纽约时报 保守派媒体恶有恶报(2)（在线收听）

All this was presumably prompted by the 20-page letter Smartmatic's lawyer sent to Fox eight days earlier, detailing a "concerted disinformation campaign against Smartmatic" on Fox's airwaves.

所有这一切大概是由8天前Smartmatic公司的律师发给福克斯的一封长达20页的信引起的，信中详细描述了福克斯电视台“针对Smartmatic的联合造谣行动”。

Soon two other Fox hosts mentioned in the letter would broadcast the same Perez video.

很快，信中提到的另外两位福克斯主持人将播放同一段佩雷斯视频。

Fox wasn't the only network involved: The conservative cable channels Newsmax and One America News Network, which have been trying to outflank Fox by voicing even more outlandish conspiracy theories, also received legal threats,

福克斯并不是唯一涉及到的电视台：保守派有线电视频道“新闻极限”和“美国第一新闻网”也受到了法律威胁，他们一直试图通过发表更离奇的阴谋论来攻击福克斯，

and the Newsmax anchor John Tabacco soon announced that the channel "would like to clarify its news coverage" of Smartmatic.

而新闻极限的主播约翰·塔巴科很快宣布，该频道“希望澄清其对Smartmatic的新闻报道”。

But such clarifications evidently made little impression on the believers who, a few weeks later, stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of the election results,

但这些澄清显然没有给人们留下什么印象，几周后，这些人冲进美国国会大厦，试图阻止选举结果的认证，

leaving conservative media with a question even more vexing and consequential than how to respond to the threat of a libel lawsuit: How far could it really follow its audience?

这留给保守派媒体一个比如何应对诽谤诉讼威胁更为恼人和重要的问题：它到底能在多大程度上追随受众？

Ideologically minded news organizations traditionally do well when their political rivals occupy the White House.

当政治对手入主白宫时，具有意识形态意识的新闻机构通常都会表现良好。

MSNBC saw its ratings spike during George W. Bush's presidency and again during Trump's.

微软全国广播公司的收视率在小布什总统任期和特朗普总统任期内都出现了飙升。

During Barack Obama's administration, Fox News rose to new ratings heights as it devoted countless hours to supposed "scandals":

在贝拉克·奥巴马执政期间，福克斯新闻的收视率达到了新高，因为它花了无数时间报道所谓的“丑闻”：

Solyndra, the bankrupted California solar energy company; the I.R.S., accused of targeting conservative groups for scrutiny; Benghazi.

破产的加州太阳能公司Solyndra；被指控针对保守派进行审查的国税局；以及班加西。

But the even more outlandish Obama-era claims tended to get significantly less airtime on Fox.

但是，奥巴马时代更古怪的说法往往会大大减少福克斯电视台的播音时间。

It was Donald Trump, during his guest appearances on "Fox and Friends" and other Fox shows, who banged the drum of birtherism; the network's own stars largely steered clear.

唐纳德·特朗普在《福克斯与朋友们》和其他福克斯电视台节目中客串亮相，吹响了“出生论”的号角；该电视台的明星们基本上都避开了这一话题。

When conspiracy theorists claimed online that Obama planned to use a military training operation to declare martial law in Texas, Fox covered the kerfuffle mostly to dismiss or even mock it.

当阴谋论者在网上声称奥巴马计划利用军事训练行动在得克萨斯州宣布戒严时，福克斯报道了这场混战，主要是为了驳斥甚至嘲笑它。

The network understood that it could spend all day pushing scandals, even tendentious ones, but there were still some things better left to wilder precincts.

他们明白，它可以花一整天的时间来推动丑闻，甚至是有倾向性的丑闻，但仍有一些地方最好要留给更疯狂的领域。