Mark TWain once remarked tiiat news is history in its first and best form. The American poet Ezra Pound added an interesting idea to that. He defined literature as news that stays news. Among other things, Pound meant that the stuff of literature originates not in stories about the World Bank or an armistice agreement but in those simple, repeatable tales that reflect the pain, confusion, or exaltations that are constant in human experience, and touch us at the deepest levels. For example, consider the death of Michael Landon. Who was Michael Landon to you, or you to Michael Landon that you should have been told so much about him when he died? Here is a possible answer: Michael Landon was rich, decent, handsome, young, and successful. Suddenly, very nearly without warning, he was struck down at the height of his powers and fame. Why? What are we to make of it? Why him? It is like some Old Testament parable; these questions were raised five thousand years ago and we still raise them today. It is the kind of story that stays news, and that is why it must be given prominence. Or so some people believe.
马克·吐温曾说新闻最为重要的形式是历史。美国诗人埃兹拉·庞德就此补充过一个有趣的观点：文学是一种永恒的新闻。他认为，文学的素材来源不是有关世界银行或者停战协议的报道，而是那些日常生活中简单重复的故事，可恰恰是这些每天都在发生的故事反映了人类的痛苦、迷茫、喜悦，也会给予我们最深的触动。例如，迈克·兰登的死。谁对你，你又对谁来说意味着他？兰登过世之时你又听到了多少关于他的故事作为告诫？一种答案以供思考：迈克·兰登富有、体面、帅气、年轻又成功。突然，几乎没有任何征兆，他就被权利和名声压跨了。为什么会这样？我们该对此做何感想？为什么是他？这就像那些《旧约》中的寓言故事一样；五千年前的先贤就已提出了这些问题，如今我们依然在提。这就是“永恒的”新闻，这也是为什么我们要着重报道这类新闻。至少一部分人是这样认为的。
What about the kind of news that doesn't stay news, that is neither the stuff of history nor literature—the fires, rapes, and murders that are daily featured on local television news? Who has decided that they are important, and why? One cynical answer is that they are there because viewers take comfort in the realization that they have escaped disaster. At least for that day. It doesn't matter who in particular was murdered; the viewer wasn't. We tune in to find out how lucky we are, and go to sleep with the pleasure of knowing that we have survived. A somewhat different answer goes this way: It is the task of the news story to provide a daily accounting of the progress of society. This can be done in many ways, some of them abstract (for example, a report on the state of unemployment), some of them concrete (for example, reports on particular gruesome murders). These reports, especially those of a concrete nature, are the daily facts from which the audience is expected to draw appropriate conclusions about the question "What kind of society am I a member of?"
那关于那些不“永恒”的新闻呢？那些既不是历史也不是文学，每日在电视上报道的火灾、强奸案和谋杀案呢？是谁，出于什么原因把这些归为重要新闻呢？一种愤世嫉俗的答案说，之所以报道这些新闻，是因为观众观看后会产生逃过一劫的幸福感。谁被谋杀了不重要，重要的是观看新闻的人还活着。观众收看此类新闻，明白自己多么幸运，并带着活着的幸福感入睡。还有另一种答案，新闻的目的就是报道社会每天发生的事情。报道的方式多种多样，有些报道很抽象（比如失业率），有些报道很具体（比如一场可怕的谋杀），这些新闻，尤其是那些详细报道的新闻，是观众对于回答“我究竟生活在一个怎样的世界里？”的事实依据。
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