傳媒業不僅是一盤生意 / Media Sector Not Mere Business

傳媒業不僅是一盤生意	Media Sector Not Mere Business
李永樂	By Lee Eng Lock
新加坡人的眼睛和耳朵，將會越來越忙碌，因爲接下來的日子，辦報紙的要開電視臺和電臺，原來搞電視的，打算賣報紙。這下子，新加坡人將有更多資訊選擇了！	MORE is to come for Singaporeans to feast their eyes and ears on. The newspaper conglomerate will be running a radio and a TV station, whereas the TV operator will be publishing a newspaper. The future holds an even greater selection of information for our people.
天空關不住，資訊滿天飛，互聯網鋪天蓋地的時代，國門和關卡，或許能擋得住人，却無法封得了消息，與其築堤防洪，不如疏導流向。媒體業的逐步開放，多少包含這層意義。	The sky defies control, and information knows no bounds. In this era of Internet, national borders or checkpoints can do nothing to stop the flow of information, though they can bar the entry or exit of humans. But where dams and dykes fail to curb the floods, canals and channels can work well to turn harm to good. More or less in this sense, Singapore's media sector is being opened up.
開放帶來競爭，競爭的結果是消費人有更多的選擇，益了渴望信息的胃口，經營者必須在素質和盈利兼顧下，佔領有限的市場，也就是“叫好又叫座”，確實是一場硬戰。	Yet opening-up is sure to bring in keener competition and therefore richer options to satisfy the audience's appetite. It will be a tough challenge for the media operators to secure their market shares by providing quality products while staying in the black, namely to remain "both popular and profitable", as they say.
若以“在商言商”的角度分析上述說法，局外人是難以理解的，做生意最重要是掙錢，“叫座”要緊，爲什麽還得“叫好”，又不是公益事業。你看人家的媒體，爲了競爭和生存，出盡法寶，花招百出，動不動就給你“顔色”——紅的、黃的、灰的和黑的都有，相比之下，我們的確是遜“色”多了。	Outsiders would find it hard to understand the difficulty involved. Business is business, they argue, and profit is the first and foremost concern. Why should the media industry try to be "popular", they wonder, since it is not charity? Just look at their counterparts in other countries, they would say. For survival and success, the media out there would balk at nothing and resort to everything, with products representing a wide spectrum of contents and styles, ranging from the radical red through the sensational yellow and indefinable grey down to the dubious black. Our domestic media, they lament, just pale by comparison.
關鍵在于，新加坡的媒體業，絕對不僅僅是一盤生意，它還肩負一定的社會使命。所謂的逐步開放，疏導流向，清楚表示這並非媒體業“戰國時代”的到來，而是在資訊大潮席捲全球的大勢之下，所做的一番調整，往前跨進一步。	But the point is that, in Singapore, the media sector is not a mere business. It undertakes a mission for the good of society. The step-by-step opening-up of the field is not meant to introduce chaotic contest among the operators. Instead, with guidance and regulations, it aims to keep Singapore ever-adjusted to global information tides and well-poised for further advances.
沒有必要用“党國喉舌”之類的心態去解讀“社會使命”這句話的背後含義，因爲我們實在需要一種“新加坡角度”的存在，要不然，不僅是國際社會無法聽到我們的聲音，連自己人說話，也會遭外界的無情干擾，不能達到有效的交流。	One need not infer that, to carry out their mission, the media must speak for the government or the ruling party, but we do need a "Singapore perspective". Otherwise, our voice can hardly reach the international community, nor can there be effective communication within our people amid the jarring noise from without.
新加坡的脆弱，是誰也無法否認及改變的事實。鄰國土地突然“搞搞震”幾下，我們免不了心緒不寧，得勞駕當局出面壓驚；連續幾天“月朦朦鳥朦朦”，大家就看電視聽廣播，留意空氣污染指數，差點足不出戶；人家國內風吹草動，咱們的海岸衛隊便有得忙，其脆弱性和敏感度是可想而知的。	The island-state’s unalterable fragility is beyond dispute. When a recent earthquake hit our neighbour, we felt the shock of tremors and looked to our government for assurance that things were OK. A few days of hazy skies darkened by forest fires beyond the borders would keep us practically home-confined, ever-attentive to radio or TV announcements about the air pollution situation. And the mere sign of troubles across the sea would put our Coastal Guard on full alert. Understandably, Singapore is sensitive because it is vulnerable.
假設任由外國資訊排山倒海涌入，有一部分人勢必迷失在信息的海洋中，忘了總體的方向。本地人，本土觀的建立，是在無邊大海當中尋找一個共同的立足點，本地傳媒的角色就在這裏。	Should information from outside sources be allowed to pour in unchecked, some people are sure to lose their bearings on the sea of news and data.  Thus a Singapore perspective is needed to provide a firm anchorage for our people. Herein lies the role of our indigenous media.
誰也無法鎖住天空，這是大勢所趨，擋也擋不住。然而，這不表示我們就得束手無策，或是完全的被動。 國際上發生一件大事，大家不約而同扭開美國電纜電視，潜移默化當中接受它的價值判斷，似乎這就是真正的“標準”，因爲他們的聲音比較響亮。這一來，亞洲觀點亞洲心反而被忽略了。	The influx of information, though unstoppable, should not render us utterly helpless or defenceless. Yet unfortunately, whenever something big happens in the outside world, people would tune in to CNN, swallowing its news and views without thinking much about it, and taking them for the genuine "criterion" just because of the high sound volume. Meanwhile, voices and feelings of us Asians are neglected.
假使在國際事務上，我們的聲音相對於大國而言比較單薄，多半可以解釋爲“小國寡民”之故；倘若國內的事，也要別人來指指點點，凡事都得向外點頭哈腰，那可真是“家門”不幸了。本地人本土觀的建立，正是竪立自己的一杆旗幟的做法。	Admittedly, Singapore's voice on international issues may be less heard because of our small territory and population. Yet it would be a "family disgrace" indeed if we had to be answerable to foreigners in all our domestic affairs. To establish our indigenous voice and views is to make Singapore duly heeded and regarded.
當然，容納多方面的觀點，是不可逆轉的大潮，我們不能把頭埋在沙堆底下，裝著若無其事，而是應該抬起頭來迎接新的時代，面對新的現實。現在的媒體已從“單向”發展而成“互動”，沒有任何力量能真正阻擋資訊大潮，這也就是疏導的意義所在。若不疏導，只能眼巴巴看著它泛濫。	Of course, tolerance of different ideas is gaining ground, and we cannot shut our eyes to that irresistible trend. Instead, we must look up and face the reality of the new era. The media sector today has left the old one-way street into a modern interactive playground. In reality, nothing can block the waves and tides of information, and that's why guidance and regulations are of crucial importance. Otherwise, we could only sit and watch inundation ensue to our dismay.
我要重複再說一次，媒體業絕不僅僅是一盤生意，至少對新加坡來說，目前確是如此。	Let me repeat this: The media sector is definitely not a mere business. Not in Singapore, and not for now –– at least.
	(Tr. by Allen Zhuang)
(本文華英對照，原載2000/06/26新加坡《聯合早報》社論/言論/天下事版；2007年12月31日譯者貼於原先的網誌 坡港英華 / SingaKong Chinese & English，今重貼於此。)

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