褚簡寧 - News dump | 又中又英

　　Media editors and reporters working for TV, radio, print, and online newspapers all recognize a news dump when they see it. Governments, politicians, and corporations often use news dumps when they reach a moment of truth. Media people frown on news dumps because the news dumps come when they are least prepared. A news dump, sometimes called a Friday news dump, is a public relations tactic that governments, politicians, or corporations use. They choose late Friday evenings or holidays to release negative or controversial information to minimize public attention and media coverage.

　　Newsrooms have fewer people working on holidays, late Friday afternoons, and the weekends that follow Fridays. Governments, politicians, and corporations must release negative information when they reach a moment of truth because the public feels it has the right to such information. A moment of truth used this way means the time when difficult decisions must be made. The public and the media will suspect governments, politicians, and corporations of covering up negative information involving them if they avoid or refuse to release the information. That’s why they use news dumps to minimize attention when they reach their moment of truth.

　　A news dump can be just one piece of information or a lot of information. To frown on something means to disapprove of something or to consider it unacceptable. The media frowns on news dumps because understaffed newsrooms must work very hard and quickly to broadcast, publish, or post the released negative information online. The US government has used news dumps during the Christmas and New Year holidays to release sensitive information about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019.

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　　於電視、電台、紙媒和網媒工作的編輯和記者，當見到news dump的時候，都一定能辨認出來。政府、政客和大公司不時在關鍵的決定時刻（moment of truth）會用上news dumps這一招。傳媒人總是對這些news dumps很不以為然（frown on），因為它總在他們最沒準備的時候出現。A news dump，有時被稱為Friday news dump，是政府、政客或大公司所用的一種公關伎倆。他們專挑周五晚間或假日期間，去發放負面或具爭議的資訊，以減低公眾關注和傳媒報道。

　　新聞編輯室在假日、周五下午稍晚時段，以至周五過後的周末，人手都較少。政府、政客和企業到了要開誠布公的決定性時刻（moment of truth），就必須公開負面資訊，因為公眾覺得自己有知情權。A moment of truth在這裏是指要做艱難決定的關鍵時刻。要是政府、政客和企業迴避或拒絕公開某些資訊，公眾和傳媒會質疑他們在隱瞞一些關乎自己的負面資訊。因此，當他們到了不得不說的關鍵時刻（moment of truth），便會用上新聞壓制效應（news dumps）去將公眾關注減到最低。

　　這些在周末給丟出來的新聞（news dump）可以是一則又或眾多的資訊。To frown on something意即不贊成某事，或認為它是難以接受的。傳媒不贊同（frown on）這種意圖掩蓋或壓制的丟新聞手法（news dumps），因為他們必須在新聞室人手不足的情況下拼命工作，務求最快廣播、出版又或在網絡發表那些負面資訊。美國政府在聖誕和新年假期期間，就用了這種新聞壓制效應（news dumps），發放被判有罪的性罪犯傑弗里．愛潑斯坦的敏感資訊，他於2019年在服刑的牢房內被發現死亡。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻