In any case, the news show could only give the scientist twenty seconds of air time because time is an important commodity. Newspapers and magazines sell space, which is not without its limitations for a commercial enterprise. But space can be expanded. Television sells time, and time cannot be expanded. This means that whatever else is neglected, commercials cannot be, which leads to another possible answer to the question "What is news?" News, we might say, may be history in its first and best form, or the stuff of literature, or a record of the condition of a society, or the expression of things, but in its worst form it can also be mainly a "filler," a "come-on" to keep the viewer's attention until the commercials come. Certain producers have learned that by pandering to the audience, by eschewing solid news and replacing it with leering sensationalism, they can subvert the news by presenting a "television commercial show" that is interrupted by news.
不論如何，電視新聞只會(huì)給科學(xué)家二十秒的鏡頭，因?yàn)闀r(shí)間實(shí)在是太寶貴了。如果說報(bào)紙和雜志賣的是版面（即便這樣，廣告也會(huì)占據(jù)版面），那么電視賣的就是時(shí)間，而且時(shí)間沒辦法擴(kuò)展。這意味著不管不播出什么，廣告也是一定要播放的。這也給“新聞是什么？”提供了另一種可能的答案。我們可以說，新聞是最早且形式最好的歷史，或者說它是文學(xué)的原材料，或者說它是社會(huì)狀態(tài)的記載，或是其他某些事物的表現(xiàn)，但是它最壞的形式也可以主要是在商品廣告開始以前竭力留住觀眾注意力的一種填充物和引誘手段。一些制作人也學(xué)會(huì)了迎合觀眾，回避重要新聞，播放一些嘩眾取寵的故事。用這種方法，他們把新聞與廣告本末倒置，讓新聞變成廣告中的插播節(jié)目。
All of which leads us to reiterate, first, that there are no simple answers to the question "What is news?" and, second, that it is not our purpose to tell you what you ought to believe about the question. The purpose of this chapter is to arouse your interest in thinking about the question. Your answers are to be found by knowing what you feel is significant and how your sense of the significant conforms with or departs from that of others, including broadcasters, their bosses, and their audiences. Answers are to be found in your ideas about the purpose of public communication, and in your judgment of the kind of society you live in and wish to live in. We cannot provide answers to these questions. But you also need to know something about the problems, limitations, traditions, motivations, and, yes, even the delusions of the television news industry. That's where we can help you to know how to watch a television news show.
我們再重申一遍，首先，關(guān)于“新聞是什么？”這個(gè)問題并沒有簡單的答案；其次，我們的目的也不是告訴讀者關(guān)于這個(gè)問題，你應(yīng)該知道什么。本章節(jié)的目的，是引發(fā)你對這個(gè)問題的思考。當(dāng)你明白對于自己來說什么是重要的，以及你的感覺可能與其他人相同或相反時(shí)，自然就知道問題的答案了。當(dāng)你明白大眾傳媒的目標(biāo)，知道社會(huì)的樣子，以及自己理想社會(huì)的樣子時(shí)，自然也就知道答案了。但你同樣需要知道電視新聞業(yè)存在的問題、缺陷、傳統(tǒng)、動(dòng)機(jī)甚至是錯(cuò)覺。這才是我們所能幫助你的地方，讓你懂得如何收看電視新聞。
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