????詹姆斯?歐西【論壇報業集團旗下《洛杉磯時報》社著名編輯、記者——譯注】新著的副標題是“巨頭與華爾街如何聯手劫掠美國偉大報紙”。聽起來，這本書是個人對美國報業是如何及為何一敗涂地的一孔之見。

????實際上，該書所并沒有這么宏大，它講述的只是論壇報業公司（Tribune Company）2008年的破產事件。該公司是《芝加哥論壇報》（Chicago Tribune）、洛杉磯時報（Los Angeles Times）、《奧蘭多哨兵報》（Orlando Sentinel）及其他眾多報紙和電視臺的母公司。這個故事的尾聲尤為跌宕起伏，描寫了芝加哥金融家山姆?澤爾孤注一擲的經歷。當時，山姆冒險投入了超過3億美元的自有資產——以及從美國各大銀行和經紀公司借來的數十億美元代款——將論壇報業公司從股東所有的公司轉變為雇員所有的公司。

????正如許多商業刊物的讀者所知，澤爾將論壇報業公司的資本結構改為雇員所有后，不到兩年就宣告失敗了。經濟形勢慘淡，加之廣告收入急劇下降，公司債臺高筑，不堪重負。在歐西和論壇報業公司其他記者看來，這一路走來，澤爾與其同僚們，其中包括廣播公司前任高管蘭迪?邁克爾，堪稱顏面掃地。當時，眾多報紙本已深陷一輪輪愈演愈烈的削減成本風潮，而編輯部的同仁們則一直指望澤爾能兌現承諾，為它們注入全新活力——以及資本。

????可是，從歐西的講述看，澤爾的團隊并未讓大家如愿。他們繼續大幅削減成本，數額高達數百萬，同時解雇了上百位記者。澤爾還到論壇報業系的各大報紙召開巡回見面會，質疑歷史悠久（但卻成本高昂）的新聞采集方式，并為此屢次與記者、編輯們惡語相向。

????在這一過程中，歐西這位聲望卓著的前駐外通訊記者、曾獲新聞大獎的記者和編輯，失去了他在《洛杉磯時報》的編輯工作。回顧這段往事時，他卻為自己的所見所聞進行了辯護，認為那是報紙追求公共服務式新聞工作的職責使然。在他看來，報紙必須揭露腐敗，曝光不良政客，聚焦撒謊成性的公職人員，還要為了保持民主體制的健康不惜大造輿論。

????然而，諸多難題卻亟待解決：廣告主開始將越來越多的費用投向數字媒體，報紙如何負擔格調高雅的新聞工作？克雷格列表（Craigslist，大型免費分類廣告網站——譯注）這樣的免費網站出現后，人們不再認為報紙的分類廣告經濟實惠，報紙該用什么來取而代之？

????簡而言之，報紙傳統的報道方式行不通了。報社必須一再自問，對于卡特里娜颶風或阿富汗戰爭這樣的事件，如果明知已有人在報道，是否還有能力派出自己的記者前往報道。

????針對論壇報業系的眾多報紙所存在的重疊和重復現象，澤爾本可以在其批評意見上更委婉一些；但他卻直截了當地表達了觀點。

????歐西承認，沒有豐厚的利潤，報紙就無法生存。報紙盈利才有錢購買印刷機設備，支付員工勞動合同并負擔前往颶風地區及革命地區進行報道的記者的費用。但他也不愿認同生存的緊迫性，不愿意面對現實，即在收入萎縮的情況下，必須削減費用，而且行動要快。

????歐西還對集團出版部門的調研不屑一顧。調研顯示，大量讀者對有關卡戴珊姐妹（好萊塢明星——譯注）的緋聞趨之若鶩，但對美國食品與藥物管理局（Food and Drug Administration）的最新丑聞卻不屑一顧。

????在年過不惑的美國人中，很少有人能想象一個沒有報紙的世界。在這個世界中，博客博主和自發的記者是唯一的新聞來源，這些新聞在未經《紐約時報》（The New York Times）或《華盛頓郵報》（The Washington Post）的高人們編輯或許可的情況下就堂而皇之地發布了。而另一方面，30歲以下的美國人中訂閱報紙的人卻又寥寥無幾。

????在離開論壇報業公司后，歐西協助創辦了芝加哥新聞合作社（Chicago News Cooperative）。這是一家非營利組織，它致力于發布公共服務類的新聞，即打算沖擊普利策獎（Pulitzer Prizes）的那種類型。類似的組織目前正遍地開花，它們最終會找到全新的商業模式，維系重要新聞的報道，這些報道對于保障公眾的知情權，做出明智的決策至關重要。然而，幾乎可以肯定的是，這一模式中不會再有印刷機的身影了。

????譯者:清遠

????James O'Shea's book, subtitled "How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers," sounds like it reads as one man's version of how and why the U.S. newspaper industry imploded.

????Actually, the book actually tells a narrower story, the 2008 bankruptcy of Tribune Company, parent of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel and numerous other newspapers and television stations. Figuring prominently toward the end of O'Shea's story is Chicago-based financier Sam Zell, who risks more than $300 million of his own money -- and billions in loans from U.S. banks and brokerages -- to convert Tribune from a shareholder-owned to an employee-owned company.

????As readers of the business press know, Zell's recapitalization of Tribune as an employee-owned company tanked in less than two years. A collapsing economy and severe falloff of advertising revenue were too much to support the debt load. Along the way Zell and compatriots, including former radio executive Randy Michaels, disgraced themselves in the eyes of O'Shea and Tribune Company's journalists. The newsroom crowd was relying on Zell's promise to inject new vitality -- and capital -- into newspapers caught in cost-cutting spirals.

????Instead, according to O'Shea's telling, the Zell team spent its time cutting millions more from costs, firing hundreds of journalists and conducting a road-show to Tribune newspapers where he challenged time-honored (and costly) newsgathering practices, often engaging in profanity-laced confrontations with reporters and editors.

????O'Shea, a distinguished former foreign correspondent and prize-winning reporter and editor, lost his job as editor of The Los Angeles Times in the process. Looking back on the saga, he defends what he sees as the duty of newspapers to pursue public service journalism. In his view, newspapers must uncover corruption, expose crooked politicians, shine a spotlight on lying public servants and generally raise hell to keep democracy healthy.

????But here are a few conundrums: How can newspapers afford high-brow journalism when advertisers shift more and more spending to digital media? How do newspapers replace classified advertising that's been rendered uneconomic by free sites like Craigslist?

????The short answer is that newspapers no longer can afford to cover the news as they once did. More and more they must ask themselves if they can afford to send their own reporters to cover Hurricane Katrina or the war in Afghanistan in light of others who are already doing it.

????Zell could have been more diplomatic in his critiques of the overlap and duplication at Tribune newspapers; but he had a point.

????O'Shea acknowledges that newspapers can't exist without robust profits needed to buy printing presses, pay Teamster contracts and cover the cost of reporters traveling to hurricanes and revolutions. But he also doesn't come to terms with the imperative to survive, the iron-clad reality that spending must fall -- and quickly -- when revenue shrivels.

????The author also despises the surveys from the publishing side of the house showing that many readers are seeking gossip about the Kardashian sisters and couldn't care less about the latest scandal at the Food and Drug Administration.

????Few Americans over the age of 40 can imagine a world without newspapers, in which bloggers and self-appointed reporters are the sole source of news, presented without editing or approval from the solons at The New York Times or The Washington Post. On the other hand, few Americans under the age of 30 subscribe to newspapers.

????O'Shea, after leaving Tribune, has helped found Chicago News Cooperative, a non-profit dedicated to producing public service journalism, the kind meant to win Pulitzer Prizes. Similar ventures are popping up here and there; eventually a new business model will be found that will support the important stories that are crucial to helping an informed public make good decisions. That model almost certainly won't involve a printing press.