经济学人336:我是一台无处不在的摄像机

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　　几乎找不到比布莱恩·兰博更不像媒体企业家的人了——在这个充斥着极端利己主义者与庸俗的暴发户的世界里，他一直保持着谦逊有礼的品质。不管怎么说他都是个伟大的人。在19世纪70年代末时，当他还是华盛顿有线电视杂志社社长时，他提出了C-Span的概念（把公共事务网与有线电视结合起来 ）。在他的领导下，一家只有四名员工公司经历跌宕起伏，变成了有数百名员工、三个电视频道和一个广播电台的巨头。

　　Mr Lamb had a simple idea: to expose America’s public life to the public eye. He persuaded the cable companies to pay for a public-service channel via a levy¹ based on the number of their subscribers. He got the House of Representatives to open its proceedings² to the cameras (the Senate followed later). The result has been some of the dullest television in history (think budget proceedings)but also some of the most riveting³ (like the Iran-Contra hearings).

　　兰博的想法很简单：让美国民众了解公共事务。他游说各地的有线电视公司通过向用户缴的订费来支付公益频道。他还游说众议院安装摄像机，向民众公开会议的实时转播（参议院后来也采纳了）。这样的做法使观众们目睹了一些有史以来最乏味的电视广播（比如预算程序），但同时也见证了一些十分吸引人的转播（像是伊朗门听证会)。

　　Mr Lamb expanded his coverage⁴ to include presidential press conferences, speeches to think-tanks and the like. He also tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Supreme⁵ Court to open its hearings to the cameras. He added a few bells and whistles to his formula; profiles of presidents, interviews with authors, phone-ins with journalists. But he never violated the simplicity⁶ principle. The profiles were just-the-facts. The interviews were spartan⁷. The hosts were resolutely⁸ non-partisan. C-Span remained an island of sanity⁹ in a media world increasingly dominated by braying¹⁰ bigots.

　　兰博扩大了报道内容的范围，其中囊括了总统记者招待会和对智囊团的演说。他也曾尝试说服最高法院允许摄像机将其听审过程录制下来，可惜最后没能如愿。此外，他还在节目中加入了一些新亮点：总统的简介，对作家的访谈，与记者连线的来电直播节目。但他自始至终从未违反简介的原则：其中的简介都是事实，采访过程十分朴实，而主持人不偏不倚、没有任何党派倾向。C-span在聒噪的盲信者占主导的传媒界中一直特立独行，保持着难得的理智明达。

　　Mr Lamb’s “Booknotes” (“One author, one book, one hour”) was the ultimate showcase of his style. He specialised in asking short, direct questions with sometimes hilarious¹¹ results. One famous exchange with Martin Gilbert, a British historian, involved the question of whether Winston Churchill had ever engaged in buggery:

　　兰博主办的访谈节目“Booknotes”（一位作家，一本书，一小时）是他主持风格的最全面的体现。他很擅长问一些简短又直接的问题，而时常能取令人捧腹的效果。一次与英国历史学家马丁·吉尔伯特交谈时，兰博问道，温斯顿·丘吉尔是否参与过鸡奸：

　　Lamb: Why was he accused of buggery and what is it? Gilbert: You don’t know what buggery is? Lamb: Define it, please. Gilbert: Oh dear. Sorry, I thought the world would—buggery is what used to be called an “unnatural act, of the Oscar Wilde type” is how it was actually phrased in the euphemism¹² of the British paper. You don’t know what buggery is?

　　兰博：为什们他被指控参与鸡奸？鸡奸是什么呢？吉尔伯特：你不知道什么是鸡奸？兰博：请告诉我那是什么意思吧。吉尔伯特：我的天啊。对不起，我以为全世界都——鸡奸是一种“反常的行为”，就像奥斯卡·王尔德那种（同性恋），这就是英国报纸上通常委婉的说法。你真不知道鸡奸是什么意思？

　　David Brooks¹³, a New York Times columnist¹⁴, once called this “the quintessential C-Span moment”. May there be many more.

　　纽约时报的专栏作家大卫·布鲁克曾称这个节目是“C-span最经典的时刻”。希望以后还有更多这样的节目。

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