Should He Be Allowed Back?
应该允许他回来吗？
在记者的职业素养中，重要的一条就是探究真相。当由于记者的失误而出现新闻造假现象时，作为民众的我们该何去何从呢？请看文章。--小歌
My Journalist Dream
我的记者梦
当我上大学时，我的理想职业是成为一名记者。20世纪80 年代初第一次到美国进修，我就声明我的专业为“新闻报道”。我很羡慕记者的生活方式——在世界各地旅行，让人们知道发生了什么事。当然，与之相伴的有一些危险。据不完全统计，从1992 年到2015年，全世界范围内有1100多名战地记者丧生。虽然最终我没有成为一名记者，然而，我始终对新闻工作充满热情，它成为我生命的一部分。
Becoming a journalist was a dream career for me when I was in college. As I first arrived in the United States to pursue an education in the early 1980s, I declared my major as “journalism.” I admired reporters’ life style—traveling all over the world and letting people know what had happened. Of course there are risks associated with this line of work. Between 1992 and 2015, more than 1,100 reporters were killed in doing their job reporting in war zones. Recently, one journalist was even beheaded by ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
I took all the writing classes as there were in college and also journalism classes to learn how to write like a real reporter. But, one thing led to another, and I departed from my early career path and ended up doing something else for my professional career. However, journalism work has always been my passion and a part of my life.
My Journalism Icon
我的新闻偶像
我钦佩的有代表性的记者有很多，尤其是他们中的那些战地记者。其中之一是曾获得过普利策奖的美国记者厄尼·派尔。在美国加入第二次世界大战后，他从国内、欧洲和太平洋地区发回报道并由300多种报纸同时转载，被誉为“大兵记者”。他在1945年日本冲绳岛战役中阵亡，年仅45岁。我的另外一个新闻偶像是沃尔特·克朗凯特。当我第一次到美国时，沃尔特·克朗凯特已经加盟哥伦比亚广播公司，担任晚间新闻主播。他在二战期间也做过战地记者。克朗凯特曾获评“美国最值得信任的人”，他于2009年去世。
There are many iconic reporters, especially those war correspondents, whom I adore. One of them was Ernie Pyle, a Pulitzer Prize1-winning American journalist. After the U.S. entered World War II he reported from the home front and both the European and Pacific theatres. He was killed in combat on Iejima2 during the Battle of Okinawa3 in 1945, when he was only 45 years old. At the time of his death his columns were running in over 300 newspapers, and he was among the best-known American war correspondents.
Ernie Pyle was the soldiers’ reporter; he reported from trenches, camps, and battle fields. For Ernie Pyle, he was just one of those combating soldiers, only fighting the war with a pen—“But to the fighting soldier that phase of the war is behind. It was left behind after his first battle. His blood is up. He is fighting for his life, and killing now for him is as much a profession as writing is for me.”
Another of my journalism icon was Walter Cronkite. When I first came to the US, Walter Cronkite was the evening news anchor for CBS4; he looked like a grandpa figure on the TV screen with white hair and a white mustache and spoke in a rich, low tone, and slow rhythm. Each evening, Walter Cronkite would conclude his new broadcast with “that’s the way it is.” Walter Cronkite was also a war correspondent during World War II. He was embedded with different military units and even rode in B-17s on bombing runs over Germany.
On D-Day5 in 1944, Walter Cronkite parachuted with the American 101 Airborne Division at night behind the enemy lines. Because of bad weather and enemy fire, troops were scattered when landed. Walter Cronkite had a hard landing and lost his helmet. He groped in the dark, found a helmet on the ground, put it on his head, and started to craw, not sure where he was and which direction he was headed. After a while, he felt someone tugging at his elbow, “Sir, do you think we are going in the right direction?” Walter Cronkite turned around and saw a group of soldiers following him in the dark. “I don’t know; don’t follow me; I am just a correspondent,” Walter Cronkite replied. “But you have an officer’s helmet on,” the soldiers responded.
If Ernie Pyle was the soldier reporter, Walter Cronkite was simply just a correspondent whose job “is only to hold up the mirror—to tell and show the public what has happened.” Indeed, he was voted the America’s most trusted person in public opinion polls many times. Walter Cronkite died in 2009.
Journalism and broadcast news industry have had considerable changes. The Internet, the social media, and the cable TV have enabled real time news to be brought to the public 24 / 76 as the events are unfolding. However, the work ethnics of fairness and objectiveness in delivering news to the public, set up by such giants as Ernie Pyle and Walter Cronkite, has remained the overarching standard for the journalism profession.
Should He Be Given a Chance?
应该给他一个机会吗？
布莱恩·威廉姆斯是目前美国最受欢迎的新闻主播，他在美国国家广播公司（NBC）主持晚间新闻，至今已11年，每晚平均有940万观众收看他的节目，我也是其中之一。然而，最近却爆出威廉姆斯先生由于新闻造假而误导观众。 在2003年的一则新闻报道中，布莱恩报道他正在伊拉克战场工作时，所乘坐的美军直升机被火箭推进榴弹击中。然而事实却是他乘坐的飞机并没有被击中，而是在1小时之后抵达。除了惊骇，感到背叛，更多人，也包括我在内，对他的这种行为更多的是感到遗憾而不是愤怒，我们不明白他为何要做出这样的事情。而他所属的美国国家广播公司对他做出的惩罚是停职6个月，没有工资。现在的问题是：会再给他一次机会让他重回我们的生活吗？我不想去想这个问题，太受伤了。
One of the rising stars in broadcast news stars is Brian Williams, the NBC7 Nightly News anchor for the past 11 years. Many of our readers may have watched his news programs. But, recently, Mr. Williams was found to have misled his viewers by taking credit that did not belong to him. In a news story in 2003, Brian Williams reported that he was on a mission in Iraq and his helicopter was downed by an enemy RPG8 hit, and then he and other troops stayed with the downed helicopter until rescue came. However, soldiers on the same mission challenged Brian Williams’ story and reported that he was NOT on the helicopter that was shot down but was on another helicopter that happened to fly by about an hour after the incident. Just a few days before the scandal broke out, Brian Williams even joined the soldiers that he “helped to save” for a standing ovation by an audience of tens of thousands at a stadium in New York City.
Brian Williams had been the most popular network anchor in this country and had an average of 9.4 million viewers each night for his Nightly News broadcast, and I must say I was one of those viewers. Many people are appalled and feeling betrayed that the integrity and standard of delivering news stories should be violated by such a highly respected figure in journalism. As a matter of fact, more people, including myself, are sorrier for than angry at him. We don’t know why he wanted to do something like this, probably because of personality, the need for vanity, or simply just messed up memories; but whatever the reasons are (or the lack of them), the consequence has been monumental, and NBC Nightly News have lost more than 700,000 viewers.
NBC suspended Brian Williams for six months without pay (just in case you didn’t know, Brian Williams’ salary was $10 million a year). Now the question is: Should he be given a chance and let back into our lives again? I, at this time, don’t want to think about it—I am too hurt.
1. Pulitzer Prize 一项高规格的颁发给报纸记者、网上新闻工作者的年度奖
2. Iejima 伊江岛，属日本冲绳
3. Okinawa 冲绳岛
4. CBS Columbia Broadcasting System，哥伦比亚广播公司
5. D Day 1944年6月6日，盟军在法国诺曼底登陆，开辟对德国作战第二战场
6. 24 / 7 一周七天，一天24小时
7. NBC National Broadcasting Company，美国国家广播公司，美国三大电视网之一
8. RPG rocket-propelled grenade，火箭推进榴弹
链接：
人物介绍
沃尔特·克朗凯特
沃尔特・克朗凯特（Walter Cronkite），有美国“电视主持人之父”的美誉。在合众通讯社（即后来的合众国际社）职业记者的受训经历，让他掌握了准确报道、精练写作、快速发稿的功底。克朗凯特1950年加入哥伦比亚广播公司，并从1962年起主持《晚间新闻》节目，开始报道并评论美国大大小小的重要事件。在职期间，克朗凯特报道过世界各地发生的重大事件，如肯尼迪刺杀案、越战、冷战、阿波罗登月计划等。克朗凯特的名字、声音和形象与美国现代史上诸多重大新闻密不可分。1972年的一次民意调查中，克朗凯特获评“美国最值得信任的人”。在他和同事的共同努力下，哥伦比亚公司在全美电视新闻收视率中首屈一指的地位保持了长达21年。
2009年7月17日克朗凯特因脑血管疾病在纽约家中病逝，享年92岁。美国总统奥巴马发表声明说，“美国失去了一个象征符号和一位好朋友……克朗凯特的声音能在不稳定的世界中安稳人心，他让美国人民信任他 ，而且从不让人失望。”
Walter Cronkite Quotes
沃尔特·克朗凯特语录
In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story.
唯有了解事情的全部才能发现真相。
Our job is only to hold up the mirror—to tell and show the public what has happened.
我们的工作不过是举起镜子——告诉并让公众看到发生了什么事。
There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free.
没有“一点自由”这种东西，要么完全自由，要么没有自由。
以上内容选自《英语沙龙》（锋尚版）2015年05期
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