2012年4月7日,邁克·華萊士,一位極具魅力卻又頗具爭(zhēng)議的主持天才告別了世界。他是美國(guó)電視界“教父”級(jí)的人物,他被視為新聞界的“新聞怪杰”,也被稱為主持界的“拷問(wèn)者”。他的離去,讓人為之惋惜;而他的傳奇,將被后人銘記。
Veteran TV newsman Mike Wallace died Saturday night at age 93. Born Myron Wallace in Brookline, Mass., in 1918, the famously tough interviewer known by detractors1) as \"Mike Malice2)\" was the first man hired at CBS's trendsetting3) newsmagazine 60 Minutes, which launched in 1968. Wallace contributed to the program until 2008. His hand-picked4) epitaph5), he said in post-retirement interviews, is \"tough but fair\". Here's a look at the grand inquisitor's6) remarkable life and career.
Wallace's TV career was astonishingly long. \"It's hard to believe, but when Wallace was born, in 1918, there wasn't even a radio in most American homes, much less a TV,\" says former colleague Morley Safer at CBS News. But after starting his career in radio—as the narrator for soaps and serial dramas like The Green Hornet7)—the University of Michigan graduate first appeared on camera in a World War II film for the Navy, then on game shows and other entertainment programs, TV ads for Parliament cigarettes, and finally news.
And he interviewed almost everyone. \"There were very few 20th century icons who didn't submit to8) a Mike Wallace interview,\" says CBS News' Safer. He questioned Vladimir Putin and Yassir Arafat, asked Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini if he was a \"lunatic9)\", made Barbra Streisand cry, and was reduced to tears10) in his own favorite interview with pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Wallace also interviewed every president from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton—George W. Bush was the only one to refuse him an interview, says Roger Friedman in Forbes.
He was a pioneer of hard-hitting11) TV journalism. For any newsmaker with a secret, \"four of the most dreaded12) words in the English language were 'Mike Wallace is here',\" says Adam Bernstein in The Washington Post. Starting with a local New York TV show, Night Beat, in 1956, Wallace \"developed a compelling persona13)\", throwing politicians, celebrities, gangsters14), and other subjects off-guard15) with sharp turns into shocking direct questions. He also helped popularize hidden-camera exposés and \"ambush16)\" interviews. \"He paved the way for how investigative journalism is done on television,\" TV historian Ron Simon tells The Washington Post.
But he almost always knew where to draw the line17). \"He loved being Mike Wallace,\" says CBS News chairman Jeff Fager. \"He loved the fact that if he showed up for an interview, it made people nervous.\" At the same time, \"I don't recall anybody ever saying to me, 'He took a cheap shot18)',\" says Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. \"He actually was trying to serve the audience, and that's what made him great.\"
Still, he changed TV news for the better19). Lots of Wallace's contemporaries20) practiced their own adversarial21) styles of journalism, says James Poniewozik in TIME. But \"Wallace, with his hawk-like22) attentiveness and softly disarming23) questions, came to personify the devastating interview because, as the head of the 60 Minutes team, he knew how to make good journalism into good TV.\" His turn as \"television's grand inquisitor\" is a testament24) to how good reporting and compelling TV, plus \"the occasional willingness to call B.S.25) on a subject's answers, could affect change.\" Among the ways he changed TV news \"for the better\", says former colleague Dan Rather: It \"became more investigative, more aggressive and relevant\". It will never be the same.
資深電視新聞人邁克·華萊士于周六晚(編注:2012年4月7日)辭世,享年93歲。邁克·華萊士原名邁倫·華萊士,1918年出生于馬薩諸塞州的布魯克萊恩鎮(zhèn),這位以強(qiáng)硬而著稱的訪談節(jié)目主持人被其批評(píng)者稱為“不懷好意的邁克”。他是美國(guó)哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS)風(fēng)格創(chuàng)新的電視新聞雜志欄目《60分鐘》聘用的第一位工作人員,該節(jié)目始播于1968年,華萊士一直為其效力到2008年。他在退休后接受采訪時(shí)談到,他為自己精心挑選的墓志銘是“強(qiáng)硬但公正”。下面一起回顧一下這位偉大的拷問(wèn)者不凡的一生和輝煌的職業(yè)生涯吧。
華萊士的電視主持生涯長(zhǎng)得驚人。“說(shuō)起來(lái)令人難以置信,但在1918年華萊士出生時(shí),大多數(shù)美國(guó)家庭甚至連一個(gè)收音機(jī)都沒(méi)有,更不用說(shuō)電視了?!盋BS新聞網(wǎng)的老同事莫利·塞弗說(shuō)。華萊士的職業(yè)生涯始于廣播,那時(shí)他為多部肥皂劇和《青蜂俠》一類的系列廣播劇擔(dān)當(dāng)旁白敘述,此后,這位密歇根大學(xué)的畢業(yè)生先是出演了一部專為海軍拍攝的二戰(zhàn)影片,接著開(kāi)始主持游戲類節(jié)目和其他娛樂(lè)節(jié)目,還曾為“百樂(lè)門(mén)”牌香煙拍過(guò)廣告,最后才開(kāi)始主持新聞?lì)惞?jié)目。
他幾乎采訪過(guò)每一位大人物?!?0世紀(jì)的標(biāo)志性人物中,沒(méi)有接受過(guò)邁克·華萊士采訪的寥寥無(wú)幾。” CBS新聞網(wǎng)的塞弗說(shuō)。華萊士曾質(zhì)問(wèn)過(guò)弗拉基米爾·普京和亞西爾·阿拉法特(編注:曾任巴勒斯坦總統(tǒng)),詢問(wèn)過(guò)伊朗的阿亞圖拉·霍梅尼(編注:伊朗精神領(lǐng)袖)是不是“瘋子”;他曾讓芭芭拉·史翠珊(編注:美國(guó)女藝人)潸然淚下,也曾在自己最喜愛(ài)的對(duì)鋼琴家弗拉基米爾·霍羅威茨的采訪中潸然淚下。華萊士還采訪過(guò)歷屆美國(guó)總統(tǒng),從約翰·F·肯尼迪到比爾·克林頓,而喬治·W·布什是唯一一位拒絕接受他采訪的總統(tǒng),羅杰·弗里德曼為《福布斯》雜志撰文時(shí)如是說(shuō)。
他是犀利派電視新聞節(jié)目的先驅(qū)。對(duì)于每一位藏有秘密的新聞人物來(lái)說(shuō),“英語(yǔ)中最令人恐怖的四個(gè)詞莫過(guò)于‘Mike Wallace is here’(邁克·華萊士在此)?!眮啴?dāng)·伯恩斯坦在《華盛頓郵報(bào)》中這樣說(shuō)道。從1956年開(kāi)始主持一檔紐約當(dāng)?shù)仉娨暪?jié)目《晚間節(jié)奏》時(shí)起,華萊士就“塑造了一個(gè)咄咄逼人的人物形象”,趁許多政客、名流、黑幫分子以及其他受訪者毫無(wú)防備之時(shí)突轉(zhuǎn)話鋒,問(wèn)其一些非常直白的問(wèn)題。他還推動(dòng)了使用隱藏照相機(jī)進(jìn)行曝光的做法以及“突襲式”采訪的盛行?!八麨檎{(diào)查性新聞采訪如何在電視上運(yùn)作鋪平了道路?!彪娨暁v史學(xué)家羅恩·西蒙在接受《華盛頓郵報(bào)》采訪時(shí)說(shuō)。
但他幾乎總是知道底線在哪里?!八矚g做邁克·華萊士,”CBS新聞網(wǎng)主席杰夫·法格說(shuō)道,“只要他一出現(xiàn)在采訪現(xiàn)場(chǎng),人們就會(huì)非常緊張,他就是喜歡這種感覺(jué)?!迸c此同時(shí),“我不記得有任何人跟我說(shuō)過(guò)‘他血口噴人’,”??怂剐侣劸W(wǎng)主席羅杰·艾爾斯談到,“他其實(shí)在努力為觀眾服務(wù),而這也是他之所以偉大的原因?!?/p>
還有,他改變了電視新聞節(jié)目,使之變得更好。詹姆斯·波尼沃澤克在《時(shí)代周刊》中指出,許多與華萊士同時(shí)代的新聞主持人都有他們自己的對(duì)采訪者充滿敵意的主持風(fēng)格,但“華萊士以他那鷹隼般的專注和不動(dòng)聲色就能令人消除戒備的提問(wèn)成為強(qiáng)硬式采訪的象征,因?yàn)椋鳛椤?0分鐘》制作團(tuán)隊(duì)的負(fù)責(zé)人,他知道怎樣才能把好的新聞做成好的電視節(jié)目”。他搖身一變成為了“電視屏幕上的偉大拷問(wèn)者”,這一轉(zhuǎn)變證明好的報(bào)道和強(qiáng)硬風(fēng)格的電視節(jié)目以及“偶爾稱受訪者的回答為胡說(shuō)八道的做法如何能影響新聞節(jié)目的改變”。他用這些方法改變了電視新聞節(jié)目,“使之變得更好”,他以前的同事丹·拉瑟說(shuō)道:它“變得更注重調(diào)查,更為強(qiáng)勢(shì),也更加中肯”。電視新聞自此再也不同以往。
1.detractor [d#618;#712;traelig;kt#601;(r)] n. 詆毀者,貶低者
2.malice [#712;maelig;l#618;s] n. 惡意
3.trendsetting [#712;trendset#618;#331;] adj. (在思想、服裝式樣等方面)創(chuàng)新風(fēng)的
4.hand-picked: 精心選挑的
5.epitaph [#712;ep#618;tɑ#720;f] n. 墓志銘
6.inquisitor [#618;n#712;kw#618;z#618;t#601;(r)] n. 審訊人;嚴(yán)厲的提問(wèn)者
7.The Green Hornet: 《青蜂俠》,邁克·華萊士于1936年參演的一部廣播劇。
8.submit to: 甘受;向……屈服
9.lunatic [#712;lu#720;n#601;t#618;k] n. 瘋子
10.reduce to tears: 使……難過(guò)得流淚;使……傷心得流淚
11.hard-hitting: (批評(píng))直言不諱的,犀利的
12.dread [dred] vt. 怕;畏懼
13.persona [p#601;#712;s#601;#650;n#601;] n. (同本人真實(shí)品格或性格不一致的)表面形象;面目
14.gangster [#712;ɡaelig;#331;st#601;(r)] n. (結(jié)成團(tuán)伙的)匪徒,流氓
15.off-guard: 毫無(wú)思想準(zhǔn)備的;不提防的
16.ambush [#712;aelig;mb#650;#643;] n. 埋伏;伏擊
17.draw the line: 劃定最后界限
18.cheap shot: 奚落;惡意中傷
Quotations 精彩語(yǔ)錄
1. \"Mike Wallace is here.\"
2. \"I determined that if I was to carve out a piece of reportorial territory for myself it would be [doing] the hard interview, irreverent if necessary, the facade-piercing interview.\"
3. \"Forgive me, but ...\"
4. \"What do you think? Is it a good idea to retire?\"
5. \"To go around the world, to talk to almost anybody you want to talk to, to have enough time on the air, so that you could really tell a full story. What a voyage of discovery it was!\"
6. \"I've written about it. 'Tough, but fair', and that's really for a reporter ... 'Tough but fair'.\"
1. 邁克·華萊士在此。
——《60分鐘》節(jié)目曾經(jīng)制作過(guò)一個(gè)廣告,廣告中提出一個(gè)問(wèn)題:“哪四個(gè)單詞會(huì)讓騙子和流氓聽(tīng)后聞風(fēng)喪膽?”而這就是答案。
2. 我曾下定決心,如果我能開(kāi)創(chuàng)出屬于自己的一片新聞報(bào)道天地,那它將會(huì)是(報(bào)道)強(qiáng)硬的新聞,如果需要不敬的話,更是揭穿表象的新聞。
——很多人不明白邁克·華萊士緣何如此“膽大妄為”,緣何“無(wú)所畏懼”,緣何不愿“采訪膚淺的人”,在被問(wèn)及如何評(píng)價(jià)自己的成就時(shí),邁克·華萊士如是說(shuō)。
3. 原諒我,但是……
——邁克·華萊士擅長(zhǎng)用類似的言語(yǔ)突轉(zhuǎn)話鋒,讓人在毫無(wú)戒備之下便陷入他的尖銳拷問(wèn)中。
4. 你覺(jué)得呢?退休不好嗎?
——2006年,邁克·華萊士在其退休前最后一次采訪了伊朗總統(tǒng)馬哈茂德·艾哈邁迪-內(nèi)賈德,訪談中內(nèi)賈德說(shuō)了句 “我聽(tīng)說(shuō)這是你最后一次采訪”,本想借機(jī)譏諷華萊士,不料卻被華萊士反將一軍。
5. 能夠環(huán)游世界,能夠和幾乎每一個(gè)你想交談的人交談,能擁有足夠的廣播時(shí)間,從而讓你能真正地講述一個(gè)完整的故事。這是怎樣的一次發(fā)現(xiàn)之旅?。?/p>
——邁克·華萊士在接受CBS《晚間新聞》主持人鮑勃·希弗的采訪,談到自己對(duì)工作的理解時(shí)如是說(shuō)。
6. 我已經(jīng)寫(xiě)好了?!皬?qiáng)硬,但卻公正”,這用在一個(gè)記者身上再合適不過(guò)了……“強(qiáng)硬但公正”。
——多少人曾為自己想過(guò)或?qū)戇^(guò)墓志銘?CBS新聞脫口秀主持人凱蒂·庫(kù)里克曾在對(duì)邁克·華萊士的采訪中問(wèn)道“你有沒(méi)有給自己想過(guò)一個(gè)墓志銘?”他毫不猶豫地給出了上面的答案。