经济学人182:中国互联网-打击百度

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　　中国互联网

　　Bashing Baidu

　　打击百度

　　State television fires on China’s Google

　　国有电视台向中国谷歌开火

　　Aug 27th 2011 | from the print edition

　　LAST year Google remembered its motto (“Don’t be evil”) and stopped co-operating with China’s censors¹. Since then, Google has found it much harder to do business in mainland China. The chief beneficiary was Baidu, China’s leading search engine. Its share of internet searches, already vast, grew to a dominant² 75%.

　　去年谷歌牢记自己的信条（“永不作恶”）以致终止了和中国审计的合作。自此以后，谷歌发现自己很难在中国大陆做生意了。其中主要的受益者就是百度，中国领先的搜索引擎。它的巨大的网络搜索份额已经达到垄断性的75%。

　　Robin³ Li, Baidu’s Chinese-born, American-educated co-founder, is only 42 but one of China’s richest men. That makes him a target, despite his scrupulous⁴ efforts not to upset the ruling Communist Party. Since August 14th Baidu has been the subject of a series of damning investigative reports on CCTV, the main state-run broadcaster. Using undercover cameras, CCTV exposed Baidu employees apparently⁵ helping⁶ firms circumvent⁷ laws that bar unlicensed companies from advertising⁸ online. The reports also suggested that the lack of transparency in Baidu’s advertising system could lead advertisers to overpay. A Baidu spokesman refused to comment.

　　中国出生，接受美国教育的百度联合创办人——李彦宏只有42岁就已经是中国最有钱的人之一。尽管他低调谨慎以免招惹到执政的共产党，但是这还是让他成为了目标。自从8月14日以来，百度已经成为了cctv(主要的国营媒体)开展的一系列调查恶性事件报道中的材料。cctv利用隐藏好的摄像头揭示了百度的雇员明显地在帮助一些公司绕开法律（禁止没有许可证的公司在网上做广告）。这些报道还提到百度广告系统的不透明导致广告商们支付过多的钱。百度的发言人拒绝发表评论。

　　It was not the first time that CCTV has bashed Baidu. Reports in 2008 made similar allegations, prompting Baidu to apologise publicly. The latest attacks go further, though. It might seem a bit rich for the state broadcaster of a secretive, authoritarian⁹ country to chide¹⁰ Baidu for murkiness¹¹. And it certainly surprises some China-watchers. Baidu has done all it can to comply with the government’s whims¹². It is also a national champion: its shares are listed on New York’s NASDAQ exchange, and foreigners can’t get enough of them.

　　这不是cctv第一次抨击百度了。在2008年的报道中也有类似的指控，促使百度发表公众道歉。尽管这一次的攻击已经相隔渐远了，但还是能认为对于一个不公开，专制的国家所有的电视台来说，对百度的暗中交易的批评次数好像有点多了。而且这确实令一些中国的观察者感到惊讶。百度已经做了它所能做的一切来迎合这个政府的意愿。在另外一个方面它也是这个国家的领先者：它的股份在纽约的纳斯达克陈列着而且外国人渴望得到这些股份。

　　So what might the criticism signify? Is CCTV attacking Baidu for political reasons, or commercial ones? CCTV has a search engine, too, which hardly anyone uses. So do two other big government-run media outfits—the People’s Daily newspaper and the Xinhua news agency. CCTV, though state-run, is not just a propaganda outfit¹³. It is also expected to make money through advertising (and it does). It must be tempting¹⁴ to nobble a rival.

　　那么这些抨击意味着什么呢？cctv攻击百度是出于政治因素呢还是商业因素？cctv也有一个搜索引擎，基本上没什么人在使用它。两大政府所有的媒体公司——人民日报和新华报社也是如此。尽管cctv是国有企业，但是它不仅仅是宣传的企业，它还希望能通过广告来盈利（它成功了）。它一定想威胁到它的对手。

　　That no other state-run media outlets¹⁵ carried stories on Baidu suggests this is not a government-orchestrated campaign against the company or the internet more generally. However, the Communist Party is wary¹⁶ of the influence of private internet companies, and no doubt keen to see that Baidu doesn’t get too big for its boots.

　　没有其他的国营媒体公司报道百度，这意味着抨击百度不是政府密谋的对付私营公司或互联网的运动。无论如何，共产党谨慎地对待私营的互联网公司的影响力而且会毫无疑问地希望看到百度不过过于自信。

　　The party was slow to grasp how big the internet was going to be in China, and it missed its chance to own the digital commanding heights. So it tries to control them indirectly¹⁷. On August 23rd, for example, Beijing’s Communist Party chief paid a friendly visit to the offices of China’s biggest microblogging site, Sina Corp’s Weibo, and suggested that it “absolutely put an end to fake and misleading information”. Sina Corp, a private firm, deletes postings that annoy the party within hours. Not quick enough, said the party chief.

　　执政党很晚才意识到中国互联网将会发展到什么程度而且它错过了占领信息化话事权制高点的机会。所以它尝试着去间接地控制他们。例如在8月23日，北京党委书记去中国最大的微薄公司——新浪做了一次友好参观，而且还建议说必须完全杜绝虚假和误导的信息。作为一家私营企业，新浪公司会再几个小时内就把对党有害的信息删除掉。这个书记还是说不够快。

　　Perhaps the most likely motive¹⁸ for CCTV’s attacks on Baidu is that its journalists are trying to do their jobs. Public anger about toxic¹⁹ food, corporate²⁰ mismanagement and official corruption²¹ has emboldened²² reporters. Journalists at CCTV led the extensive media coverage²³ of a high-speed-rail crash at Wenzhou in July that killed 40 people, until the censors curbed²⁴ them.

　　也许cctv对百度的攻击最可能的动机是它的记者们在努力做着自己的工作。公众对有毒食品、公司管理混乱和官员贪污感到愤怒，这促使记者去报道。cctv的记者们引发了大量媒体对7月份的温州高铁列车相撞事故的报道，这次事故死亡人数40人。直到审计部门勒令停止，报道才停止。

　　Such reporting embarrasses the party, which likes to boast that China builds big infrastructure²⁵ projects faster and better than anyone else. The CCTV attack on Baidu could reflect a decision to go after a less protected target. Or not. This being China, no one knows for sure.

　　这样的报道令执政党感到尴尬，这个政党喜欢吹嘘中国建设大工程比其他国家都要快且好。cctv对百度的攻击可以反映出其决定追打一个比较不受保护的目标。也许不是，这就是中国，没人能确切知道答案。

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