Washington’s newseum nears final deadline amid crisis in US journalism
华盛顿的新闻博物馆在美国新闻业危机中临近最终期限
By David Smith
大卫·史密斯
“Joke’s on you, journalists. The only thing that ends up in museums is when there’s no use for them anymore. The air and space museum is a perfect example. Once we landed on the moon, the space race was over. We may as well have Scotchgarded Neil Armstrong and hung him from the ceiling. And so, the construction of this museum fittingly marks the end of the news.”
“被开玩笑的是你们，记者们。唯一最终进入博物馆的东西，就是那些不再有用的东西。航空航天博物馆就是一个完美的例子。一旦我们在月球上着陆，太空竞赛就结束了。我们不妨给尼尔·阿姆斯特朗涂上防油剂，把他挂在天花板上。因此，这座博物馆的建成恰当地标志着新闻的终结。”
These were the words of comedian Stephen Colbert in a video message recorded for the grand opening of the Newseum in Washington in 2008. The museum was hailed as a $450m cathedral of journalism, boasting 15 galleries and 15 theatres over seven floors at one of the world’s most exclusive addresses between the White House and US Capitol.
这是喜剧演员斯蒂芬·科尔伯特（Stephen Colbert）在2008年为华盛顿新闻博物馆盛大开幕录制的视频信息中所说的话。该博物馆被誉为一座耗资4.5亿美元的新闻业大教堂，位于白宫和美国国会大厦之间世界上最排他性的地段之一，拥有七层楼，包含15个画廊和15个剧院。
But Colbert’s jokey monologue was prophetic. The debtridden Newseum is nearing its final deadline. At the end of this month it will shut its doors for the last time, becoming a glass and steel white elephant—and an almost-too-obvious metaphor for the crisis facing America’s newspaper industry.
但科尔伯特的玩笑式独白却一语成谶。负债累累的新闻博物馆正逼近最终期限。本月末，它将最后一次关闭大门，成为一座玻璃和钢铁的“白象”（指昂贵而无用的东西），并成为美国报业面临危机的一个几乎过于明显的隐喻。
The museum opened with fanfare on Pennsylvania Avenue 11 years ago after moving from Arlington, Virginia. It was both a treasure trove and something of a grab bag. Star exhibits include myriad historic newspapers, a section of undersea telegraph cable from the 1860s, microphones used by former president Franklin Roosevelt for his “fireside chats,” a steel door from the Watergate break-in, broadcaster Tim Russert’s 2000 presidential election whiteboard (“Florida! Florida! Florida!”), a section of the 360ft antenna mast from the World Trade Center destroyed on 11 September 2001, Pulitzer prize-winning photography and a memorial to 2,344 journalists who died reporting the news.
该博物馆在11年前从弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿搬迁后，于宾夕法尼亚大道以隆重的仪式开幕。它既是一个宝库，也是一个大杂烩。明星展品包括无数历史报纸、1860年代的一段海底电报电缆、前总统富兰克林·罗斯福用于“炉边谈话”的麦克风、水门事件闯入案的一扇钢门、广播员蒂姆·拉瑟特2000年总统大选的白板（“佛罗里达！佛罗里达！佛罗里达！”）、一段从2001年9月11日被摧毁的世界贸易中心360英尺高的天线桅杆、普利策获奖摄影作品以及纪念2344名在报道新闻中丧生记者的纪念碑。
There were also temporary exhibitions, lectures, thousands of classes and programmes, a display of today’s front pages (which will survive posthumously in digital form) and some charming touches including newspaper misprints embedded in tiles in the public toilets.
此外还有临时展览、讲座、数千个课程和项目、今日头版的展示（将以数字形式“死后”幸存）以及一些迷人的细节，包括嵌在公共厕所瓷砖里的报纸印刷错误。
It chalked up 10 million visitors and, for some journalists, was a place of pilgrimage and inspiration.
它累计吸引了1000万游客，对于一些记者来说，这是一个朝圣和灵感的地方。
But for others, the Newseum was a vanity project that rambled beyond its brief. Artifacts included 12ft-high concrete sections of the Berlin Wall and an exhibit about US presidents’ pet dogs.
但对于其他人来说，新闻博物馆是一个超支的虚荣项目。文物包括12英尺高的柏林墙混凝土段以及关于美国总统宠物狗的展览。
And financial headaches were compounded by a hefty admission fee. Some may have balked at paying $24.95 plus tax when they could cross the street to the National Archives, housing the US constitution and declaration of independence, or the National Gallery of Art, with the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in North America, and visit free of charge.
沉重的门票费加剧了财务困境。当人们可以过马路去国家档案馆（收藏着美国宪法和独立宣言）或国家美术馆（拥有北美唯一的列奥纳多·达·芬奇画作）免费参观时，一些人可能会对支付24.95美元加税款犹豫不决。
Speaking at the Newseum’s last public event, its chairman, Peter Prichard, admitted he and other founders had overreached. “We thought big,” he told the audience. “We wanted to make an impact and so this was a very ambitious, visionary project.”
在新闻博物馆的最后一次公开活动上，其主席彼得·普里查德承认他和其他创始人过于激进。“我们想得很大，”他对观众说。“我们想产生影响，所以这是一个非常有野心、有远见的项目。”
There were other trends at work. Prichard said: “The development of this museum coincided with the digital hurricane that swept over old school traditional media. Newspapers large and small were decimated, fairness and objectivity in news reporting deteriorated or in some cases disappeared, and some politicians found that blaming journalists was an attractive political vein to mine. So the traditional media, a natural base of support for the Newseum, was left economically weakened and held in low regard by the public.”
还有其他趋势在起作用。普里查德说：“这座博物馆的发展恰逢席卷传统老牌媒体的数字飓风。大大小小的报纸都被摧毁了，新闻报道的公平性和客观性恶化或在某些情况下消失了，一些政客发现指责记者是一条有吸引力的政治挖掘途径。因此，作为新闻博物馆自然支持基础的传统媒体，在经济上被削弱，并受到公众的低评价。”
The Newseum still hopes to find a new, downsized home in the Washington area. Nossel, who has visited often, added: “It just feels like an emblem of these troubled times when truth is kind of hanging in the balance we’re actually more dependent on credible news than ever before.”
新闻博物馆仍然希望在华盛顿地区找到一个新的、规模更小的家。经常参观的诺塞尔补充道：“它让人感觉就像是这些动荡时代的象征，当真相悬而未决时，我们实际上比以往任何时候都更依赖可信的新闻。”
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