美国国家公共电台 NPR--Under his watch, Kahn says 'Times' will raise conduct standards for journalists

Under his watch, Kahn says 'Times' will raise conduct standards for journalists

Transcript¹

Joe Kahn, the incoming executive editor at The New York Times, is replacing a newspaper legend — while facing challenges to traditional hierarchies² from a younger generation of journalists.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Joe Kahn takes over this month as executive editor of The New York Times. The newspaper is riding high on a new crop of Pulitzer Prizes, acquisitions of the sports site The Athletic³ and Wordle, and record high digital subscriptions⁴. All Kahn has to do is replace a legend and corral an often contentious⁵ newsroom. NPR's David Folkenflik reports.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE⁶: Joe Kahn doesn't flinch⁷ easily.

JOE KAHN: The police sort of swooped⁸ in as I was interviewing somebody.

FOLKENFLIK: Kahn was a young journalist in China in 1989 for The Dallas Morning News during the Tiananmen democracy uprising. And an informant had turned him in.

KAHN: Took me to the local police station, interviewed me for a while, and then I was escorted back to Beijing, where I was sort of interrogated⁹ by the state security and told that I had violated martial¹⁰ law.

FOLKENFLIK: He would later report from China for The Wall Street Journal and The Times and share a Pulitzer Prize. Kahn is a graduate of Harvard who returned to get a master's in Chinese, yet this early education at the hands of Chinese authorities occurred in real time, far from home.

KAHN: I remember feeling pretty unmoored at that moment. I was there by myself. My editors were 8,000 miles away in Dallas, and we didn't have email at that time. We didn't even have fax.

FOLKENFLIK: Today, Kahn's team uses video, audio, social media, gifs, apps, graphs and more to share all the news that's fit to print with one another and with the world. As managing editor, Kahn oversees¹¹ 1,700 journalists, more than any team ever assembled by American newspaper. Colleagues say he's made his mark quietly, stationing editors across the globe, ensuring stories flow online 24/7 and in apps long before they hit the printed page.

KAHN: The days when you can appoint an executive editor and that was the decision-maker and that person kind of sat at the head of a big table and decided¹² which six stories were going to go on Page 1 and kind of slam down the gavel at the end of that and that was sort of the essence of the job are over.

FOLKENFLIK: Kahn sat with me for an hourlong interview recently at the Times's headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. He'll be taking over for Dean Baquet. Baquet is charismatic, gregarious¹³, a legendary¹⁴ investigative editor who's also perfectly¹⁵ happy personifying The Times to the outside world.

KAHN: He does have more of a public-facing role. I haven't had as much of one.

FOLKENFLIK: By contrast, Kahn is measured, contained.

KAHN: By virtue¹⁶ of getting the job, I'll take on some of the responsibilities for representing The Times institutionally and the values of our newsroom.

FOLKENFLIK: A younger generation of journalists and new forms of journalism¹⁷ are testing those values. Reporters now can establish their own brands and identities online, apart from the paper, even as the public often associates what they say with it. While Kahn doesn't identify anyone specifically, people have witnessed such Times reporters as Pulitzer winners Maggie Haberman and Nikole Hannah-Jones brawling¹⁸, at least rhetorically, with their online critics.

KAHN: It had begun to occupy a little bit too much share of mind of some of the people in our newsroom.

FOLKENFLIK: Kahn says the intensity¹⁹ of backlash on Twitter can distort reporter's interactions with the public. So Kahn and Baquet announced a new policy this spring, advising Times staffers to pull back.

KAHN: The value that you will have on Twitter or on social media in general or in the world of journalism is going to be based on the good, quality, in-depth, edited reporting that you do in The New York Times. We're not really in the market for people who just have a giant following on Twitter but can't deliver.

FOLKENFLIK: Kahn and other news executives have also been confronted by matters of race, gender²⁰ and identity at The Times.

KAHN: It just needs to be a place where people from many different backgrounds can feel they have a path.

FOLKENFLIK: Two years ago, as the social justice movement took root in communities around the country, many staffers in The Times's newsroom turned to internal chat groups and publicly visible social media platforms to vent²¹ about the news and the newspaper. Over a series of months, after criticism from colleagues over separate episodes, several Times journalists departed, including The Times's editorial page editor, a podcast producer and a senior COVID reporter. I asked Kahn, in retrospect²², how he felt about the departures. Kahn, once more, wouldn't discuss specifics, but said The Times needed to embrace diversity in viewpoints, background and life experiences full stop.

KAHN: We do not have space or patience for people who aren't fully²³ on board with that program.

FOLKENFLIK: Under his watch, Kahn says, The Times will not lower its journalistic standards, but will instead raise the standards for conduct by its journalists there.

David Folkenflik, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 hierarchies   

等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系

参考例句：

• That's a trip of two hierarchies. 那是两个领导层之间的互访。
• Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long-range plans, and budgets. 等级森严的权力机构，控制范围，长期计划，预算。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

3 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

4 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 flinch   

v.畏缩，退缩

参考例句：

• She won't flinch from speaking her mind.她不会讳言自己的想法。
• We will never flinch from difficulties.我们面对困难决不退缩。

8 swooped   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The aircraft swooped down over the buildings. 飞机俯冲到那些建筑物上方。
• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it. 鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来，并把它杀死。

9 interrogated   

v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询

参考例句：

• He was interrogated by the police for over 12 hours. 他被警察审问了12个多小时。
• Two suspects are now being interrogated in connection with the killing. 与杀人案有关的两名嫌疑犯正在接受审讯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

11 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 gregarious   

adj.群居的，喜好群居的

参考例句：

• These animals are highly gregarious.这些动物非常喜欢群居。
• They are gregarious birds and feed in flocks.它们是群居鸟类，会集群觅食。

14 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

15 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

16 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

17 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

18 brawling   

n.争吵，喧嚷

参考例句：

• They were arrested for brawling in the street. 他们因在街上打斗而遭到拘捕。
• The officers were brawling commands. 军官们大声地喊口令。

19 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

20 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

21 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

22 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

23 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。