思想。

And we found it was a model that scaled.

我们发现这个模式可以进一步拓展。

We got passionate requests to do other things "Deeply."

有人热切请求我们 “深入”地探讨其他问题。

So we started to work our way down the list.

所以我们开始投入 对一系列问题的深入报道。

I'm just one of many entrepreneurs,

我和众多企业家一样，

and we are just one of many start-ups

我们与很多初创企业一样，

trying to fix what's wrong with news.

试图修补新闻业的错误。

All of us in the trenches know

我们在前线工作的人都知道

that something is wrong with the news industry.

新闻行业出现了一些问题。

It's broken.

这个行业衰败了。

Trust in the media has hit an all-time low.

媒体公信力已是历史最低点。

And the statistic you're seeing up there is from September --

你看到的这个统计数字是9月的，

it's arguably gotten worse.

现在恐怕更糟。

But we can fix this.

但我们可以补救。

We can fix the news.

我们可以修正新闻业。

I know that that's true.

我知道，这一定行。

You can call me an idealist; I call myself an industrious optimist.

你可以叫我理想主义者， 而我称自己是勤奋的乐观主义者。

And I know there are a lot of us out there.

我知道像我一样的人还有很多。

We have ideas for how to make things better,

我们有办法让使事情变得更好，

and I want to share three of them that we've picked up in our own work.

我想分享我们在自己的工作中 找到的三个办法。

Idea number one:

办法一：

we need news that's built on deep-domain knowledge.

我们需要建立在深入专业知识 基础上的新闻。

Given the waves and waves of layoffs at newsrooms across the country,

鉴于全国各地新闻编辑部 此起彼伏的裁员浪潮，

we've lost the art of specialization.

我们已经失去了专题报道领域。

Beat reporting is an endangered thing.

专题报道濒临灭绝。

When it comes to foreign news,

对于外国新闻来说，

the way we can fix that is by working with more local journalists,

我们可以与更多当地记者合作 来解决这个问题，

treating them like our partners and collaborators,

视他们为合作伙伴和同事，

not just fixers who fetch us phone numbers and sound bites.

而不仅仅是提供 电话号码和录音的中间人。

Our local reporters in Syria and across Africa and across Asia

我们在叙利亚和亚非各处的当地记者

bring us stories that we certainly would not have found on our own.

带给我们的故事是 我们自己肯定找不到的。

Like this one from the suburbs of Damascus, about a wheelchair race

就像这个大马士革郊区的 一场轮椅比赛，

that gave hope to those wounded in the war.

为战争伤员鼓劲的比赛。

Or this one from Sierra Leone,

或者这个来自塞拉利昂的新闻，

about a local chief who curbed the spread of Ebola

一位当地首领在自己的领地 自行组织检疫

by self-organizing a quarantine in his district.

来阻止埃博拉病毒传播。

Or this one from the border of Pakistan,

还有这个来自巴基斯坦边界的故事，

about Afghan refugees being forced to return home before they are ready,

关于阿富汗难民在警察的恐吓下，

under the threat of police intimidation.

还没准备好就被迫返回家园。

Our local journalists are our mentors.

当地记者是我们的老师。

They teach us something new every day,

每天都有新东西教给我们，

and they bring us stories that are important for all of us to know.

他们还带来我们所有人 都一定要知道的故事。

Idea number two:

办法二：

we need a kind of Hippocratic oath for the news industry,

我们需要新闻业的希波克拉底誓言 （西方国家行医前的誓词），

a pledge to first do no harm.

发誓“不伤害为先”。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Journalists need to be tough.

记者需要坚强。

We need to speak truth to power,

我们需要对权威说实话，

but we also need to be responsible.

但我们也需要负责任。

We need to live up to our own ideals,

我们要按自己的理想行事，

and we need to recognize

也要认识到，

when what we're doing could potentially harm society,

如果忘记新闻是一项公共服务，

where we lose track of journalism as a public service.

那么我们做的事可能会伤害社会。

I watched us cover the Ebola crisis.

我密切关注我们如何报道埃博拉危机。

We launched Ebola Deeply. We did our best.

我们提出“深入埃博拉”，并全力以赴。

But what we saw was a public

但我们看到的是

that was flooded with hysterical and sensational coverage,

公众被歇斯底里和 耸人听闻的报道淹没，

sometimes inaccurate, sometimes completely wrong.

那些报道有时不准确， 有时是完全错误的。

Public health experts tell me that that actually cost us in human lives,

公共卫生专家告诉我， 它的代价是人类的生命，

because by sparking more panic and by sometimes getting the facts wrong,

因为这会引起更多的 恐慌或颠倒事实，

we made it harder for people to resolve

使实际发生的困难

what was actually happening on the ground.

更加难以解决。

All that noise made it harder to make the right decisions.

所有那些噪音会使我们更难 做出正确的决定。

We can do better as an industry,

我们这个行业能够做得更好，

but it requires us recognizing how we got it wrong last time,

但那要求我们认识到 上次错在哪里，

and deciding not to go that way next time.

并决心下次不再重蹈覆辙。

It's a choice.

我们可以选择。

We have to resist the temptation to use fear for ratings.

我们必须抵制诱惑， 不再用恐慌来刺激收视率。

And that decision has to be made in the individual newsroom

每个新闻部、每个新闻业者

and with the individual news executive.

都要做出这样的决定。

Because the next deadly virus that comes around

因为如果我们重蹈覆辙，

could be much worse and the consequences much higher,

如果我们的报道不负责、不真实，

if we do what we did last time;

下一个到来的致命病毒

if our reporting isn't responsible and it isn't right.

可能使情况更糟糕，后果更严重。

The third idea?

办法三？

We need to embrace complexity

如果想要理解一个复杂的世界，

if we want to make sense of a complex world.

我们就需要拥抱复杂性。

Embrace complexity --

拥抱复杂——

(Applause)

（掌声）

not treat the world simplistically, because simple isn't accurate.

不要简单地对待世界， 因为简单意味着不准确。

We live in a complex world.

我们生活在复杂的世界里。

News is adult education.

新闻是对成年人的教育。

It's our job as journalists to get elbow deep in complexity

作为新闻工作者， 我们有责任抽丝剥茧，

and to find new ways to make it easier for everyone else to understand.

找到新的方式， 使其他人更容易理解。

If we don't do that,

如果我们不这样做，

if we pretend there are just simple answers,

如果我们假装只有简单的答案，

we're leading everyone off a steep cliff.

我们就是在引导 每个人掉下陡峭的悬崖。

Understanding complexity is the only way to know the real threats

理解复杂性是唯一能 让我们认识到真正的威胁

that are around the corner.

It's our responsibility to translate those threats

近在咫尺的方法。

我们的责任是解释这些威胁，

and to help you understand what's real,

并帮助你了解真实情况，

so you can be prepared and know what it takes to be ready

所以你可以做好准备，

并懂得怎样做才能 应对即将发生的事。

for what comes next.

I am an industrious optimist.

我就是勤奋的乐观主义者。

I do believe we can fix what's broken.

我真的相信我们可以补救这种衰败。

We all want to.

我们每个人都想这样做。

There are great journalists out there doing great work --

伟大的记者们正在做伟大的工作——

we just need new formats.

而我们需要的只是新的模式。

I honestly believe this is a time of reawakening,

我由衷的相信这是重新觉醒的时刻，

reimagining what we can do.

重新想象我们能做什么。

I believe we can fix what's broken.

我相信我们可以补救这种衰败。

I know we can fix the news.

我知道我们可以补救新闻业。

I know it's worth trying,

我知道这值得尝试，

and I truly believe that in the end,

我也真的相信，最终

we're going to get this right.

我们能够如愿。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）