美国国家公共电台 NPR How Small Town Papers Have Kept Community Trust

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

There's been a lot of talk lately about restoring trust in American journalism¹. Iowa Public Radio's Clay Masters reports that mainstream² media could maybe learn from small-town newspapers about being authentic³ and winning trust.

CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE⁴: Mabel, an English Setter, snoozes on the floor at the back of The Storm Lake Times newsroom. That's where Dolores Cullen shows me back issues of the newspaper her husband Art started with his brother John in 1990.

DOLORES CULLEN: Art is awesome⁵ at headlines. Oh, calf⁶ born with two heads? That was a good one. Oh, I'm showing you especially the animal stories.

MASTERS: Dolores writes features. She's an illustrator and takes photos, too. Her son Tom is also a reporter. Flip⁷ through this twice-a-week paper for this town of around 11,000, and you find it still has a robust⁸ classifieds section. There's an ad looking for farm drainage workers. And it's a good bet that Tyson meat packing plant is hiring. There's even a section devoted⁹ to local birthdays. By the way, Landon DeMoss just turned 11.

It's the paper's editorials, though, that recently gained national attention. They won a Pulitzer Prize a few months ago for challenging powerful corporate¹⁰ agribusiness interests in the state. Editor Art Cullen says newspapers like his are the thread that hold the fabric¹¹ of a small town together.

ART CULLEN: We inform each other through the newspaper about the reality of Storm Lake, not the uber-reality of Facebook or Twitter.

MASTERS: For years, Cullen says, the biggest story here has been the booming immigrant population. Many small towns in Iowa are shrinking. This one is growing. The local meat packing industry attracts workers from around the world. More than 20 languages are spoken in its elementary school. Cullen says the paper is respected.

CULLEN: They know we're honest, and they know we love Storm Lake. And they know that we stick to the facts of the story and that we will argue, argue, argue on our editorial page.

EMILIA MARROQUIN: If you don't find them, they find you (laughter).

MASTERS: That's school board member Emilia Marroquin. She says, despite language barriers, The Storm Lake Times does a good job of getting a wide range of perspectives on local issues. Marroquin has been quoted in the paper about a dozen times. She says the paper's features on kids in town are just good for the schools.

MARROQUIN: And if they see all the kids doing something good, OK, it's time for myself to do something and be on the newspaper.

MASTERS: Christina Smith is a journalism professor at Georgia College who has worked for and studied small-town newspapers. Smith says they're not motivated by money alone but by the communities themselves. She says it gives them staying power.

CHRISTINA SMITH: These type of media have been around for - since the frontier days. And descriptive statistics show that they're doing relatively¹² well in the chaotic¹³ media landscape.

MASTERS: Chaotic in part because big-box retailers¹⁴ squeeze out local businesses, all of which means fewer ads in the paper. Again, Art Cullen at The Storm Lake Times.

CULLEN: These are very resilient papers. They refuse to die. But they have one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel. And that's because that's the status of the communities they're operating in.

MASTERS: Cullen says circulation is up and has reached about 3,000 copies per issue since winning that Pulitzer. And he just signed a book deal. For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in Des Moines.

1 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。

2 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

3 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

4 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。

5 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

6 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

7 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

8 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

9 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

10 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

11 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

14 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。