Sunday 13 January 2008

Define "exclusive" "獨家"的定義


The first part of the lead-in (anchor's script) to XTV's (name purposely obscured) story yesterday on the boy waiting for a heart transplant:
3歲病童荀荀亟待換心,消息經過(本台)獨家披露,現在有越來越多的民眾加入,透過轉寄電子郵件或者在部落格公告...

Roughly translated:
After (our) exclusive story on Xunxun's story of needing a heart transplant, more and more people have joined in the efforts of finding a donor by forwarding the email of his father pleading for help...

I wonder how some reporters and editors at XTV define "exclusive."
我很好奇,XTV的記者和編輯"獨家"怎麼定義

Last Tuesday afternoon, when I was assigned this story, I got in touch with the father and made an appointment to make an interview for 15h00. He asked if it was OK to do it with BTV, I said sure. Well, if it is with BTV, it sure isn't an exclusive, which was a little disappointing for me, but what can you expect when the source was from an email being passed around on the Internet? When I arrived at the hospital, BTV, CTV, DTV, ETV and XTV were all there as well, waiting for the father to come out.

上週二,事情還沒曝光時,長官把荀荀這任務派給我,所以我和他爸爸連絡
我們約好三點訪問,然後他問我說跟BTV一起沒關係吧
我說沒問題,雖然可惜不是獨家了,但是當訊息來源是從網路來的,大家知道也不奇怪
但是沒想到,到了台大,BTV,CTV,DTV,ETV和XTV也都到了
大家都在等爸爸出來

As we got out of the car, XTV got back into their car and left. We thought they got reassigned, until we asked the father at the end of the interview if it was alright to go to their home to get images of the boy's toys, pictures, etc. Then he said, "XTV is was just there with my wife. They drove her back home with them. Now they're bringing her back here to meet me, then we're going to a prayer meeting together." At that point, all we could do was wait for her to come back to the hospital and interview her. No home, no footage of items related to the little boy.

我們下車的時候,看到XTV上車離開現場
想說他們可能換題目了,不要這條了
沒想到,當我們問爸爸可不可以到他們家拍荀荀的玩具照片等,爸爸說,XTV已經帶太太回去拍了,現在在回來醫院的路上,待會要一起去祈福會
所以那時候,我們只能等XTV帶媽媽回來讓我們訪問
家裡,小孩的生活物品,都沒得拍

The XTV reporter took away the mother, one of our interviewees, right out from under our noses while we were waiting for everyone to finish setting up, and brought her home just so they can get "exclusive" footage.

XTV為了他們的"獨家",當其他記者互相等大家準備好時,把受訪者之一神不知鬼不覺的帶走

I thought it was unbelievable and unacceptable. Why?
1. they snuck away an interviewee from the rest of us
2. their "exclusive" was made by cheating the rest of us
3. because they took the wife away and we had to wait for her to come back, we almost didn't make our deadline
4. they call this an "exclusive," while everyone had the same story

我當時覺得不可思議也無法接受,因為
1. 他們靜悄悄的把受訪者給帶走
2. 他們搶"獨家"畫面,造成我們無法去拍那畫面
3. 因為他們把媽媽帶走,我們得等她回來,因此差一點趕不上截稿時間
4. 他們竟然可以叫一條大家都有的新聞"獨家"

If it were an angle that only they thought about, then it would have been fine. If it had been a story that only they knew, that would have been fine, too. But we were all there, making the same story, and going to someone's home to film is practically standard procedure!
如果這是他們自己想出來的不同角度,那還好
如果這是他們自己發覺的題目,那也還好
但問題是,我們大家都在報同一條新聞,而且去家裡拍幾乎是基本動作,基本常識

So what I'd really like to know is how they define the following:
1. exclusive
2. professionalism and ethics

所以我真的很好奇,他們如何定義
1. 獨家
2. 職業精神與道德

They may have good anchors, good pictures and good ratings, but their credibility and professionalism just gets more questionable as I get to know them more. Come to think of it, XTV false reports on how ducks were being plucked by material used in asphalt, and the made-up Bin Laden terrorist-style footage of a gangster threatening his mob boss was only last year. Perhaps their pressure to come up with exclusives is getting to them again. Perhaps they're once again starting to compromise integrity for security.

或許他們有好主播,好畫面,好收視率,但是對我而言,他們的整體上的可信性和職業道德感覺越來越差
想想,瀝青鴨和周政保黑道嗆聲DVD不是才去年的事嗎
或許因為獨家的壓力,記者對自己和新聞的正直又開始妥協了

If this there is a misunderstanding somewhere in here, please let me know. In fact, I hope this was all a misunderstanding.

如果這當中有誤會,請跟我說
老實說,我很希望這真的是一場誤會

(picture via TVBS news)

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