Makingthe headlin es
1 It isn't very often that the media lead w ith the same story everywh ere in the w orld. Such an event w ould have to be of enormou s interna tional signifi cance. But this is exactly w hat occurre d in Septemb er 2001 w ith the terrori st attackon the Tw in Tow ersof the World Trade Centerin New York. It is probabl y not exagger ated to say that from that momentthe w orld w as a differe nt place.
2 But it is not just the histori cal and interna tional dimensi on that made 9/11 memorab le and (to use a w ord the media like) new sw or thy. It w as the shock and horror, too. So strikin g, so sensati onal, w as the new s that, years after the event, many peoplecan still remembe r exactly w here they w ere and w hat they w ere doing w hen they first heard it. They can remembe r their ow n reactio ns: For many peopleacrossthe globe their first instinc t w as to go and tell someone else about it, thus providi ng confirm ationof the old sayingthat bad new s travels fast.
3 A nd so it is w ith all major new s stories. I remembe r w hen I w as at primary schoolthe teacher announc ing pale-faced to a startle d class of seven year olds Preside nt Kennedy is dead. I didn't know w ho P reside nt Kennedy w as, but I w as so upset at hearing the new s that I w ent rushing home afterwa rds to tell my parents (w ho already knew, of course). In fact, this is one of my earlies t memorie s.
4 So w hat exactly is new s? The objecti ve importa nce of an event is obvious ly not enough—there are plentyof enormou s globalissuesout there, w ith dramati c consequ ences, from poverty to globalw arming—but since they are ongoing, they don't all make the just interna tional, but odd, unexpec ted, and (in the sense that it w as possibl e to identif y w ith the plightof peoplecaughtup in the drama) very human.
5 Odd doesn't mean huge. Take the story in today's China Daily about a mouse holding up a flightfrom Vietnam to Japan. The mouse w as spotted running dow n the aisle of a plane in Hanoi airport. It w as eventua lly caughtby a group of 12 technic ians w orried that the mouse could chew through w ires and cause a short circuit. By the time it took off the plane w as more than four hours late.浮油回收机
6 Not an event w ith momento us interna tional consequ ences, you might say, (apart from a few passeng ers arrivin g late for their appoint mentsin another country), but there are echoesof the story acrossthe globe, in onlineedition s of papersfrom Asia to America, via Scotlan d (Mouse chase holds up flight, in the Edinbur gh Evening News).
7 Another element of new sw or thines s is immedia cy. This refersto the nearnes s of the event in t
ime. An event w hich happene d a w eek ago is not general ly new s—unlessyou've just read about it. "When" is one of the five "w h" questio ns trainee journal ists are regular ly told that they have to use to frame a new s story (the othersare "w ho", "w hat", "w here" and "w hy"); "today", "this morning", and "yesterd ay" are probabl y at the top of the list of time adverbs in a new s report.Similar ly, an event w hich is about to happen("today", "this evening" or "tonight") may also be new sw or thy, althoug h, by definit ion, it is not unexpec ted and so less sensati onal.
8 When it comes to immedia cy, those media w hich can present new s in real time, such as TV, radio, and the Interne t, have an enormou s advanta ge over the press. To see an event unfoldi ng in front of your eyes is ratherdiffere nt from reading about it at breakfa st the next morning. But TV new s is not necessa rily more objecti ve or reliabl e than a new spap er report, since the imagesyou are looking at on your screenhave been chosenby
journal ists or editors w ith specifi c objecti ves, or at least followi ng set guideli nes, and they are show n from a uniqueview poi nt. By placing the camerasomew he re else you w ould get a differe nt picture. This is w hy it is usual to talk of the "pow er of the media"—the pow er to influen ce the public, more or less covertl y.
9 But perhaps in the third millenn ium this pow er is being eroded, or at least devolve d to ordinar y people. The prolife ration of persona l blogs, the possibi lity of self-broadca stingthrough sites such as YouTube, and the
grow thof open-accessw eb pages (w ikis) means that anyonew ith anythin g to say—or show—can now reach a w orldwi de audienc e instant ly.
10 This doesn't mean that the press and TV are going to disappe ar overnig ht, of course. But in their
never-endingsearchfor interes ting new s items—odd, unexpec ted, and human—they are going to turn
increas inglyto these sites for their sources, providi ng the globalinforma tion netw ork w ith a curious ly local dimensi on
世界各地的媒体都以头条报道同一新闻的情形并不很常见。这样的事件得具有巨大的国际影响力。但是这正是2001年9月袭击纽约世贸中心双塔之后发生的情形。从那一刻起世界改变了模样，
这样说也许并不夸张。
但是，使9/11值得纪念并（用媒体喜欢的话来说）具有新闻价值的不仅仅是它的历史性和国际性。还有震惊和恐惧。这一消息极度震撼，极具爆炸性。事发多年以后，许多人还能清楚地记得他们第一次听到这一消息时身在何处、当时正在做什么。他们能记得自己的反应：对世界各地的许多人来说，他们的第一本能是去把这一消息告诉别人。这就证实了那句老话：“坏事传千里”。
一切重大新闻都是如此。我记得上小学的时候，老师脸煞白地向一班吃惊的七岁孩子通报说，肯尼迪总统死了。我并不知道肯尼迪总统是谁，但是我听到这一消息后非常不安，后来就跑回家去告诉了父母（当然，他们已经知道了）。事实上，这是我最早的记忆之一。
那么，新闻到底是什么？一个事件光有客观重要性显然还不够——世界上有大量全球性的大问题，都会造成戏剧性的后果，从贫困问题到全球变暖问题——但由于它们都是进行中的，并不都会在同一天成为头条。对比之下，9/11不仅具有国际性，而且奇特怪异、出人意料，还（可能使读者对身陷那场悲剧中的人们的痛苦感同身受，从这个意义上讲）极具人性。
奇特怪异并不意味着重大。就拿今天的《中国日报》上关于一只老鼠延误了一架从越南飞至日本的航班这条消息为例吧。在河内机场有人发现那只老鼠在一架飞机的过道里奔跑。它最终被12名技术人员合力逮住，他们怕它会咬破电线，造成短路。飞机晚点了四个多小时才起飞。
你也许会说，这并不是具有重大国际影响的事件（除了少数乘客到另一国赴约迟到以外）。但是全球却颇有反响，从亚洲经苏格兰到美洲的电子版报纸都有转载（《爱丁堡晚报》的标题是《捉老鼠延误航班》）。 新闻价值的另一个元素是即时性。这是指事件发生的时间近。一周前发生的事件一般来说就不是新闻
经纬360
了——除非你刚刚读到它。“何时”是受训记者常被教导用以勾勒新闻故事的五个“何”问题之一（其余是“何人”、“何事”、“何地”和“何故”）；今天、今晨、昨天很可能在新闻报道所使用的时间副词中名列前茅。同样，即将发生的事件（今天、今晚或今夜）也可能具有新闻价值，虽然，从定义上讲，它不出人意外，也就不那么耸人听闻了。
说到即时性，能够实时播报新闻的媒体，如电视、广播和互联网，就比报纸的优势大多了。眼看着事件在你眼前展开与次日早餐时在报上读到它的感觉大不相同。但是，电视新闻未必比报纸报道更客观或更可靠，因为你在屏幕上看到的图像是经记者或编辑根据特殊的目的，或至少是按照预定指示筛选过的；它们是从一个独特的视点展现给观众的。如果把摄像机移到别的地方，你就会看到另一番景象。这就是为什么人们通常会谈到“媒体霸权”——或多或少地暗中影响公众。 碱性水机
但也许在第三个千年，这种权力正在减弱，或至少下放给普通民众。个人博客的大量出现，通过像YouT ube 这样的网站自我广播的可能性，以及权限开放网页（w iki网）的增长都意味着任何人有任何
干果礼品盒话要说——或有任何东西要展示——现在都能立刻让全世界的观众看到。
当然，这并不意味着报纸和电视即将在一夜之间消失。但是，在它们永不休止的搜寻有趣新闻——奇特怪异、出人意外和极具人性的新闻——的过程中，报纸和电视将越来越多地借助网站来收集资料，为全球信息网络提供极具地方彩的视角。
The death of the newspap er?
1For years it started the day for million s of people: the sound of the new spap er hitting the front door, the
w indowor the neighbo r's dog. With a cup of coffee, maybe some breakfa st, the ritualof reading the new spap er w as the quiet beforethe storm, a momentof pleasur e and peace beforethe w orking day began.
2 But all over the E nglish-speakin g w orld, newspap er editors are facingthe same problem: Circula tion has decline d, as more and more readers turn to the Interne t for their new s. This means that the revenue from adverti sing is also declini ng, and the cover price of the new spap er is rising, so they can make the same amountof money. And of course, a price-sensiti ve product like a new sp
ap er could lose readers, and the vicious circlecontinu es. So w hat does the futurehold? Is it the death of the new spap er?
3 The decline is a long-ter m trend of 20 or more years, predati ng the Interne t. Four-fifthsof America ns once read new spap ers. Today, it seems that few er than half do. Among adults, betw een 1990 and 2000, daily readers hip fell from 52.6 per cent to 37.5 per cent. Among the young, the situati on is even w orse: Only 19 per cent of those betw een the ages of 18 and 3
4 claim to read a daily new spap er. A mere nine per cent trusted the informa tion the new spap er contain s.
4 Adverti sing on the Interne t w orks differe ntly than in print. The adverti ser can monitor minuteby minuteif their ads are w orking, and no longerhas to rely on circula tion figures. The greater numberof outlets w hich the Interne t can offer encoura ges ferocio us competi tion for adverti sing revenue, w hile printin g and product ion costs have risen remorse lessly. As a result,The New York Times Company has dow nsiz ed by 700 jobs among its various papers. The Baltimo re Sun is closing dow n its foreign new s bureaux. In the UK most new spap ers have reduced the new spap er to tabloid size, in a bid to capture younger readers, althoug h because "tabloid" has a connota tion of "dow nmar ket", some of the papersrefer to the new size as "compact".
5 All large circula tion new spap ers have establi shed strongw ebsite s. The Interne t provide s an easy outletfor anyonew ith an opinion, and there's nothing a new spap er editorlikes more for reassur ance about their w ork than feedbac k and opinion s, as diverse as possibl e. Teenage rs today don't remembe r a time w hen they didn't have the Interne t, and reading a new spap er is somethi ng they only do if they have an assignm ent to w rite about the specifi c mediumof print journal is m.
6 It's hard to deny the environ mental impactof new spap ers. Nearlyfour billion trees w orldwi de are cut dow n annuall y for paper, represe ntingabout 35 per cent of all harvest ed trees. It has to be said that many of the trees used for paper come from special estates w here they're planted and replace d on a regular basis. Further more, yesterd ay's new spap er is often recycle d and turnedback into today's. Neverth eless, paper mills are among the worst pollute rs to air, w ater and land of any industr y in the US.
7 But the daily or w eekend new spap er is still a great traditi on for many people. "Sundayw ouldn't be Sundayw ithout the Sundaynew spap ers," is a comment w hich occursregular ly in UK-based surveys. Other opinion s draw attenti on to the conveni ence of the paper over the laptop: "My new spap er's battery never dies," "If I drop my new spap er, it doesn't break," "The flightattenda nt has never told me to put my new spap er aw ay," and, remindi ng us of the traditi onal w rappin g of the U
K's nationa l takeawa y food, "You can sw at flies w ith them, and they can still be used to w rap fish.
8 So maybe the new spap er w on't die w ithout a struggl e. Trendsfor the futureof new spap er include an increas ed demandfor local new s, and the continu ed exploit ationof lifesty le journal ism, w hich began in the late 1980s, especia lly w ithinpersona l finance and travel, w ill createnew revenue streams. Some comment atorsrecomme nd that, instead of dumbing dow n, w hich is the usual w ay of increas ing one's marketshare,硅铁合金
new spap ers shouldsmarten up, that is to say, honourthe princip les of integri ty and imparti alityof their
coverag e. A new spap er w ith editori al positio ns w hich are respect ed by its readers w ill surelyhave more
influen ce and prestig e than the same reports read one by one on the Interne t.
9Moreove r, the small-tow n new spap er w ill alw aysbe meaning ful for the parents w hose child's photo is new s for a few days. And reading the traditi onal Sundaynew spap ers in an armchai r w hile everyon e else takes the day off is going to be a hard habit to break.
10 But is it enough? Or w ill w e one day see the death of the new spap er?
报纸的末日？
多年来，数以百万计的人在报纸击中前门、窗户或邻居的狗的叫声中开始了一天的生活。对着一杯咖啡，也许还有早餐，看报的仪式是风暴之前的平静，是工作日开始之前的愉快安宁。
可是，在所有讲英语的国家，报纸编辑们正面临着同一个问题：发行量下滑了，因为越来越多的读者转向互联网阅读新闻。这意味着同时下滑的广告收入，以及随之上涨的报纸定价，因为只有这样他们才能挣到一样多的钱。当然，像报纸这样价格敏感的产品可能会失去读者；恶性循环会不断加剧。那么将来会怎样？报纸是否走上了末路？
这种下滑是20多年来的长期趋势，在互联网问世之前就已出现。从前，五分之四的美国人看报，而如今似乎只有不到一半。1990至2000年间，成年人每天看报的人数从52.6%下降到37.5%。年轻人中，情况更糟：18至34岁的年轻人只有19％自称每天看报。而仅有9%的人相信报纸上的信息。
互联网广告的运作方式与报纸广告不同。广告商可以逐分逐秒地监视广告是否在起作用，而不再需要依赖报纸的发行量。互联网可提供的更多的窗口使广告收入之战更加激烈，印刷和生产成本却不可遏制地上涨。结果，《纽约时报》公司旗下各种报纸已裁减了700份工作。《巴尔的摩太阳报》即将关闭其驻外新闻机构。在
英国，多数报纸都缩版成为小报开本，意在吸引年轻读者，但是因为“小报”有“低档廉价”之嫌，有些报纸就称新开本为“缩编版”。
所有发行量大的报纸都建立了强大的网站。互联网为任何有意见的人提供了一个便利的窗口；报纸编辑最喜欢的莫过于给他们提供各种不同的反馈和意见，他们能从中得到安慰。如今十几岁的少年已不记得曾经没有互联网的日子了；只有在写关于印刷新闻这一特定媒体的作业时他们才去看报纸。
不可否认报纸对环境的影响。世界上每年有近40亿棵树木被砍伐用来造纸，约占全部木材砍伐量的35%。但必须承认，许多用来造纸的树木是在特别的种植园出产的，它们是定期砍伐和栽种的。而且，旧报纸常被回收利用，变成新的报纸。尽管如此，在美国，造纸厂是对空气、水体和土地污染最严重的行业之一。
但是，对于许多人来说，日报或周报依然是个伟大的传统。“没有周日版报纸的周日就不是周日，”这样的评语常见于在英国所做的调查。其他评语则提到报纸比笔记本电脑更方便之处：“我的报纸永远不会没电，”“假如我的报纸掉到地上，它不会摔破，”“空从来不会叫我把报纸收起来，”此外，还有评语让我们想到英国全国的外卖食品的传统包装方式，“你可以用它们来打苍蝇，还可以用来包鱼。”
如此看来，报纸是不会轻易消失的。未来报纸发展的趋势包括对本地新闻需求的日益增长，而始于20世纪80年代后期的对生活方式新闻的持续开发利用——尤其在个人理财和旅游方面——将会创造新的USB重定向
收入来源。有些评论者建议，报纸不应粗制滥造（尽管这是增加市场份额的通常做法），而应该精工细作。也就是说，尊崇以正直、诚实和不偏不倚的态度从事新闻报道的原则。具有为读者所敬重的办报立场的报纸肯定比互联网上零散阅读的同类报道享有更大的影响力和声望。
此外，小城镇报纸对于为人父母者总是意味深长，因为其子女的照片也许会在上面刊登，几天都是新闻。人人都放假的时候，坐在扶手椅上看传统的周日版报纸，这将是难以打破的习惯。
但是这样是否足够？或者，有朝一日我们一定会看到报纸的消亡？
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