紐時賞析／新媒體招募說英語的記者 「駐外記者的時代過去了」

‘The Era of the Foreign Correspondent Is Over’

「駐外記者的時代過去了」

It will be named for a word that is the same in dozens of languages. It will recruit

English-speaking journalists from countries like India and Singapore to cover

the news. And according to its cofounder, “The era of the foreign

correspondent is over.”

它將以在數十種語言中寫法相同的一個字命名。它將在印度和新加坡這類國家招募說英語的記者來報導新聞。而且共同創辦人說：「駐外記者的時代過去了。」

These are among the ideas in store for the new media venture led by Justin

Smith, the former chief executive of Bloomberg Media, and Ben Smith, the

former editor of BuzzFeed and media columnist for The New York Times,

according to remarks by Justin Smith during an online seminar.

這些都是一家新媒體公司準備實現的點子，這家公司的主導者是彭博媒體前執行長賈斯汀．史密斯和BuzzFeed前總編輯、現任紐約時報媒體專欄作家班恩．史密斯。這是賈斯汀在一場線上研討會透露的。

The Smiths, who are not related, have been tight-lipped about plans for

their new company, which has captured the fascination of the media industry

because of its high-profile founders and their ambitious pledge to compete

with international outlets like Reuters, The Associated Press and The Times.

兩位史密斯並無親戚關係，都對他們新公司計畫守口如瓶。這家新公司已因創辦人享有高知名度，和他們雄心勃勃承諾與路透、美聯社和英國泰晤士報等國際媒體一較高下，讓媒體業著迷。

The Smiths are seeking tens of millions of dollars in funding from prominent

investors. They announced the hiring of Gina Chua, a top editor at Reuters

who will serve as executive editor.

兩位史密斯正在向知名投資人尋求數千萬美元資金。他們宣布聘請路透頂尖編輯蔡翔祁擔任總編輯。

Justin Smith offered some new details during an hourlong Zoom interview

sponsored by the Harvard Business School Club of New York.

賈斯汀在紐約哈佛商學院俱樂部贊助的一場一小時Zoom訪談中，透露了一些新細節。

“We’ve chosen a brand that we’re going to be unveiling in a couple of months

that is the same word in 25 or 35 different languages,” Smith told the

moderator. “It is very intentionally going to be able to live in Asia or

Europe or the Middle East or America.”

史密斯告訴主持人：「我們選好品牌名稱，會在兩三個月內公布，那個字在25到35種不同語言中寫法都一樣。這個品牌刻意要在亞洲、歐洲、中東和美國生存。」

Smith did not reveal the name that he had selected. English words that are

the same or similar in many other languages include taxi, tea, coffee, chai,

sugar, pajama, radio and soup.

史密斯並沒公布他選擇的品牌名。英文字在許多其他種語文中拼法相同或類似的，包括計程車、茶、咖啡、印度奶茶、糖、束腰寬鬆褲、收音機和湯。

Smith also shared his thoughts about what he called the end of an era where

news outlets based in London, New York or Washington dispatched journalists

to foreign countries to report on the goings-on there. He asked why foreign

readers would not prefer a homegrown English-speaking native to report the

news in their region.

史密斯還談到，他聲稱總部在倫敦、紐約或華府的新聞媒體派遣記者到外國報導當地動態的時代，已經結束。他問道，為什麼外國讀者不會比較喜歡土生土長的說英語當地人，來報導他們區域的新聞。

“The idea that you send some well-educated young graduate from the Ivy

League to Mumbai to tell us about what’s going on in Mumbai in 2022 is

sort of insane,” Smith said.

史密斯說：「2022年還派出一些教育程度高的常春藤名校年輕畢業生到孟買，來告訴我們孟買發生什麼事，有點瘋狂。」

Instead, he said he would pursue “very educated, English-language-educated

journalists all around the world,” describing an opportunity “for scaling

local and regional newsrooms at a lower cost.”

反之，他說他想招募「世界各地教育程度非常高、接受英語教育的記者」，並說這是一個機會，「能以低成本經營當地和區域編輯部」。

文／Michael M. Grynbaum 譯／李京倫