Alisa Miller: The news about the news

譯者: Stephanie Shi-Huei Weng 審譯者: Feiman Luk

How does the news shape the way we see the world?

新聞如何影響我們眼中的世界？

Here's the world based on the way it looks -- based on landmass.

這世界地圖是根據大陸的分佈而編成的。

And here's how news shapes what Americans see.

而這是美國人在新聞報導的影響下所看到的世界。

This map -- (Applause) -- this map shows the number of seconds

這張地圖--(掌聲)--在這張地圖上所顯示的秒數

that American network and cable news organizations dedicated to news stories,

代表在2007年二月—— 剛好是一年前，

by country, in February of 2007 -- just one year ago.

美國新聞網和有線新聞依國家來計算所報導的新聞秒數。

Now, this was a month when North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear facilities.

同月，北韓同意要拆除核武設施。

There was massive flooding in Indonesia.

同時，印尼在經歷洪災。

And in Paris, the IPCC released its study confirming man's impact on global warming.

而在巴黎，IPCC(跨政府氣候變化委員會)証實了人類活動對於全球暖化的影響。

The U.S. accounted for 79 percent of total news coverage.

美國的新聞報導佔了全球的百分之七十九。

And when we take out the U.S. and look at the remaining 21 percent,

撇除美國的新聞報導, 我們在餘下的百分之二十一可看到

we see a lot of Iraq -- that's that big green thing there -- and little else.

很大部份——就是這綠色的一大塊和其它綠色小塊, 都是伊拉克的新聞報導。

The combined coverage of Russia, China and India, for example, reached just one percent.

而這是俄國，中國和印度的綜合新聞報導，加起來只佔了百分之一。

When we analyzed all the news stories and removed just one story,

除了一則新聞以外，如果我們分析所有新聞，

here's how the world looked.

世界看起來就是這樣的。

What was that story? The death of Anna Nicole Smith.

而那一則新聞是什麼呢? 是女星安娜‧妮可‧史密斯(Anna Nicole Smith)的死亡

This story eclipsed every country except Iraq,

這則新聞使得除了伊拉克以外的所有國家相形失色。

and received 10 times the coverage of the IPCC report.

而有關她的新聞報導比IPCC的報導多上十倍。

And the cycle continues;

這樣的情形不只一例；

as we all know, Britney has loomed pretty large lately.

大家都會知道，小甜甜布蘭妮最近成了大紅人。

So, why don't we hear more about the world?

那為什麼我們所得知的全球新聞如此有限呢?

One reason is that news networks have reduced the number of their foreign bureaus by half.

其中一個原因是新聞網已把他們駐外辦公室的人力減半

Aside from one-person ABC mini-bureaus in Nairobi, New Delhi and Mumbai,

ABC新聞網在奈洛比，新德里和孟買只由一個一人辦公室負責。

there are no network news bureaus in all of Africa, India or South America

在非洲，印度和南美洲則連一個辦公室都沒有。

-- places that are home to more than two billion people.

這些地方的人口加起來超過二十億。

The reality is that covering Britney is cheaper.

事實上，這也是因為報導布蘭妮的花費較低。

And this lack of global coverage is all the more disturbing

當你發現人們以什麼途徑

when we see where people go for news.

來取得這些不足的全球性新聞，情況會變得更加惱人。

Local TV news looms large,

本地電視台的新聞報導都佔大部分,

and unfortunately only dedicates 12 percent of its coverage to international news.

不幸的是,在它們的新聞報導當中,只有百分之十二是國際新聞。

And what about the web?

那在網路上又怎樣呢?

The most popular news sites don't do much better.

就連最熱門的新聞網站也好不到哪裡去。

Last year, Pew and the Colombia J-School analyzed the 14,000 stories

去年，皮尤中心以及哥倫比亞新聞學院分析了一萬四千則新聞

that appeared on Google News' front page.

這些新聞都曾經出現在GOOGLE新聞首頁。

And they, in fact, covered the same 24 news events.

事實上，這些報導來來去去都只是圍繞著24個新聞項目。

Similarly, a study in e-content showed that much of global news from U.S. news creators

而一個有關網路新聞的研究指出，大部分美國媒體報導的國際新聞

is recycled stories from the AP wire services and Reuters,

都在重覆美聯社和路透社的報導，

and don't put things into a context that people can understand their connection to it.

但他們所用的手法令人察覺不到。

So, if you put it all together, this could help explain why today's college graduates,

若你聯繫這幾點, 就可以解釋為何這一代的大學畢業生

as well as less educated Americans,

和教育程度較低的美國人

know less about the world than their counterparts did 20 years ago.

對國際事務的了解，比二十年前的人們還要少。

And if you think it's simply because we are not interested,

如果你認為，這純粹是因為他們不熱衷國際事務，

you would be wrong.

你就錯了。

In recent years, Americans who say they closely follow global news most of the time

近幾年，聲稱自己時常留意國際新聞的美國人

grew to over 50 percent.

增加了超過百分之五十。

The real question: is this distorted worldview what we want for Americans

我們面對的真正問題是：在這漸趨緊密的地球村裡,

in our increasingly interconnected world?

我們會希望美國人眼中都是這種被扭曲了的世界觀嗎?

I know we can do better.

我知道我們可以做得更好，謝謝。

And can we afford not to? Thank you.

我知道我們可以做得更好，謝謝。