Television and the Public Interest -- Newton Norman Minow
delivered 9 May 1961, National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, DC
1961 年 5 月 9 日发布，全国广播协会，华盛顿特区
[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio]
[真实性认证：以下文本版本直接从音频转录]
Governor Collins, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
柯林斯州长、尊敬的来宾、女士们、先生们：
Governor Collins you're much too kind, as all of you have been to me the last few days.
柯林斯州长，您太友善了，因为过去几天你们所有人都对我很好。
It's been a great pleasure and an honor for me to meet so many of you.
能够见到你们这么多人，我感到非常高兴和荣幸。
And I want to thank you for this opportunity to meet with you today.
我要感谢你们今天给我这个机会与你们见面。
As you know, this is my first public address since I took over my new job.
如你所知，这是我接任新工作以来的第一次公开讲话。
When the New Frontiersmen rode into town, I locked myself in my office to do my homework and get my feet wet.
当新边疆者骑马进城时，我把自己锁在办公室里做作业，踏踏实实地做事。
But apparently I haven't managed yet to stay out of hot water.
但显然我还没有摆脱热水。
I seem to have detected a very nervous apprehension about what I might say or do when I emerged from that locked office for this, my maiden station break.
当我从那间上锁的办公室出来迎接我的第一次车站休息时，我似乎发现了一种非常紧张的忧虑，担心自己会说什么或做什么。
So first let me begin by dispelling a rumor.
首先让我先澄清一个谣言。
I was not picked for this job because I regard myself as the fastest draw on the New Frontier.
我没有被选中担任这份工作，因为我认为自己是新前沿最快的人。
Second, let me start a rumor.
其次，让我开始谣言。
Like you, I have carefully read President Kennedy's messages about the regulatory agencies, conflict of interest, and the dangers of ex parte contacts.
和您一样，我仔细阅读了肯尼迪总统关于监管机构、利益冲突和单方面接触危险的信息。
And, of course, we at the Federal Communications Commission will do our part.
当然，我们联邦通信委员会将尽自己的一份力量。
Indeed, I may even suggest that we change the name of the FCC to The Seven Untouchables.
事实上，我什至可能建议我们将 FCC 的名称更改为“七大贱民”。
It may also come as a surprise to some of you, but I want you to know that you have my admiration and my respect.
这可能会让你们中的一些人感到惊讶，但我想让你们知道，你们得到了我的钦佩和尊重。
Yours is a most honorable profession.
你的职业是最光荣的职业。
Anyone who is in the broadcasting business has a tough row to hoe.
任何从事广播行业的人都会遇到困难。
You earn your bread by using public property.
您通过使用公共财产来赚取面包。
When you work in broadcasting you volunteer for public service, public pressure, and public regulation.
当你从事广播工作时，你自愿参与公共服务、公共压力和公共监管。
You must compete with other attractions and other investments, and the only way you can do it is to prove to us every three years that you should have been in business in the first place.
您必须与其他景点和其他投资竞争，而您能做到的唯一方法就是每三年向我们证明您一开始就应该开展业务。
I can think of easier ways to make a living.
我可以想出更简单的谋生方法。
But I cannot think of more satisfying ways.
但我想不出更令人满意的方法。
I admire your courage -- but that doesn't mean that I would make life any easier for you.
我钦佩你的勇气——但这并不意味着我会让你的生活变得更轻松。
Your license lets you use the public's airwaves as trustees for 180 million Americans.
您的许可证允许您作为 1.8 亿美国人的受托人使用公共广播。
The public is your beneficiary.
公众是你的受益者。
If you want to stay on as trustees, you must deliver a decent return to the public -- not only to your stockholders.
如果你想继续担任受托人，你必须为公众提供可观的回报——而不仅仅是为你的股东。
So, as a representative of the public, your health and your product are among my chief concerns.
因此，作为公众代表，您的健康和您的产品是我最关心的问题。
Now as to your health, let's talk only of television today.
至于你的健康，今天我们只讨论电视。
1960 gross broadcast revenues of the television industry were over 1,268,000,000 dollars.
1960年电视业的总广播收入超过12.68亿美元。
Profit before taxes was 243,900,000 dollars, an average return on revenue of 19.2 per cent.
税前利润为2.439亿美元，平均收入回报率为19.2%。
Compare these with 1959, when gross broadcast revenues were 1,163,900,000 dollars, and profit before taxes was 222,300,000, an average return on revenue of 19.1 per cent.
与1959年相比，当时的广播总收入为11.639亿美元，税前利润为2.223亿美元，平均收入回报率为19.1%。
So the percentage increase of total revenues from '59 to '60 was 9 per cent, and the percentage increase of profit was 9.7 per cent.
因此，从 59 年到 60 年，总收入增长了 9%，利润增长了 9.7%。
This, despite a recession throughout the country.
尽管全国范围内都出现经济衰退，但情况仍然如此。
For your investors, the price has indeed been right.
对于您的投资者来说，这个价格确实是合适的。
So I have confidence in your health, but not in your product.
所以我对你的健康有信心，但对你的产品没有信心。
It is with this and much more in mind that I come before you today.
正是带着这一点以及更多的想法，我今天来到你们面前。
One editorialist in the trade press wrote that "the FCC of the New Frontier is going to be one of the toughest FCC's in the history of broadcast regulation." If he meant that we intend to enforce the law in the public interest, let me make it perfectly clear that he is right: We do.
一位贸易媒体的社论写道：“新前沿的 FCC 将成为广播监管史上最严厉的 FCC 之一。”如果他的意思是我们打算为了公共利益执行法律，那么让我完全清楚地表明他是对的：我们确实这样做。
If he meant that we intend to muzzle or censor broadcasting, he is dead wrong.
如果他的意思是我们打算压制或审查广播，那么他就大错特错了。
It wouldn't surprise me if some of you had expected me to come here today and say to you in effect, "Clean up your own house or the government will do it for you." Well, in a limited sense, you would be right because I've just said it.
如果你们中的一些人期望我今天来到这里并对你们说：“清理你们自己的房子，否则政府会为你们做这件事”，我不会感到惊讶。嗯，从有限的意义上来说，你是对的，因为我刚才已经说过了。
But I want to say to you as earnestly as I can that it is not in that spirit that I come before you today, nor is it in that spirit that I intend to serve the FCC.
但我想尽可能真诚地告诉你们，我今天来到你们面前并不是本着这种精神，我也不是本着这种精神为联邦通信委员会服务。
I am in Washington to help broadcasting, not to harm it; to strengthen it, not weaken it; to reward it, not to punish it; to encourage it, not threaten it; and to stimulate it, not censor it.
我来华盛顿是为了帮助广播业，而不是为了损害它；加强它，而不是削弱它；奖励它，而不是惩罚它；鼓励它，而不是威胁它；并刺激它，而不是审查它。
Above all, I am here to uphold and protect the public interest.
最重要的是，我来这里是为了维护和保护公共利益。
Now what do we mean by "the public interest?" Some say the public interest is merely what interests the public.
现在我们所说的“公共利益”是什么意思？有人说，公共利益只是公众感兴趣的事情。
I disagree.
我不同意。
And so does your distinguished president, Governor Collins.
尊敬的总统柯林斯州长也是如此。
In a recent speech -- and of course as I also told you yesterday -- In a recent speech he said,
在最近的一次演讲中——当然，正如我昨天也告诉你们的——在最近的一次演讲中，他说，
Broadcasting to serve the public interest, must have a soul and a conscience, a burning desire to excel, as well as to sell; the urge to build the character, citizenship, and intellectual stature of people, as well as to expand the gross national product.
广播服务于大众利益，必须有灵魂、有良知、有强烈的追求卓越的欲望、以及推销的欲望；培养人们的品格、公民意识和智力水平以及扩大国民生产总值的渴望。
...By no means do I imply that broadcasters disregard the public interest.
...我绝不意味着广播公司无视公众利益。
...But a much better job can be done, and should be done.
......但是可以做得更好，而且应该做得更好。
I could not agree more with Governor Collins.
我非常同意柯林斯州长的观点。
And I would add that in today's world, with chaos in Laos and the Congo aflame, with Communist tyranny on our Caribbean doorstep, relentless pressures on our Atlantic alliance, with social and economic problems at home of the gravest nature, yes, and with the technological knowledge that makes it possible, as our President has said, not only to destroy our world but to destroy poverty around the world -- in a time of peril and opportunity, the old complacent, unbalanced fare of action-adventure and situation comedies is simply not good enough.
我还想补充一点，在当今世界，老挝和刚果陷入混乱，加勒比海地区遭受共产主义暴政，我们的大西洋联盟承受着无情的压力，国内的社会和经济问题非常严重，是的，正如我们的总统所说，技术知识不仅可以摧毁我们的世界，而且可以消除世界各地的贫困——在一个危险与机遇并存的时代，旧有的自满、不平衡的动作冒险游戏情景喜剧根本不够好。
Your industry possesses the most powerful voice in America.
你们的行业拥有美国最强大的声音。
It has an inescapable duty to make that voice ring with intelligence and with leadership.
它有不可推卸的责任，让这个声音充满智慧和领导力。
In a few years, this exciting industry has grown from a novelty to an instrument of overwhelming impact on the American people.
几年之内，这个令人兴奋的行业已经从一个新奇事物发展成为对美国人民产生压倒性影响的工具。
It should be making ready for the kind of leadership that newspapers and magazines assumed years ago, to make our people aware of their world.
它应该为报纸和杂志多年前所承担的领导力做好准备，让我们的人民了解他们的世界。
Ours has been called the jet age, the atomic age, the space age.
我们的时代被称为喷气时代、原子时代、太空时代。
It is also, I submit, the television age.
我认为，这也是电视时代。
And just as history will decide whether the leaders of today's world employed the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankind's benefit, so will history decide whether today's broadcasters employed their powerful voice to enrich the people or to debase them.
正如历史将决定当今世界的领导人是利用原子毁灭世界还是为人类的利益重建世界一样，历史也将决定今天的广播公司是利用他们强大的声音来丰富人民还是贬低人民。
If I seem today to address myself chiefly to the problems of television, I don't want any of you radio broadcasters to think that we've gone to sleep at your switch.
如果我今天主要要解决的是电视问题，我不希望你们任何广播电台认为我们已经在你们的开关上睡着了。
We haven't.
我们没有。
We still listen.
我们仍然倾听。
But in recent years most of the controversies and cross-currents in broadcast programming have swirled around television.
但近年来，广播节目中的大部分争议和分歧都围绕电视展开。
And so my subject today is the television industry and the public interest.
所以我今天的主题是电视业和公共利益。
Like everybody, I wear more than one hat.
和每个人一样，我戴不止一顶帽子。
I am the chairman of the FCC.
我是 FCC 主席。
But I am also a television viewer and the husband and father of other television viewers.
但我也是一名电视观众，也是其他电视观众的丈夫和父亲。
I have seen a great many television programs that seemed to me eminently worthwhile and I am not talking about the much bemoaned good old days of " Playhouse 90 " and " Studio One ."
我看过很多对我来说非常值得的电视节目，我并不是在谈论《Playhouse 90》和《Studio One》那些令人哀叹的美好时光。
I'm talking about this past season.
我说的是上个赛季。
Some were wonderfully entertaining, such as " The Fabulous Fifties ," " The Fred Astaire Show ," and " The Bing Crosby Special "; some were dramatic and moving, such as Conrad's "Victory" and " Twilight Zone "; some were marvelously informative, such as "The Nation's Future," " CBS Reports ," " The Valiant Years ." I could list many more -- programs that I am sure everyone here felt enriched his own life and that of his family.
其中一些非常有趣，例如《神话般的五十年代》、《弗雷德·阿斯泰尔秀》和《平·克罗斯比特别节目》；有些是戏剧性的、感人的，比如康拉德的《胜利》和《暮光之城》；有些内容非常丰富，例如《国家的未来》、《哥伦比亚广播公司报道》、《英勇岁月》。我还可以列出更多的项目，我相信在座的每个人都觉得这些项目丰富了他自己和家人的生活。
When television is good, nothing -- not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers -- nothing is better.
当电视很好时，没有什么比剧院、杂志或报纸更好了。
But when television is bad, nothing is worse.
但当电视很糟糕时，没有什么比这更糟糕了。
I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you.
我邀请你们每个人在你们的电台播出时坐在电视机前，呆在那里一天，没有书，没有杂志，没有报纸，没有损益表或评级簿来分散您的注意力。
Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off.
让你的眼睛盯着那组节目，直到电台停止播放。
I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.
我可以向你保证，你将看到的是一片广阔的荒地。
You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons.
你会看到一系列游戏节目、关于完全令人难以置信的家庭的公式喜剧、血腥和雷霆、混乱、暴力、虐待狂、谋杀、西方坏人、西方好人、私家侦探、黑帮、更多暴力和卡通。
And endlessly, commercials -- many screaming, cajoling, and offending.
还有没完没了的广告——很多是尖叫、哄骗和冒犯性的。
And most of all, boredom.
最重要的是，无聊。
True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy.
确实，您会看到一些您会喜欢的东西。
But they will be very, very few.
但他们会非常非常少。
And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it.
如果你认为我夸大其词，我只是请你尝试一下。
Is there one person in this room who claims that broadcasting can't do better?
在座的有人声称广播不能做得更好吗？
Well a glance at next season's proposed programming can give us little heart.
好吧，看一眼下一季的拟议节目安排，我们就没什么好感了。
Of 73 and 1/2 hours of prime evening time, the networks have tentatively scheduled 59 hours of categories of action-adventure, situation comedy, variety, quiz, and movies.
在73又1/2小时的晚间黄金时段中，各电视台暂定了动作冒险、情景喜剧、综艺、竞猜、电影等类别的59小时。
Is there one network president in this room who claims he can't do better?
这个房间里是否有一位网络总裁声称他不能做得更好？
Well, is there at least one network president who believes that the other networks can do better?
那么，是否至少有一位网络总裁相信其他网络可以做得更好？
Gentlemen, your trust accounting with your beneficiaries is long overdue.
先生们，你们早就该与受益人进行信托会计了。
Never have so few owed so much to so many.
从来没有这么少的人欠这么多人这么多。
Why is so much of television so bad?
为什么这么多电视剧都那么糟糕？
I've heard many answers: demands of your advertisers; competition for ever higher ratings; the need always to attract a mass audience; the high cost of television programs; the insatiable appetite for programming material.
我听到过很多答案：广告商的要求；争夺更高收视率的竞争；始终需要吸引大量观众；电视节目的高成本；对编程材料的贪得无厌的胃口。
These are some of the reasons.
这是一些原因。
Unquestionably, these are tough problems not susceptible to easy answers.
毫无疑问，这些都是棘手的问题，不容易找到答案。
But I am not convinced that you have tried hard enough to solve them.
但我不相信你已经尽了足够的努力来解决这些问题。
I do not accept the idea that the present over-all programming is aimed accurately at the public taste.
我不同意目前的整体节目完全针对公众口味的观点。
The ratings tell us only that some people have their television sets turned on and of that number, so many are tuned to one channel and so many to another.
收视率只告诉我们，有些人打开了电视机，而且有很多人调到一个频道，也有很多人调到另一个频道。
They don't tell us what the public might watch if they were offered half-a-dozen additional choices.
他们没有告诉我们，如果向公众提供六种额外的选择，他们可能会看什么。
A rating, at best, is an indication of how many people saw what you gave them.
评级充其量只能表明有多少人看到了您给他们的内容。
Unfortunately, it does not reveal the depth of the penetration, or the intensity of reaction, and it never reveals what the acceptance would have been if what you gave them had been better -- if all the forces of art and creativity and daring and imagination had been unleashed.
不幸的是，它没有揭示渗透的深度或反应的强度，也从未揭示如果你给他们的东西更好——如果所有的艺术、创造力、勇气和想象力都被释放出来，他们的接受程度会是怎样。
I believe in the people's good sense and good taste, and I am not convinced that the people's taste is as low as some of you assume.
我相信人们的理智和品味，但我不相信人们的品味像你们有些人想象的那么低。
My concern with the rating services is not with their accuracy.
我对评级服务的担忧不在于其准确性。
Perhaps they are accurate.
也许它们是准确的。
I really don't know.
我真的不知道。
What, then, is wrong with the ratings?
那么，评级有什么问题呢？
It's not been their accuracy -- it's been their use.
问题不在于它们的准确性，而在于它们的使用。
Certainly, I hope you will agree that ratings should have little influence where children are concerned.
当然，我希望您会同意，收视率对儿童的影响应该很小。
The best estimates indicate that during the hours of 5 to 6 P.M.
最佳估计表明，下午 5 点至 6 点期间。
sixty per cent of your audience is composed of children under twelve.
百分之六十的观众是十二岁以下的儿童。
And most young children today, believe it or not, spend as much time watching television as they do in the schoolroom.
不管你信不信，今天的大多数孩子看电视的时间和在教室里花的时间一样多。
I repeat -- let that sink in, ladies and gentlemen -- most young children today spend as much time watching television as they do in the schoolroom.
我再说一遍——女士们先生们，请大家记住这一点——今天大多数幼儿看电视的时间与在教室里花的时间一样多。
It used to be said that there were three great influences on a child: home, school, and church.
过去常说，对孩子的影响最大的有三大：家庭、学校、教堂。
Today, there is a fourth great influence, and you ladies and gentlemen in this room control it.
今天，有第四个巨大的影响力，在座的女士们、先生们控制着它。
If parents, teachers, and ministers conducted their responsibilities by following the ratings, children would have a steady diet of ice cream, school holidays, and no Sunday school.
如果家长、教师和牧师按照评级履行自己的职责，孩子们就会稳定地吃冰淇淋、学校放假，并且不再需要主日学校。
What about your responsibilities?
你的职责呢？
Is there no room on television to teach, to inform, to uplift, to stretch, to enlarge the capacities of our children?
难道电视就没有空间来教导、告知、提升、拓展和扩大我们孩子的能力吗？
Is there no room for programs deepening their understanding of children in other lands?
是否没有开展项目来加深他们对其他国家儿童的了解？
Is there no room for a children's news show explaining something to them about the world at their level of understanding?
儿童新闻节目没有空间向他们解释他们理解的世界吗？
Is there no room for reading the great literature of the past, for teaching them the great traditions of freedom?
难道没有空间去阅读过去的伟大文学，向他们传授自由的伟大传统吗？
There are some fine children's shows, but they are drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence, and more violence.
有一些不错的儿童节目，但它们被大量的卡通、暴力和更多的暴力所淹没。
Must these be your trademarks?
这些一定是您的商标吗？
Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day.
扪心自问，看看您是否能为年轻的受益人提供更多，您每天花费大量时间来引导他们的未来。
Now what about adult programming and ratings?
现在成人节目和收视率怎么样？
You know, newspaper publishers take popularity ratings too.
你知道，报纸出版商也会评估受欢迎程度。
And the answers are pretty clear: It is almost always the comics, followed by advice to the lovelorn columns.
答案很明确：几乎总是漫画，然后是对失恋专栏的建议。
But, ladies and gentlemen, the news is still on the front page of all newspapers; the editorials are not replaced by more comics; and the newspapers have not become one long collection of advice to the lovelorn.
但是，女士们先生们，这个消息仍然出现在所有报纸的头版上；社论没有被更多的漫画所取代；报纸并没有成为给失恋者提供长篇建议的合集。
Yet newspapers do not even need a license from the government to be in business; they do not use public property.
然而报纸甚至不需要政府的许可即可开展业务；他们不使用公共财产。
But in television, where your responsibilities as public trustees are so plain, the moment that the ratings indicate that westerns are popular there are new imitations of westerns on the air faster than the old coaxial cable could take us from Hollywood to New York.
但在电视领域，作为公共受托人的责任非常明确，一旦收视率表明西部片很受欢迎，就会出现新的西部片模仿品，比旧同轴电缆将我们从好莱坞带到纽约的速度还要快。
Broadcasting cannot continue to live by the numbers.
广播不能继续靠数字生存。
Ratings ought to be the slave of the broadcaster, not his master.
收视率应该是广播公司的奴隶，而不是他的主人。
And you and I both know -- You and I both know that the rating services themselves would agree.
你和我都知道——你和我都知道评级服务本身会同意。
Let me make clear that what I am talking about is balance.
让我澄清一下，我所说的是平衡。
I believe that the public interest is made up of many interests.
我认为公共利益是由多种利益组成的。
There are many people in this great country and you must serve all of us.
这个伟大的国家有很多人，你必须为我们所有人服务。
You will get no argument from me if you say that, given a choice between a western and a symphony, more people will watch the western.
如果你说，如果在西部片和交响乐之间做出选择，更多的人会看西部片，你不会跟我争论。
I like westerns too, but a steady diet for the whole country is obviously not in the public interest.
我也喜欢西方人，但全国稳定饮食显然不符合公众利益。
We all know that people would more often prefer to be entertained than stimulated or informed.
我们都知道，人们往往更喜欢被娱乐而不是被刺激或了解情况。
But your obligations are not satisfied if you look only to popularity as a test of what to broadcast.
但是，如果您仅将受欢迎程度作为广播内容的测试标准，那么您的义务就没有得到满足。
You are not only in show business; you are free to communicate ideas as well as relaxation.
你不仅从事演艺事业；您可以自由地交流想法并放松身心。
And as Governor Collins said to you yesterday when he encouraged you to editorialize -- as you know the FCC has now encouraged editorializing for years.
正如柯林斯州长昨天鼓励你们发表社论时对你们所说的那样——正如你们所知，联邦通信委员会多年来一直鼓励发表社论。
We want you to do this; we want you to editorialize, take positions.
我们希望你这样做；我们希望你发表社论，表明立场。
We only ask that you do it in a fair and a responsible manner.
我们只要求您以公平和负责任的方式做到这一点。
Those stations that have editorialized have demonstrated to you that the FCC will always encourage a fair and responsible clash of opinion.
那些发表社论的电台已经向您表明，联邦通信委员会将始终鼓励公平和负责任的意见冲突。
You must provide a wider range of choices, more diversity, more alternatives.
你必须提供更广泛的选择、更多的多样性、更多的选择。
It is not enough to cater to the nation's whims; you must also serve the nation's needs.
仅仅迎合国家的一时兴起是不够的；你还必须服务于国家的需要。
And I would add this: that if some of you persist in a relentless search for the highest rating and the lowest common denominator, you may very well lose your audience.
我想补充一点：如果你们中的一些人坚持不懈地寻求最高收视率和最低公分母，那么您很可能会失去观众。
Because, to paraphrase a great American who was recently my law partner, the people are wise, wiser than some of the broadcasters -- and politicians -- think.
因为，用一位最近担任我法律合伙人的伟大美国人的话来说，人民是明智的，比一些广播公司和政客想象的更明智。
As you may have gathered, I would like to see television improved.
正如你们可能已经了解到的那样，我希望看到电视得到改进。
But how is this to be brought about?
但这要如何实现呢？
By voluntary action by the broadcasters themselves?
是广播公司自己自愿采取的行动吗？
By direct government intervention?
通过政府直接干预？
Or how?
或者如何？
Let me address myself now to my role not as a viewer but as chairman of the FCC.
现在让我谈谈我的角色，不是作为观众，而是作为 FCC 主席。
I could not if I would, chart for you this afternoon in detail all of the actions I contemplate.
如果我愿意的话，我无法在今天下午为您详细列出我考虑的所有行动。
Instead, I want to make clear some of the fundamental principles which guide me.
相反，我想阐明一些指导我的基本原则。
First: the people own the air.
第一：人民拥有空气。
And they own it as much in prime evening time as they do at six o'clock Sunday morning.
他们在晚上的黄金时间和周日早上六点钟拥有它一样多。
For every hour that the people give you -- you owe them something.
人们为你付出的每一个小时——你都欠他们一些东西。
And I intend to see that your debt is paid with service.
我打算让你的债务通过服务来偿还。
Second: I think it would be foolish and wasteful for us to continue any worn-out wrangle over the problems of payola , rigged quiz shows , and other mistakes of the past.
第二：我认为，如果我们继续就工资问题、被操纵的问答节目和过去的其他错误问题进行任何无聊的争论，那将是愚蠢和浪费的。
There are laws on the books which we will enforce.
我们将执行书面法律。
But there is no chip on my shoulder.
但我的肩膀上没有任何芯片。
We live together in perilous, uncertain times; we face together staggering problems; and we must not waste much time now by rehashing the clich�s of past controversy.
我们共同生活在危险、不确定的时代；我们共同面临着令人震惊的问题；我们现在不能浪费太多时间去重复过去争议的陈词滥调。
To quarrel over the past is to lose the future.
为过去争吵就等于失去未来。
Third: I believe in the free enterprise system.
第三：我相信自由企业制度。
I want to -- I want to see broadcasting improved, and I want you to do the job.
我希望——我希望看到广播得到改善，我希望你能完成这项工作。
I am proud to champion your cause.
我很自豪能够支持你们的事业。
It is not rare for American businessmen to serve a public trust.
美国商人为公众信托服务的情况并不罕见。
Yours is a special trust because it is imposed by law.
您的信托是一项特殊信托，因为它是由法律规定的。
Fourth: I will do all I can to help educational television.
第四：我会尽我所能帮助教育电视台。
There are still not enough educational stations, and major centers of the country still lack usable educational channels.
教育站仍然不够，全国主要中心仍然缺乏可用的教育渠道。
If there were a limited number of printing presses in this country, you may be sure that a fair proportion of them would be put to educational use.
如果这个国家的印刷机数量有限，您可以确信其中相当一部分将用于教育用途。
Educational television has an enormous contribution to make to the future, and I intend to give it a hand along the way.
教育电视可以为未来做出巨大的贡献，我打算一路向它伸出援手。
If there is not a nation-wide educational television system in this country, it will not be the fault of the FCC.
如果这个国家没有全国性的教育电视系统，那也不是联邦通信委员会的错。
Fifth: I am unalterably opposed to governmental censorship.
第五：我坚决反对政府审查。
There will be no suppression of programming which does not meet with bureaucratic tastes.
不符合官僚品味的节目不会受到压制。
Censorship strikes at the tap root of our free society.
审查制度打击了我们自由社会的根基。
Sixth: I did not come to Washington to idly observe the squandering of the public's airwaves.
第六：我来华盛顿并不是为了闲逛公众广播电视的浪费。
The squandering of our airwaves is no less important than the lavish waste of any precious natural resource.
浪费我们的电波与浪费任何宝贵的自然资源一样重要。
I intend to take the job of chairman of the FCC very seriously.
我打算非常认真地对待 FCC 主席的工作。
I happen to believe in the gravity of my own particular sector of the New Frontier.
我碰巧相信我自己所在的新前沿领域的重要性。
There will be times perhaps when you will consider that I take myself or my job too seriously.
有时你可能会认为我把自己或我的工作看得太严肃了。
Frankly, I don't care if you do.
坦白说，我不在乎你是否这样做。
For I am convinced that either one takes this job seriously -- or one can be seriously taken.
因为我确信，要么一个人认真对待这份工作，要么一个人可以认真对待。
Now how will these principles be applied?
现在这些原则将如何应用？
Clearly at the heart of the FCC's authority lies its power to license, to renew or fail to renew, or to revoke a license.
显然，FCC 权力的核心在于其颁发许可证、更新或不更新许可证或撤销许可证的权力。
As you know, when your license comes up for renewal, your performance is compared with your promises.
如您所知，当您的许可证需要更新时，我们会将您的表现与您的承诺进行比较。
I understand that many people feel that in the past licenses were often renewed pro forma .
据我了解，很多人认为过去许可证经常会以形式续签。
I say to you now: renewal will not be pro forma in the future.
我现在告诉你：以后续约不再是备考。
There is nothing permanent or sacred about a broadcast license.
广播许可证没有任何永久或神圣的意义。
But simply matching promises and performance is not enough.
但仅仅将承诺和绩效相匹配是不够的。
I intend to do more.
我打算做得更多。
I intend to find out whether the people care.
我想知道人们是否关心。
I intend to find out whether the community which each broadcaster serves believes he has been serving the public interest.
我想了解每个广播公司所服务的社区是否认为他一直在为公众利益服务。
When a renewal is set down for a hearing, I intend, whenever possible, to hold a well-advertised public hearing, right in the community you have promised to serve.
当续订听证会时，我打算尽可能在您承诺服务的社区举行一场广为宣传的公开听证会。
I want the people who own the air and the homes that television enters to tell you and the FCC what's been going on.
我希望拥有空气和电视进入家庭的人们告诉你和联邦通信委员会正在发生的事情。
I want the people -- if they're truly interested in the service you give them -- to make notes, document cases, tell us the facts.
我希望人们——如果他们真正对你提供的服务感兴趣的话——做笔记、记录案例、告诉我们事实。
And for those few of you who really believe that the public interest is merely what interests the public, I hope that these hearings will arouse no little interest.
对于那些真正相信公共利益只是公众感兴趣的人来说，我希望这些听证会能够引起不小的兴趣。
The FCC has a fine reserve of monitors -- almost 180 million Americans gathered around 56 million sets.
FCC 拥有大量显示器储备——近 1.8 亿美国人聚集了大约 5600 万台显示器。
If you want those monitors to be your friends at court, it's up to you.
如果您希望这些监视器成为您在法庭上的朋友，这取决于您。
Now some of you may say, "Yes, but I still do not know where the line is between a grant of a renewal and the hearing you just spoke of." My answer is: Why should you want to know how close you can come to the edge of the cliff?
现在你们中的一些人可能会说：“是的，但我仍然不知道授予续展和你刚才所说的听证会之间的界限在哪里。”我的答案是：你为什么要知道自己距离悬崖边缘有多近？
What the Commission asks of you is to make a conscientious, good-faith effort to serve the public interest.
委员会要求你们认真、真诚地努力为公共利益服务。
Everyone of you serves a community in which the people would benefit by educational, and religious, instructive and other public service programming.
你们每个人都服务于一个社区，在这个社区中，人们可以从教育、宗教、教育和其他公共服务项目中受益。
Every one of you serves an area which has local needs -- as to local elections, controversial issues, local news, local talent.
你们每个人服务的领域都有当地的需求——比如地方选举、有争议的问题、当地新闻、当地人才。
Make a serious, genuine effort to put on that programming.
认真、真诚地努力进行该计划。
And when you do, you will not be playing brinkmanship with the public interest.
当你这样做时，你就不会以公共利益为代价玩边缘政策。
Now what I've been saying applies to the broadcast stations.
现在我所说的也适用于广播电台。
Now a station break for the networks -- and will last even longer than 40 seconds: You networks know your importance in this great industry.
现在网络有一个休息时间，并且持续时间甚至超过 40 秒：你们网络知道你们在这个伟大行业中的重要性。
Today, more than one half of all hours of television station programming comes from the networks; in prime time, this rises to more than three fourths of the available hours.
如今，电视台节目的一半以上来自网络；在黄金时段，这个时间会上升到可用时间的四分之三以上。
You know that the FCC has been studying network operations for some time.
您知道，FCC 研究网络运营已有一段时间了。
I intend to press this to a speedy conclusion with useful results.
我打算尽快得出结论并取得有用的结果。
I can tell you right now, however, that I am deeply concerned with concentration of power in the hands of the networks.
然而，我现在可以告诉你，我对权力集中在网络手中深感担忧。
As a result, too many local stations have foregone any efforts at local programming, with little use of live talent and local service.
结果，太多地方电视台放弃了本地节目制作的努力，很少使用现场人才和本地服务。
Too many local stations operate with one hand on the network switch and the other on a projector loaded with old movies.
太多的本地电台都用一只手操作网络交换机，另一只手操作装有旧电影的投影仪。
We want the individual stations to be free to meet their legal responsibilities to serve their communities.
我们希望各个电视台能够自由地履行其为社区服务的法律责任。
I join Governor Collins in his views so well expressed to the advertisers who use the public air.
我和柯林斯州长一样向使用公共广播的广告商表达了他的观点。
And I urge the networks to join him and undertake a very special mission on behalf of this industry.
我敦促各网络加入他的行列，代表这个行业承担一项非常特殊的使命。
You can tell your advertisers, "This is the high quality we are going to serve -- take it or other people will.
你可以告诉你的广告商，“这就是我们要提供的高品质——接受它，否则其他人就会接受。
If you think you can find a better place to move automobiles, cigarettes, and soap, then go ahead and try." Tell your sponsors to be less concerned with costs per thousand and more concerned with understanding per millions.
如果你认为可以找到更好的地方来搬运汽车、香烟和肥皂，那就去尝试吧。”告诉你的赞助商不要太关心每千人的成本，而更关心每百万人的理解。
And remind your stockholders that an investment in broadcasting is buying a share in public responsibility.
并提醒股东，对广播的投资就是购买公共责任的一部分。
The networks can start this industry on the road to freedom from the dictatorship of numbers.
网络可以让这个行业走上摆脱数字独裁的自由之路。
But there is more to the problem than network influences on stations or advertiser influences on networks.
但问题不仅仅是网络对电台的影响或广告商对网络的影响。
I know the problems networks face in trying to clear some of their best programs -- the informational programs that exemplify public service.
我知道网络在试图清理一些最好的项目——体现公共服务的信息项目时所面临的问题。
They are your finest hours, whether sustaining or commercial, whether regularly scheduled or special.
这是你最美好的时光，无论是持续的还是商业的，无论是定期安排的还是特殊的。
These are the signs that broadcasting knows the way to leadership.
这些迹象表明广播业知道通往领导地位的道路。
They make the public's trust in you a wise choice.
他们使公众对你的信任成为明智的选择。
They should be seen.
他们应该被看到。
As you know, we are readying for use new forms by which broadcast stations will report their programming to the Commission.
如您所知，我们正在准备使用新的表格，广播电台将通过这些表格向委员会报告其节目。
You probably also know that special attention will be paid in these forms to reports of public service programming.
您可能还知道，这些形式将特别关注公共服务规划的报告。
I believe that stations taking network service should also be required to report the extent of the local clearance of network public service programs, and when they fail to clear them, they should explain why.
我认为，也应该要求接受网络服务的电视台报告当地网络公共服务节目的审批情况，未通过的，应当说明原因。
If it is to put on some outstanding local program, this is one reason.
如果要上演一些优秀的本地节目，这也是原因之一。
But if it is simply to run an old movie, that's an entirely different matter.
但如果只是单纯的经营一部老电影，那就完全是另外一回事了。
And the Commission should consider such clearance reports carefully when making up its mind about the licensee's over-all programming.
委员会在对被许可人的整体规划做出决定时应仔细考虑此类许可报告。
We intend to move -- and as you know, and as I want to say publicly, the FCC was rapidly moving in other new areas before the new Administration arrived in Washington.
我们打算采取行动——正如你所知，正如我想公开表示的那样，在新政府抵达华盛顿之前，联邦通信委员会正在其他新领域迅速采取行动。
And I want to pay my public respects to my very able predecessor, Fred Ford, and to my colleagues on the Commission, each of whom has welcomed me to the FCC with warmth and cooperation.
我想向我非常有能力的前任弗雷德·福特以及我在委员会的同事致以公开的敬意，他们每个人都以热情和合作的态度欢迎我来到 FCC。
We have approved an experiment with pay TV, and in New York we are testing the potential of UHF broadcasting .
我们已经批准了一项付费电视实验，并且在纽约我们正在测试超高频广播的潜力。
Either or both of these may revolutionize television.
其中任何一个或两者都可能彻底改变电视。
Only a foolish prophet would venture to guess the direction they will take, and their effect.
只有愚蠢的先知才会冒险猜测他们将采取的方向及其效果。
But we intend that they shall be explored fully, for they are part of broadcasting's New Frontier.
但我们打算对它们进行充分的探索，因为它们是广播新领域的一部分。
The questions surrounding pay TV are largely economic.
围绕付费电视的问题主要是经济问题。
The questions surrounding UHF are largely technological.
围绕超高频的问题主要是技术性的。
We are going to give the infant -- the infant pay TV a chance to prove whether it can offer a useful service; we are going to protect it from those who would strangle it in its crib.
我们要给婴儿——婴儿付费电视一个机会来证明它是否能提供有用的服务；我们将保护它免遭那些将其勒死在婴儿床上的人的侵害。
As for UHF, I'm sure you know about our test in the canyons of New York City.
至于超高频，我相信您知道我们在纽约市峡谷进行的测试。
We will take every possible positive step to break through the allocations barrier into UHF.
我们将采取一切可能的积极步骤来突破超高频的分配障碍。
We will put this sleeping giant to use and in the years ahead we may have twice as many channels operating in cities where now there are only two or three.
我们将利用这个沉睡的巨人，在未来的几年里，我们在目前只有两三个的城市中运营的渠道数量可能会增加一倍。
We may have a half dozen networks instead of three.
我们可能有六个网络而不是三个。
I have told you that I believe in the free enterprise system.
我已经告诉过你，我相信自由企业制度。
I believe that most of television's problems stem from lack of competition.
我相信电视的大部分问题都源于缺乏竞争。
This is the importance of UHF to me: with more channels on the air, we will be able to provide every community with enough stations to offer service to all parts of the public.
这就是超高频对我的重要性：随着更多频道的播出，我们将能够为每个社区提供足够的电台，为所有公众提供服务。
Programs with a mass market appeal required by mass product advertisers certainly will still be available.
大众产品广告商所要求的具有大众市场吸引力的节目肯定仍然会存在。
But other stations will recognize the need to appeal to more limited markets and to special tastes.
但其他电视台将认识到需要吸引更有限的市场和特殊品味。
In this way, we can all have a much wider range of programs.
通过这种方式，我们都可以拥有更广泛的项目。
Television should thrive on this competition, and the country should benefit from alternative sources of service to the public.
电视应该在这场竞争中蓬勃发展，而国家应该从向公众提供的替代服务来源中受益。
And, Governor Collins, I hope the NAB will benefit from many new members.
柯林斯州长，我希望国民银行能够从许多新成员中受益。
Another and perhaps the most important frontier: Television will rapidly join the parade into space.
另一个也许是最重要的前沿：电视将迅速加入太空行列。
International television will be with us soon.
国际电视节目很快就会与我们见面。
No one knows how long it will be until a broadcast from a studio in New York will be viewed in India as well as in Indiana, will be seen in the Congo as it is seen in Chicago.
没有人知道要多久，纽约演播室的转播才能在印度和印第安纳州看到，在刚果也能像在芝加哥一样看到。
But as surely as we are meeting here today, that day will come; and once again our world will shrink.
但正如我们今天在这里聚会一样，那一天一定会到来。我们的世界将再次缩小。
What will the people of other countries think of us when they see our western bad men and good men punching each other in the jaw in between the shooting?
当其他国家的人民看到我们西方的坏人和好人在枪击事件中互相殴打对方的下巴时，他们会怎么看我们？
What will the Latin American or African child learn of America from this great communications industry?
拉丁美洲或非洲的孩子将从美国这个伟大的通信行业学到什么？
We cannot permit television in its present form to be our voice overseas.
我们不能允许目前形式的电视成为我们在海外的声音。
There is your challenge to leadership.
这是你对领导力的挑战。
You must reexamine some fundamentals of your industry.
您必须重新审视您所在行业的一些基本原理。
You must open your minds and open your hearts to the limitless horizons of tomorrow.
你们必须敞开心扉，敞开心扉，迎接明天无限的视野。
I can suggest some words that should serve to guide you:
我可以建议一些可以指导您的词语：
Television and all who participate in it are jointly accountable to the American public for respect for the special needs of children, for community responsibility, for the advancement of education and culture, for the acceptability of the program materials chosen, for decency and decorum in production, and for propriety in advertising.
电视和所有电视参与者共同对美国公众负责，尊重儿童的特殊需要、社区责任、教育和文化的进步、所选节目材料的可接受性、制作的正派和礼仪以及广告的得体。
This responsibility cannot be discharged by any given group of programs, but can be discharged only through the highest standards of respect for the American home, applied to every moment of every program presented by television.
这一责任不能由任何特定的节目组来履行，而只能通过对美国家庭的最高标准的尊重来履行，并应用于电视播放的每个节目的每一个时刻。
Program materials should enlarge the horizons of the viewer, provide him with wholesome entertainment, afford helpful stimulation, and remind him of the responsibilities which the citizen has towards his society.
节目材料应该扩大观众的视野，为他们提供健康的娱乐，提供有益的刺激，并提醒他们公民对社会的责任。
Now those are not my words.
现在这些不是我的话。
They are yours.
他们是你的。
They are taken literally, verbatim, from your own Television Code.
它们是逐字逐字地取自您自己的电视代码。
They reflect the leadership and aspirations of your own great industry.
它们反映了您所在行业的领导力和抱负。
I urge you to respect them as I do.
我敦促您像我一样尊重他们。
And I urge you to respect the intelligent and farsighted leadership of Governor LeRoy Collins, and to make this meeting a creative act.
我敦促你们尊重勒罗伊·柯林斯州长的明智和富有远见的领导，并使这次会议成为一次创造性的活动。
I urge you at this meeting and, after you leave, back home, at your stations and your networks, to strive ceaselessly to improve your product and to better serve your viewers, the American people.
我敦促你们在这次会议上，以及在你们离开后回到家乡，在你们的电视台和你们的网络上，不断努力改进你们的产品，更好地为你们的观众、美国人民服务。
I hope that we at the FCC will not allow ourselves to become so bogged down in the mountain of papers, hearings, memoranda, orders, and the daily routine that we close our eyes to this wider view of the public interest.
我希望联邦通信委员会不要让自己陷入堆积如山的文件、听证会、备忘录、命令和日常事务中，以至于对更广泛的公共利益视野视而不见。
And I hope that you broadcasters will not permit yourselves to become so absorbed in the daily chase for ratings, sales, and profits that you lose this wider view.
我希望你们广播公司不要让自己过于专注于每天对收视率、销量和利润的追逐，以至于失去了更广阔的视野。
Now more than ever before in broadcasting's history the times demand the best of all of us.
现在，时代比广播历史上的任何时候都更加需要我们所有人的最佳表现。
We need imagination in programming, not sterility; creativity, not imitation; experimentation, not conformity; excellence, not mediocrity.
编程需要想象力，而不是枯燥无味；创意，而非模仿；实验，而不是随波逐流；卓越，不平庸。
Television is filled with creative, imaginative people.
电视里充满了富有创造力和想象力的人们。
You must strive to set them free.
你必须努力让他们自由。
Television in its young life has had many hours of greatness -- its " Victory at Sea ," its Army-McCarthy hearings, its "Peter Pan," its " Kraft Theaters ," its " See It Now ," its " Project XX ," the World Series , its political conventions and campaigns, and the Great Debates .
电视在其年轻的生命中曾有过许多伟大的时刻——它的“海上胜利”，它的陆军-麦卡锡听证会，它的“彼得潘”，它的“卡夫剧院”，它的“立即观看”，它的“XX计划”，世界大赛，它的政治大会和运动，以及大辩论。
And it's had its endless hours of mediocrity and its moments of public disgrace.
它也有过无数次的平庸和公众耻辱的时刻。
There are estimates today that the average viewer spends about 200 minutes daily with television, while the average reader spends 38 minutes with magazines, 40 minutes with newspapers.
据估计，当今观众平均每天花大约 200 分钟看电视，而读者平均花 38 分钟看杂志、40 分钟看报纸。
Television has grown faster than a teenager, and now it is time to grow up.
电视的成长速度比青少年还要快，现在是时候长大了。
What you gentlemen broadcast through the people's air affects the people's taste, their knowledge, their opinions, their understanding of themselves and of their world -- and their future.
先生们，你们通过人民广播传播的内容影响着人民的品味、他们的知识、他们的观点、他们对自己、对世界以及他们的未来的理解。
Just think for a moment of the impact of broadcasting in the past few days.
想一想过去几天广播的影响吧。
Yesterday was one of the great days of my life.
昨天是我一生中最伟大的日子之一。
Last week the President asked me to ride over with him when he came to speak here at the NAB.
上周，总统来国民银行演讲时邀请我和他一起骑行。
And when I went to the White House he said, "Do you think it would be a good idea to take Commander Shepard ?" And, of course, I said it would be magnificent.
当我去白宫时，他说：“你认为带上谢泼德司令是个好主意吗？”当然，我说过那会很棒。
And I was privileged to ride here yesterday in a car with the President and the Vice President, Commander and Mrs. Shepard.
昨天我很荣幸能与总统、副总统、谢泼德司令和夫人一起乘车来到这里。
This was an unexpected, unscheduled stop.
这是一次意外的、计划外的停留。
And Commander Shepard said to me, "Where are we going?" "What is this group?" And I said, "This is the National Association of Broadcasters at its annual convention."
谢泼德指挥官对我说：“我们要去哪里？” “这个团体是什么？”我说：“这是全国广播协会的年度大会。”
This is the group, this is the industry that made it possible for millions of Americans to share with you that great moment in history; that his gallant flight was witnessed by millions of anxious Americans who saw in it an intimacy which they could achieve through no other medium, in no other way.
正是这个团体、这个行业让数百万美国人能够与大家分享历史上的伟大时刻；数百万焦虑的美国人目睹了他英勇的飞行，他们在其中看到了一种通过任何其他媒介、任何方式都无法获得的亲密感。
It was one of your finest hours.
这是你最美好的时光之一。
The depth of broadcasting's contribution to public understanding of that event cannot be measured.
广播对公众了解该事件的贡献程度无法衡量。
And it thrilled me -- as a representative of the government that deals with this industry -- to say to Commander Shepard the group that he was about to see.
作为负责该行业的政府代表，我对谢泼德指挥官说他即将见到的小组感到非常兴奋。
I say to you ladies and gentlemen -- I remind you what the President said in his stirring inaugural.
我对你们女士们先生们说——我提醒你们总统在他激动人心的就职演说中所说的话。
He said: Ask not what America can do for you; ask what you can do for America .
他说：不要问美国能为你做什么；要问美国能为你做什么。问问你能为美国做些什么。
1 I say to you ladies and gentlemen: Ask not what broadcasting can do for you; ask what you can do for broadcasting.
1 女士们先生们，我对你们说：不要问广播能为你们做什么；要问广播能为你们做什么。询问你能为广播做什么。
And ask what broadcasting can do for America.
并询问广播能为美国做什么。
I urge you, I urge you to put the people's airwaves to the service of the people and the cause of freedom.
我敦促你们，我敦促你们将人民的广播电台用于为人民服务和自由事业。
You must help prepare a generation for great decisions.
您必须帮助一代人做好做出重大决定的准备。
You must help a great nation fulfill its future.
你必须帮助一个伟大的国家实现它的未来。
Book/CDs by Michael E.
Michael E. 的书籍/CD
Eidenmuller, Published by McGraw-Hill (2008) 1 More precisely, Kennedy stated "...ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
Eidenmuller，麦格劳-希尔出版 (2008) 1 更准确地说，肯尼迪指出“……不要问你的国家能为你做什么，而要问你能为你的国家做什么。”
See also : Mr. Minow's " A Vaster Wasteland " piece in The Atlantic (9 May 2011)
另请参阅：米诺先生在《大西洋月刊》上发表的“广阔荒原”文章（2011 年 5 月 9 日）
Audio Note : AI noise reduction and various digital filters added for clarity and rhetorical force
音频注释：AI降噪和各种数字滤波器的添加，以提高清晰度和修辞力
Page Updated : 5/8/26 U.S. Copyright Status : Text = Public domain.
页面更新：26 年 5 月 8 日美国版权状态：文本 = 公共领域。
Audio = Uncertain.
音频 = 不确定。
Image = Fair Use.
图片=合理使用。
� Copyright 2001-Present.
� 版权所有 2001 年至今。
American Rhetoric.
美国修辞学。
HTML transcription by Joseph M.
HTML 转录由 Joseph M.
Yarbrough & Michael E.
亚伯勒和迈克尔·E.
Eidenmuller.
艾登米勒。