【精英翻譯】的部落格

Newspapers in New York, Like Their Readers, Are Vanishing 紐約的報紙和讀者一樣，正在消失

精英翻譯社轉自:https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/330084/web/

文／Andy Newman 譯／莊蕙嘉

Kenny Hospot is in some ways a typical reader of The Daily News. He’s a construction worker from Queens who’s lived in the city most of his life. He always liked reading the comics and the horoscope in The News.

就某些方面而言，肯尼．霍斯帕堪稱每日新聞報的典型讀者。他是紐約市皇后區的一個建築工人，這一生大多數時間都住在這個城市。他一向愛看該報的漫畫和星座運勢。

How long since he last bought a copy of the paper? Hospot laughed. “I would say like 15 years.”

他上一次買這份報紙是多久之前？霍斯帕笑了，「我看大概有15年了吧。」

Kamel Brown is another archetypal customer for New York’s Hometown Newspaper, as The Daily News styles itself. He’s a maintenance worker for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He’s 55 years old. He grew up buying the paper for his grandmother in Brooklyn. “When she was finished reading it, I’d pick it up, flip back and start with the sports,” Brown said.

對於自我定位為紐約家鄉報紙的每日新聞報，凱默．布朗是另一種典型讀者。他是都市交通局的維修工人，55歲。他在布魯克林區的成長過程中，常幫祖母買這份報紙。布朗說：「她看完後，我會拿過來，翻回去，從運動版開始看。」

He doesn’t remember the last time he bought it. When he paged through a copy at a friend’s home this past week, he was unimpressed.

他不記得上次買這份報紙是何時。過去這一周的某日他在友人家翻閱一分報紙時，很無感。

Tristan Dominguez, on the other hand, is still a big Daily News fan. “It’s the only place you see anything local,” Dominguez said at a bodega in Washington Heights, where a stack of papers sat behind the counter.

另一方面，崔斯坦．多明奎茲仍是新聞報的大粉絲。「這是你唯一能看到在地新聞的地方。」多明奎茲在華盛頓高地的一家雜貨店內說，櫃檯後方有一大疊報紙。

He reads the paper mostly online and through Twitter.

他大多數是上網或透過推特看這份報紙。

All of this helps explain why there was an air of inevitability about the news Monday that the organization was laying off half its editorial staff.

這些例子亦可說明，當這家報社決定資遣編輯部一半員工的消息周一（7月23日）傳出時，為何外界會覺得此事似難避免。

Once upon a time, The Daily News sold more than 2 million papers a day. Now its circulation is only about a tenth of that, and the paper’s non-hometown owner, the Chicago-based media company Tronc, which bought the paper in 2017, does not have the patience for non-profitability that the prior owner, Mort Zuckerman, did.

每日新聞報曾經一天賣出200萬分以上，現在發行量大約只剩十分之一。這家報社的非在地老闆、芝加哥的媒體公司Tronc，2017年買下每日新聞報，對於它未能獲利，並沒有前任老闆莫特．札克曼那般的耐性。

At a cultural moment when the very idea of New York City as a hometown is quickly dissolving, and when most people get their news from some sort of glowing screen, the thirst for local ink is not what it used to be.

在當下這個文化時刻，將紐約市當作家鄉的想法正在快速瓦解，而且大多數人是從某種閃爍的螢幕獲得新聞，對於在地新聞文字報導的渴求已不如以往。

And those who do crave hard-hitting coverage that holds officials accountable for the state of the city were not pleased to hear about the layoffs.

對於那些渴望看到逼官員為城市現況負起責任的強烈抨擊報導的人，聽到前述資遣消息並非樂事。

“You need those old-school people because they know what they’re doing,” Rosanne Nunziata, a manager at the New Apollo Diner in downtown Brooklyn, said of The Daily News’ staff of veteran shoe-leather reporters, many of whom are now pounding the pavement in search of employment. “They know how to sneak in and get their stories, and know how to get witnesses to talk and do their thing.”

布魯克林鬧區「新阿波羅餐館」經理羅珊娜．努齊亞塔說：「你需要這些老派人士，因為他們知道自己在做什麼。」她指的是新聞報本分且資深的記者，這些人中有不少正在路上奔走著找工作。「他們知道如何潛入並取得新聞，也知道如何讓目擊者開口，做好他們的工作。」

The New York Post, The Daily News’ longtime rival for tabloid dominance, has seen its circulation plummet, too. Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns The Post, has long tolerated the paper’s unprofitability, but there may come a time when his successors have far less stomach for red ink.

每日新聞報的長期對手，爭奪八卦小報霸主地位的紐約郵報，發行量也持續大跌。擁有紐約郵報的新聞集團老闆魯柏．梅鐸，長期容忍這家報紙未能獲利。但是也許有一天，他的接班人對赤字的容忍度會小得多。