美國的惡搞新聞文化

有這么一家美國“假新聞”媒體，寫得一流諷刺好文，得過全美文化大獎。他們是如何將假新聞做得風(fēng)生水起的?讓我們一起來揭秘“美國惡搞新聞”背后的文化。

On Aug 29, 1988, the University of Wisconsin-Madison juniors Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson published the first-ever issue of The Onion. The two founders claimed it was the US’ “finest news source”.

1988年8月29日，來自麥迪遜市威斯康辛大學(xué)的兩名大三學(xué)生——蒂姆?凱克和克里斯托弗?杰克遜出版了第一期《洋蔥》報(bào)紙。這兩名創(chuàng)始人宣稱這是全美“最好的新聞來源”。

Twenty-five years later, the news outlet has become one of the most established media presences in the US. But don’t expect accuracy and timeliness from it, because The Onion, which is now a website, only publishes fake news, or news satire. Its aim is to make readers laugh, and perhaps make them see things from a different angle.

25年后，《洋蔥》已成為美國現(xiàn)存的最老牌媒體之一。但不要指望《洋蔥》新聞的精確度與時效性，因?yàn)槿缃竦?ldquo;洋蔥新聞網(wǎng)”只發(fā)布假新聞或惡搞新聞。它旨在帶給讀者歡樂，或許還能為他們提供一個看待事物的新視角。

The Onion’s articles comment on current events, both real and fictional. Using a traditional newspaper layout, it parodies and makes fun of traditional newspapers with stories, editorials, op-ed pieces, and street-talk interviews.

《洋蔥》的文章針砭時事，亦真亦假。它采取傳統(tǒng)報(bào)紙的版面樣式，用新聞報(bào)道、社論、專欄和街頭訪談來惡搞和嘲弄傳統(tǒng)紙媒。

Its humor often depends on presenting mundane, everyday events as newsworthy. Stories with headlines such as “Area man knows all the shortcut keys”, or “Area man too poor to afford movers, too old to get help from his friends” are good examples.

它的幽默取決于從稀松平常事中挖掘新聞價值，一些打出標(biāo)題為《一位熟知所有快捷鍵功能的鄰居》或《鄰居因太窮而雇不起搬家工人，又因太老而得不到朋友的幫助》的新聞報(bào)道便是最佳例子。

“You know somebody like that,” Will Tracy, The Onion’s editor-in-chief, told the NPR in an interview. Their stories are presented “in that sort of news voice which elevates it to a certain level of importance that it doesn’t actually merit.”

《洋蔥》的主編威爾?特雷西在接受美國國家公共電臺采訪時說：“這樣的人就在你身邊”。他們用一種新聞的論調(diào)來呈現(xiàn)自己的報(bào)道，將其抬高到一種“與事實(shí)不符”的重要程度。

But The Onion is most famous for its political reporting. An article in New Republic magazine says The Onion is the US’ “best op-ed page”, because it has “an ability to elegantly locate and dismantle a problem with an economy of words”.

而《洋蔥》最為著名的要數(shù)其政治報(bào)道。《新共和》雜志的一篇文章說，《洋蔥》是全美“最好的專欄版”，因?yàn)樗?ldquo;能夠巧妙地用寥寥數(shù)筆揭示問題所在”。

For example, when George W. Bush became the US president in 2001, The Onion published a satire piece predicting massive debt and a huge boost in military spending. The article fabricated a speech Bush made to the public; its headline said it all: “Bush: ‘Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over’.”

例如，2001年喬治?布什當(dāng)選美國總統(tǒng)時，《洋蔥》發(fā)表了一篇諷刺性文章，預(yù)言政府將負(fù)債累累，且軍費(fèi)開支將大幅度增加。文章編造了一篇布什的公眾演講稿，標(biāo)題則說明了一切：《布什：“我們國家長期和平繁榮的噩夢終于結(jié)束了”》。

While traditional media outlets are cautious when reporting on sensitive topics such as religion and race, Tracy says nothing is off limits for The Onion, “no matter how uncomfortable they may make some readers.”

在報(bào)道宗教、種族等敏感話題時，傳統(tǒng)媒體往往會十分謹(jǐn)慎，而特雷西表示，對于《洋蔥》而言，沒有什么禁忌可言，“不管多么糟糕，總會有人看的。”

But editors at The Onion do tread a fine line, as Tracy explains: “What you have to be really careful about is what the target of the joke is. If the target of the joke is wrong, if you’re targeting the victim or someone who doesn’t deserve our ire, then it doesn’t feel right and it also doesn’t feel funny.”

但《洋蔥》的編輯們卻是如履薄冰，正如特雷西解釋道的：“你要特別注意你的惡搞對象是誰。如果弄錯惡搞對象，如果你瞄準(zhǔn)的是受害者或者一些不應(yīng)遷怒于對方的人，那就不合適也并不好笑了。”

The Onion caused public outrage when earlier this year, it tried to make fun of a 9-year-old Oscar-nominated actress by using highly offensive language. It later apologized.

今年早些時候，《洋蔥》因出言不遜，取笑一位獲奧斯卡提名的9歲童星而招致眾怒。之后《洋蔥》對此事公開致歉。

For those unfamiliar with the concept of fake news stories, their satire and humor can easily be missed. The Onion published a fake poll last year announcing that rural white Americans had a more favorable opinion of Iran’s then-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, than of Barack Obama.

對于那些不熟悉虛假新聞報(bào)道概念的人而言，經(jīng)常錯把《洋蔥》的諷刺和幽默當(dāng)真。去年，《洋蔥》發(fā)表了一項(xiàng)虛假的民意調(diào)查報(bào)道，稱相對于奧巴馬，美國白人農(nóng)民更喜歡時任伊朗總統(tǒng)的默罕默德。

An Iranian state news agency covered this as real news. The news agency immediately became an international laughing stock.

一家伊朗國家新聞機(jī)構(gòu)把該消息當(dāng)做真實(shí)新聞來報(bào)道，頓時成為國際笑柄。