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Hello. I'm Craig, and this is Crash Course Government and Politics,
你好。我是克雷格，这里是政府与政治速成班，
and today, we're going to talk about one of my favorite subjects: the media and its role in politics.
今天，我们来谈谈我最喜欢的话题之一:媒体及其在政治中的作用。
At last, we're finally going to hear a fair and balanced account of how the lamestream media is distorting the American public's understanding of current affairs!
最后，我们终于要听到一个公平和平衡的叙述，关于lamestream媒体是如何扭曲美国公众对时事的理解！
Yeah, sure, except for the segment of the American public that gets all of their information from right wing media sources.
是的，当然，除了那些从右翼媒体获得所有信息的美国公众。
Ok, so the media can be a thorny issue,
所以媒体是个棘手的问题，
but, we are talking about politics here, and technically we are a part of the media, so we should probably say something about it.
但是，我们在这里谈论的是政治，从技术上讲，我们是媒体的一部分，所以我们可能应该对此发表一些看法。
Other than how awesome we are at it.
除了我们在这方面有多棒。
I am the media! Ha ha ha ha ha!
我就是媒体!哈哈哈哈哈!
So, in terms of politics, the main function of the media is to provide information so people can make decisions and get involved in politics.
所以，在政治方面，媒体的主要功能是提供信息，让人们可以做出决定，参与政治。
Ha ha ha ha! Sorry.
哈哈哈!对不起。
For the economically inclined, the media lowers information costs.
对于更看重经济的人来说，媒体降低了信息成本。
Rather than going out and researching what we might want to know, which takes time and effort, various media outlets tell us stuff that they think we will find useful.
不同的媒体告诉我们他们认为我们会发现有用的东西，而不是出去研究我们可能想知道的东西，这需要时间和精力。
We probably have a sense of what we mean by media, but it's a good idea to break it down into types,
我们可能对媒体有个概念，但把它分成不同的类型是个好主意，
because each of the forms of media work slightly differently, and the role of the different types has changed a lot over the years.
因为每一种媒体形式的工作方式都略有不同，而且不同类型的媒体在过去几年里所扮演的角色也发生了很大的变化。
There's a lot more beards, for instance.
比如说，有很多大胡子。
The oldest form of media, at least, that we are going to talk about today, is print, which means newspapers and magazines.
我们今天要讨论的最古老的媒体形式是印刷，也就是报纸和杂志。
Print is no longer the main source of information for Americans, but it sure used to be.
印刷不再是当今美国人的主要信息来源，但它肯定曾经是。
Especially in the days when some large cities had papers that would put out a morning and afternoon edition.
尤其是在一些大城市的报纸会在早上和下午出版的时候。
But just because fewer people are reading print media doesn't mean that they aren't very important.
但是仅仅因为很少人阅读纸质媒体并不意味着它们不重要。
For one thing, most of the other news media organizations rely on print for their news.
首先，大多数其他新闻媒体机构的新闻依赖于印刷。
Newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post still break most major news stories and provide a lot of information for television and Internet news.
像《纽约时报》和《华盛顿邮报》这样的报纸仍然会报道大多数重大新闻，并为电视和网络新闻提供大量信息。
Print media also tend to offer more detail and comprehensive news stories, although this is changing quickly.
印刷媒体也倾向于提供更详细、更全面的新闻报道，尽管这种情况正在迅速改变。
One aspect of print media that is often overlooked is that it's still the main source of news for educated elites, and these are the people whose opinions tend to matter a lot in making policy.
印刷媒体经常被忽视的一个方面是，它仍然是受过教育的精英的主要新闻来源，而这些人的观点往往在制定政策时很重要。
If you're skeptical about this, watch a morning news program
如果你对此持怀疑态度，可以看看早间新闻节目，
or check out an article on a news aggregator website and see how often the program article references the Times or the Post.
或者在新闻聚合网站上查看一篇文章，看看这篇文章引用《纽约时报》或《华盛顿邮报》的频率。
You might be surprised.
你可能会感到惊讶。
The second oldest, and in some ways still most important source of political information comes from broadcast media.
第二古老的，在某些方面仍然是最重要的政治信息来源来自广播媒体。
As a Youtuber, I hate to say this, but television still reaches more Americans than any other form of media, and remains an important source of political information.
作为一名youtube用户，我不想这么说，但电视仍然比任何其他形式的媒体接触到更多的美国人，并且仍然是政治信息的重要来源。
Radio is less important at reaching a diverse mass audience, although talk radio, especially conservative talk radio, matters a lot in the political media landscape.
尽管谈话类电台，尤其是保守派谈话类电台，在政治媒体领域举足轻重，但在吸引多样化的大众听众方面，广播并不那么重要。
But despite it's massive reach, broadcast media has a significant drawback in shaping public opinion:
但是，尽管广播媒体的影响范围很广，但它在塑造公众舆论方面存在一个重大缺陷:
television stories are very short, usually less than two minutes long, and therefore less informative.
电视故事很短，通常不到两分钟长，因此信息量较少。
A third major media force in politics is, what's that called?
政治中的第三大媒体力量是什么?
The Internet!
互联网！
You probably already know that, though, since you're watching this video.
你可能已经知道了，因为你正在看这个视频。
It's a little bit tricky to write about how the Internet affects politics because it's changing so rapidly.
写网络如何影响政治有点棘手，因为它变化太快了。
But there are a few things we can say.
但有几件事我们可以说。
As a news source, the primary advantage of the Internet is that it can update so quickly.
作为一个新闻来源，互联网的主要优势是它可以更新得如此之快。
This is great for breaking news,
这对于突发新闻来说非常棒，
although there's an argument that it pushes news organizations towards creating more stories and hot takes (also my nickname in high school), rather than deep reporting.
尽管有一种观点认为，它促使新闻机构创造更多的故事和热点镜头(这也是我在高中时的昵称)，而不是深度报道。
In the early days of the web, Internet news was mostly just online versions of print newspapers, but that landscape has shifted, a lot.
在网络的早期，网络新闻主要是纸质报纸的在线版本，但这种情况已经发生了很大的变化。
First came blogs about politics, and then sites dedicated to politics.
首先是关于政治的博客，然后是专门有关政治的网站。
Which, this being America, tended to polarize into right wing and left wing sites.
这就是美国，倾向于分化成右翼和左翼。
The growth of social media provided new avenues for politicians, campaigns, and parties to get their information to the masses, and now every candidate has at least one Twitter profile and Facebook page.
社交媒体的发展为政治家、竞选团队和政党提供了向大众传播信息的新途径，现在每个候选人都至少有一个Twitter个人资料和Facebook页面。
And they've probably got a Snapchat and a Tumblr, and a, uh, maybe a Tinder, and staff dedicated to maintaining a social media presence.
他们可能有Snapchat和Tumblr，还有Tinder，还有致力于保持社交媒体影响力的员工。
This can be great for lots of information about a candidate or their policies, but it's hardly unbiased news,
对于候选人或他们的政策的大量信息来说，这可能是件好事，但这并不是没有偏见的新闻，
so if this is your only source of information, you're probably aren't going to get the full story.
所以如果这是你唯一的信息来源，你可能不会得到全部的信息。
For a sense of how the media landscape has changed over the past two decades, check out this chart.
想要了解过去二十年媒体格局的变化，请看这张图表。
That's right, we got charts here.
没错，我们这里有图表。
Cause we are video media.
因为我们是视频媒体。
The surprising thing to me about this data is not that so many more people are getting their news from online sources,
让我惊讶的是，这些数据并不是说越来越多的人从网上获取新闻，
but that such a high percentage still relies on television news, especially if you combine local, national, and cable news programs.
但如此高的比例仍然依赖于电视新闻，尤其是如果你把地方、国家和有线电视新闻节目结合起来。
I, sometimes I forget I have a TV.
我，有时候我忘了我有电视。
I guess you can chalk it up to information costs.
我想你可以把它记在信息成本上。
Without any research on your part, watching a nightly news program will keep you decently informed,
不需要你做任何研究，看晚间新闻节目就能让你获得体面的信息，
and it only takes twenty-two minutes of your time, without the commercials.
而且它只花了你22分钟的时间，没有广告。
So just sit there and let the TV do the thinking for ya.
所以就坐在那儿，让电视替你思考吧。
I should probably talk about those commercials a little bit.
我应该稍微谈谈那些广告。
One of the really great things about the Internet is that it opens up the possibility of a lot more non-commercially supported information becoming available.
互联网真正伟大的地方之一是，它为更多非商业支持的信息提供了可能。
There's no commercials on the Internet...none.
互联网上没有广告……没有。
A serious complaint about broadcast and print journalism is that,
对广播和印刷新闻的一个严重抱怨是，
because they are primarily financed by advertising, news organizations have an incentive not to report on stories that are critical of their parent organizations of advertisers.
由于新闻机构的主要资金来源是广告，因此它们有动机不去报道那些批评其广告主母公司的报道。
This doesn't stop us from getting negative reports about News Corp or the Washington Post group, but they're unlikely to report on themselves.
这并不能阻止我们收到有关新闻集团或《华盛顿邮报》集团的负面报道，但它们不太可能报道自己。
So this question of how much we can trust the news comes down largely to issues of bias, because it's pretty rare that news organizations lie outright.
因此，我们能在多大程度上信任新闻，很大程度上取决于偏见，因为新闻机构很少会完全说谎。
Without the public trust, readers and viewers will just go somewhere else.
没有公众的信任，读者和观众就会离开。
This doesn't mean that newspapers, and to a much lesser extent, television companies, are without bias, though.
不过，这并不意味着报纸、电视公司(在较小程度上)没有偏见。
The New York Times and Washington Post do tend to be more liberal than conservative,
不过，这并不意味着报纸、电视公司(在较小程度上)没有偏见。
but overall they're probably balanced out by the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and talk radio, which tend to be conservative.
但总的来说，他们可能被华尔街日报、福克斯新闻和谈话电台所抵消，这些媒体往往比较保守。
Putting political bias aside, the most persistent bias in the news seems to be towards conflict and scandal!
撇开政治偏见不谈，新闻中最持久的偏见似乎是对冲突和丑闻的偏见!
And these are not really liberal or conservative issues.
这些并不是真正的自由或保守的问题。
If anything, the news media is most biased towards conflict, which may explain why you don't see a lot of stories about compromise.
如果有的话，新闻媒体最偏向于冲突，这也许可以解释为什么你没有看到很多关于妥协的报道。
Two politicians smiled and shook hands today, and then walked away, happy.
两位政客今天微笑着握手，然后愉快地离开了。
That doesn't sound interesting.
听起来没什么意思。
Let's look at the three main factors that effect news coverage in the Thought Bubble.
让我们来看看在思想泡泡中影响新闻报道的三个主要因素。
The first factor influencing the news is the journalists who make it.
影响新闻的第一个因素是新闻记者。
The journalists are even more important than their bosses, the publishers, because they have the discretion to report and interpret the news.
记者甚至比他们的老板出版商更重要，因为他们有报道和解释新闻的自由裁量权。
If you think the news is just the facts, then it's useful to remember that the New York Times slogan used to be: all the news that's fit to print.
如果你认为新闻就是事实，那么记住《纽约时报》的口号曾经是:所有适合印刷的新闻。
Do reporters have a bias towards one political ideology or the other? Probably.
记者对政治意识形态有偏见吗?可能有。
More journalists identify as liberal and as Democrats than say they are conservative or Republican.
更多的记者认为自己是自由派和民主党人，而不是保守派或共和党人。
The next factor to consider is the source of political news: the politicians themselves.
下一个要考虑的因素是政治新闻的来源:政客们自己。
Politicians do a lot of things to create a positive media image for themselves, and this goes beyond shaking hands and kissing babies.
政客们做了很多事情来为自己创造一个积极的媒体形象，不仅仅是握手和亲吻婴儿。
They show up at important events, like opening day of the baseball season, or a natural disaster, and make the most of these photo opportunities.
他们出现在重要的活动中，比如棒球赛季的开幕日，或者自然灾害，并充分利用这些拍照的机会。
They also cultivate relationships with reporters, because if a journalist likes you, they might be more likely to write something nice about you.
他们也培养与记者的关系，因为如果一个记者喜欢你，他们可能更有可能写一些关于你的好东西。
Or at least something less mean.
或者至少不那么刻薄。
One of the best ways to cultivate a good relationship with a journalist is by leaking information to them.
与记者建立良好关系的最好方法之一就是向他们泄露信息。
A leak is a disclosure of confidential information to a journalist,
泄密是向记者泄露机密信息，
and politicians can use them to cement relationships with news organizations,
政客们可以用它们来巩固与新闻机构的关系，
and to make sure that a story is reported the way that they want it reported.
确保报道的方式符合其要求。
Reporters have a hard time refusing a scoop,
记者们很难拒绝独家报道，
so if a politician gives inside information, they can usually influence the way the reporter will tell the story.
因此，如果政客提供内幕消息，他们通常可以影响记者讲述故事的方式。
Thanks, Thought Bubble.
谢谢，思想泡泡。
Even more important then leaks are press releases.
比泄密更重要的是新闻稿。
These are stories written by politicians, or more likely their staff, that are released to the press.
这些故事是政客们写的，或者更有可能是他们的工作人员写的，然后发布给媒体。
Politicians hope that stories will be reported with minimal revisions,
政客们希望报道的故事能有最小的修改，
and they often are, especially since there's so much pressure for news organizations to put out content as quickly as possible.
他们经常这样做，尤其是因为新闻机构面临着巨大的压力，必须尽快发布内容。
News organizations like them a lot, because they lower the cost of producing information.
新闻机构很喜欢它们，因为它们降低了制作信息的成本。
But advocates of responsible journalism worry a lot about them because, coming directly from politicians, they're certain to be biased.
但是，负责任的新闻倡导者们对他们非常担心，因为他们直接来自政客，肯定会有偏见。
And when they're reported as straight news, they can be misleading.
当它们被报道为直接新闻时，它们可能具有误导性。
The third factor influencing the media is us, the consumers of news.
第三个影响媒体的因素是我们，新闻的消费者。
Why do we matter if news is just a matter of reporting what happens?
如果新闻只是报道所发生的事情，那我们又何必在意呢?
We matter because producers of news want us to read and watch it, so they make news that we will want to read and watch.
我们之所以重要，是因为新闻制作人想让我们读和看，所以他们制作的新闻，我们会想读和看。
In practice, this means that the news will be tailored to the groups of people most likely to consume it.
实际上，这意味着新闻将针对最有可能消费它的人群进行定制。
And those people are not always a good cross-section of Americans as a whole.
这些人并不是所有美国人的典型代表。
People who watch and read the news tend to be better educated and wealthier than those who don't, and media producers respond to this.
看新闻和阅读新闻的人往往比不看新闻的人受教育程度更高、更富有，媒体制作人对此做出了回应。
What this means in practice is that certain segments of the population, and their concerns, are under-reported.
这在实践中意味着，某些人群及其关注的问题没有得到充分报道。
Among the large groups that don't get media attention that is proportional to their size are the working class, especially union workers, religious groups, veterans, and various minority groups.
在那些没有得到与其规模成正比的媒体关注的大型群体中，有工人阶级，尤其是工会工人、宗教团体、退伍军人和各种少数群体。
So the media plays an important role in American politics as the filter through which politicians can make information available to the public.
因此，媒体在美国政治中扮演着重要的角色，作为政治家向公众提供信息的过滤器。
The media, as the name suggests, mediates this information and shapes it in powerful ways.
正如它的名字所暗示的那样，媒体以强有力的方式对信息进行中介和塑造。
In the sense that it doesn't actually create or change the structures of government, you could argue that the media isn't all that important to the American political system.
从某种意义上说，它实际上并没有创造或改变政府的结构，你可以说媒体对美国的政治体系并不那么重要。
But if you believe that information is key to understanding why and how American politicians act, then we start to see media in a new light.
但如果你相信信息是理解美国政客为何以及如何行事的关键，那么我们就开始从新的角度看待媒体。
In many ways the most important thing about media is what it doesn't cover.
在很多方面，媒体最重要的是它没有涵盖的内容。
It's really hard for voters and other citizens to formulate opinions and try to influence their elected representatives if they don't even know something is an issue.
对于选民和其他公民来说，如果他们甚至不知道什么是问题，他们就很难形成自己的观点，并试图影响他们选出的代表。
Even in the twenty-first century, when there are so many more sources of information to choose from, there are still stories we don't get to hear.
即使在21世纪，当有这么多的信息来源可供选择，仍然有很多故事我们没有听到。
The first step to hearing them is probably a better understanding of the media and its importance as a political institution.
听取这些意见的第一步可能是更好地了解媒体及其作为一个政治机构的重要性。
Thanks for watching, see you next time.
谢谢收看，下次再见。
Crash Course is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios.
速成班是与PBS数字工作室联合制作的。
Support for Crash Course US Government comes from Voqal.
对美国政府速成班的支持来自Voqal。
Voqal supports nonprofits that use technology and media to advance social equity.
Voqal支持使用技术和媒体促进社会公平的非营利组织。
Learn more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org.
更多关于他们的使命和倡议，请访问voqal.org。
Crash Course is made with the help of all of these unbiased journalists.
速成班是在所有这些公正的记者的帮助下完成的。
Thank you. Except for that guy.
谢谢你们！除了那个家伙。
He's pretty biased.
他很有偏见。
That one's not even a journalist.
那个人甚至不是记者。
I don't even know who that is.
我甚至不知道那是谁。
