报道世界杯的记者发现：观众数量庞大，但记者正面临和球员类似的挑战

来自轻芒：大家好，我是轻芒的编辑 ronghui，本周我们和大家一起阅读的来自《纽约时报》的文章，是一篇从记者经历的角度对 2019 年世界杯的报道，发布于世界杯落幕之前，我们认为它揭露的问题值得重视：很多人认为女足不及男足受关注，是因为女足的商业价值低、媒体报道少，这篇文章从记者的视角，揭开「女足报道少」的原因。此外，文章提到女性记者在报道运动赛事时的遭遇，你可以看出因性别导致的差异对待，不只发生在球场上。这篇文章提到的介绍女性体育运动的播客《Burn It All Down》，如果大家有兴趣也可以听一听。在最新一期总结本届世界杯时，主播说：「每四年大家都说这会是一次转折，每四年说一遍，但改变并没有发生。可是我们仍然应该乐观，因为改变一定不是因为一件事、一个人而发生的，一定是一群人做了很多个决定推动的。」本文的作者是 Tariq Panja，图文版权来自《纽约时报》。

*Carol Barcellos 正在报道世界杯

MONTPELLIER, France — Eleven million viewers in France. More than 30 million more in Brazil tuning in to watch its long-ignored national team. A tense England-United States semifinal that became — with 11.7 million viewers — the most-watched television program in Britain this year.

法国蒙彼利埃电 - 法国有 1100 万观众；巴西有超过 3000 万人收看长期被忽视的女足国家队。扣人心弦的英格兰女足对阵美国女足的世界杯半决赛凭借 1170 万收视率成为了今年英国收视率最高的电视节目。

The success of this summer’s Women’s World Cup, which will crown its champion Sunday in the French city of Lyon, will be charted in many ways. Money, naturally. But also attendance. Sponsor interest. Water-cooler conversations.

今年夏天的女足世界杯将于周日在法国城市里昂落下帷幕，这届世界杯的成功之处将体现在许多方面：经济效益自不用说，还有观众人数、对赞助商的吸引力，以及给人们留下的谈资。

Perhaps the biggest indicator, though, is a stunning growth in media attention and corresponding growth in viewership for the matches. FIFA issued about 1,300 credentials to print reporters and photographers for the tournament in France, double the number from Canada four years ago. While journalists who regularly follow the game still face significant struggles to produce that coverage — some still cover their own expenses, and women often confront hurdles familiar more universally — many were surprised by the spike in interest in their work this year.

然而，也许最大的风向标还在于媒体关注度的惊人增长，以及对应的比赛收视率增长。国际足联在本届赛事期间向媒体记者和摄影师发放了大约 1300 份许可证，这一数字是四年前加拿大世界杯的两倍。虽然经常关注这项运动的记者在赛事报道方面仍然面临着巨大困难，比如有人仍然是自费报道、女性遇到阻碍的现象更加普遍，但很多人对今年自己的工作所引发的关注激增感到惊讶。

“I’ve been receiving lots of messages, a lot more than I expected,” Carol Barcellos, a correspondent for Brazil’s biggest broadcaster, Globo, said before rushing out for another of the dozens of live broadcasts she produced before Brazil’s game with Australia in the group stage. “People are happy to hear the incredible stories of what it took for these women to play football.”

「我收到了很多信息，数量远远超出了我的预期，」巴西最大的广播公司环球电视台（Globo）通讯记者卡罗尔·巴塞罗斯（Carol Bartherlos）表示。她在巴西女足对战澳大利亚女足的小组赛前制作了几十个直播节目，马上她就要赶去制作另一个节目。「讲述这些女性为踢足球所付出的努力，人们很乐意听到这样的传奇故事。」

Unprecedented viewership in Brazil has been matched elsewhere. French broadcaster TF1 set a viewership record for France’s victory over South Korea in the tournament’s opening match, then broke it with each subsequent game. The BBC’s coverage has done the same in Britain, and from Italy to the Netherlands and as far away as Chile, broadcasters — and viewers — have turned up in record numbers to see their teams and the tournament.

除了巴西的收视率达到史无前例的水平，各地也出现了类似的收视率激增。在本届世界杯法国队战胜韩国队的揭幕赛上，法国广播公司 TF1 迎来了创纪录的收视率，之后的每一场比赛都在不断刷新收视率。BBC 关于女足世界杯的报道也打破了英国的收视纪录，从意大利到荷兰，甚至在遥远的智利，关注世界杯的电视台和收看世界杯的观众都创下了新高。

Even in the United States, a market with a proven appetite for women’s soccer, the numbers are trending up. The Americans’ win over England in the semifinals, watched Tuesday by nearly 7.4 million people, was the highest-rated soccer broadcast in the U.S. since the 2018 men’s World Cup final, breaking a record set last week during their game against France.

在女足运动相对成熟的美国，观看人数也呈现出上升的趋势。近 740 万美国球迷收看了周二美国队淘汰英格兰一战，打破了上周美国队对阵法国队创下的收视纪录，成为 2018 年男足世界杯决赛以来，美国本土收视率最高的足球比赛。

That figure raised hopes that the event’s holy grail — the audience of 23 million that watched the U.S. beat Japan in the 2015 final, still the largest ever to watch a soccer match in America — might be within reach Sunday.

2015 年美国女足打败日本女足的决赛创下了 2300 万收视率，这也成为了美国足球比赛史上收视率最高的比赛，今年世界杯观众人数的增加让人们相信在周日的决赛上，冠军将再次成为美国女足的囊中之物。

But it is on the margins of women’s soccer, in new markets and in others where the game was long treated with indifference, and where coverage of the game still struggles to break through, where the gains have been the most impressive.

然而，在那些女足运动被长期被漠视、对这项运动的报道难以突破、成果却最令人印象深刻的地方，女足运动仍然处于边缘地带。

In soccer-mad Brazil, for example, where few things generate as much attention as the national team at a World Cup, the idea of a broadcaster like Barcellos sending regular dispatches from a soccer tournament in a faraway country was not out of the ordinary.

例如，在痴迷足球运动的巴西，很少有什么事情会像国家队参加世界杯这样引发如此多关注，像巴塞罗斯这样、定期从遥远的国度发回球赛电讯的想法看起来并没什么特别之处。

Only Barcellos’ updates this summer were anything but normal. For decades in Brazil, the World Cup largely has meant only the men’s tournament, even though the country has had South America’s strongest women’s team for generations and its brightest star in the six-time world player of the year, Marta.

但巴塞罗斯今年夏天的最新报道却充满了不寻常。在巴西，几十年来，世界杯在很大程度上只意味着男足世界杯，尽管这个国家历代以来拥有南美最强的女足、拥有荣获六届女足年度最佳球员称号的明星球员玛尔塔（Marta）。

Barcellos’ appearances from France were part of her network’s biggest push ever to showcase the Women’s World Cup in South America’s most-populous country. The national team’s games, from an opening win against Jamaica to its dramatic elimination by host France, were broadcast on the main channel for the first time and narrated by Galvão Bueno, the voice of Brazil’s men’s team.

巴塞罗斯出现在法国报道世界杯，这是她所在的 Globo 有史以来在巴西这个南美洲人口最多的国家展示女足世界杯所做出的努力的一部分。从对战牙买加的首战告捷，到被东道主法国女足戏剧性的淘汰，巴西国家队的比赛首次在主频道播出，并由巴西男足赛事播音员加尔万·布埃诺（Galvão Bueno）进行解说。

Some of the most intense new coverage of this World Cup, however, has been in Britain, where the BBC has used the event to anchor a campaign to showcase women’s sports across its platforms.

然而，论及本届世界杯最密集、最新的报道，还要数英国媒体。BBC 利用本届世界杯开始在其各平台展示女性体育运动。

Some reporters taking in the women’s tournament for the first time have found the sport to be a springboard for discussing wider events with unfamiliar athletes.

一些首次参与女足世界杯报道的记者发现，可以将这项运动作为一个话题，与不熟悉的运动员讨论更多的赛事。

“I’m discovering new things about sport again,” said Giulia Zonca, a writer with the Italian daily La Stampa, who has covered several men’s World Cups and the Olympics. She has found players open and happy to discuss not only the game but also the challenges trying to earn a living from it.

意大利《La Stampa》日报撰稿人朱利亚·佐卡（Giulia Zonca）表示：「我再次发现了体育方面的新东西。」她曾报道过几次男足世界杯和奥运会。她发现女足球员不仅乐于讨论足球这项运动，同时也对靠踢球谋生所面临的挑战直言不讳。

“They are taking up positions,” Zonca added, “and it’s refreshing.”

佐卡补充道：「她们正在获得地位，这让人耳目一新。」

The athletes have noticed a more diverse set of questioners, too.

运动员们也注意到，提问者变得更加多元化。

*Carol Barcellos 在报道巴西队与澳大利亚队比赛

“As much as we love all your men’s faces, the more women the better, I would say,” U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe told a news conference before a game against France. “Of course we want to get more women asking the questions to tell the stories from a different perspective. But also just giving people more opportunities overall will help tell a more complete story of the women’s game and of women’s sports in general.”

美国中场球员梅根·拉皮诺埃（Megan Rapinoe）在对战法国队前的一次新闻发布会上表示：「尽管我们非常欢迎在场的男士，但我想说的是，女士越多越好。我们当然希望有更多的女性记者提问，从不同的角度讲述故事。但总体上给人们更多的机会，这也将有助于更完整地讲述这项女性运动和所有女性与体育有关的故事。」

Renata Mendonca, a journalist who formerly worked with the BBC, took that challenge into her own hands by founding Dibradoras, a media company with a podcast and blog focused solely on women’s soccer in Brazil. She started her company after noticing next to no reporting on the women’s game after the 2015 World Cup. She noted, among other criticisms, that reporters would repeatedly make errors with player names, including sometimes during live television interviews.

曾在 BBC 工作过的记者雷娜塔·蒙东卡（Renata Mendonca）接受了这样的挑战，她创立了 Dibradoras 媒体公司，公司拥有一个专门关注巴西女足的播客和博客。她注意到，2015 年世界杯后几乎没有关于女足比赛的报道，于是她创办了自己的公司。她指出，在对女足报道的众多批评中，还包括很多记者会反复写错球员的名字，电视直播采访中也不乏这样的情况。

That made her see her shift — one that meant lower earnings — as part of a greater cause that, to her, transcends sports.

她从中看到了自己的转变（这种转变意味着收入降低），这是一项更伟大的事业的一部分，对她来说，这一事业超越了体育。

“It’s fight for women to have a voice in society,” Mendoca said. “This is an industry that’s still dominated by men.”

蒙东卡表示：「这是女性在社会中争取发言权的斗争。这仍然是一个由男性主导的行业。」

Changes have not eliminated many hardships that still exist for those who cover women’s soccer. Misogyny and bad pay have been indelible features for journalists trying to carve out a career covering the women’s game, and it remains to be seen if “promotions” to jobs covering women’s soccer will typecast female reporters or damage their chances at more high-profile posts.

对于那些报道女足的人来说，变化还不足以消除她们面临的许多困难。对于试图将报道女足运动作为职业的记者来说，歧视女性和糟糕的薪酬一直是抹不去的特征，而如果通过「升职」的方式让记者报道女足，是否会给女记者定型，又或者是否会对她们获得更高知名度职位的机会造成不利影响，还有待观察。

Some credentialed reporters are paying their own way in France. A few used vacation time to attend the World Cup. Others have had more personal struggles. Take Shireen Ahmed, a Canadian freelance journalist and contributor to “Burn It All Down,” a feminist sports podcast. Shortly before the tournament, Ahmed was targeted on social media after publicly criticizing Copa 90, a global media company that provides soccer content to a core audience of millennial males. When Ahmed suggested the company had erred in including a presenter with a history of sexist social media postings in its Women’s World Cup promotion video, Copa 90 released a statement distancing itself from the posts.

一些有资质的记者自费前往法国报道世界杯。少数人会利用假期去看世界杯。其他人则有更多的个人奋斗历程。以加拿大记者（自由职业者）、女性体育播客《Burn It All Down》撰稿人希琳·艾哈迈德（Shireen Ahmed）为例，在女足世界杯前不久，艾哈迈德公开批评了向千禧一代男性观众提供足球内容的全球媒体公司 Copa 90，之后她便成为了社交媒体的攻击目标。艾哈迈德暗示该公司犯了这样一个错误：其女足世界杯宣传视频中有一位主持人曾发布过具有性别歧视的社交媒体帖子，Copa 90 随即发表了一份与这些帖子撇清关系的声明。

But Ahmed faced an intense, and immediate, backlash all alone.

但艾哈迈德却独自面临着由此而来的密集、直接的强烈抵制。

“It was really traumatizing,” said Ahmed, a Muslim woman who wears a hijab and says she typically braces for abuse whenever she posts about sports. “But I’d probably do all of it again.”

「这真的给我带来了伤害，」艾哈迈德表示。她是一名戴着头巾的穆斯林妇女。她说，每次她发布与体育有关的帖子都会受到辱骂。「但如果再给我一次机会，我应该还会这么做。」

Internet trolling is not limited to Ahmad. (Germany’s team made an entire video mocking it before the tournament.) Alex Scott, a former England national team player and now a respected commentator in Britain, spoke up on the issue after receiving daily abuse throughout last season as she provided analysis on Premier League games.

艾哈迈德并不是网络论战的唯一受害者（德国队在世界杯前制作了一整段视频来嘲讽网络论战）。亚历克斯·斯科特（Alex Scott）是前英格兰国家队球员，现在是英国一位广受推崇的评论员，她在上个赛季分析英超比赛时，每天都会受到谩骂，之后她就这个问题发表了自己的看法。

“I shouldn’t have to go through that,” Scott said on a BBC clip that she has pinned to the top of her Twitter feed.

「我不应该经历那样的事情，」斯科特在 BBC 的一段视频中表示，她已经把它作为推文在自己的 Twitter 上置顶。

A pervading sense of a second-class status is not helped by the economic conditions faced by those who cover women’s soccer. The main women’s soccer writer for one of Britain’s leading outlets was told to pay her own expenses at the World Cup before a backlash from inside the company forced the newspaper to back down.

女足记者所面临的经济状况对其普遍存在的低人一等的地位于事无补。英国一家主流媒体的女足主要撰稿人被告知，由于今年世界杯的报道安排在公司内部遭到强烈反对，而公司暂时还不能及时应对，她暂时需要自费报道世界杯。

Others in France have not been so lucky.

法国的其他人就没有这么幸运了。

Stephanie Meek and Rachel Bach, two 28-year-old Australian photographers, described themselves as “volunteers” at the tournament before agreeing that the description was perhaps not accurate enough.

斯蒂芬妮·米克（Stephanie Meek）和瑞秋·巴赫（Rachel Bach）是两名 28 岁的澳大利亚摄影师，她们称自己是女足比赛的「志愿者」，之后也认同这种描述可能不够准确。

“We’re more like slave labor,” Meek said.

「我们更像是奴隶劳工，」米克说。

She and Bach are providing photos from the World Cup for an Australian website free of charge, something they said they also do when they cover the women’s game at home.

她和巴赫正在为一家澳大利亚网站免费提供世界杯照片，她们表示，在本国报道女足比赛时她们也会这样做。

“We’re willing to do it because we’re passionate, and we believe it needs to be covered,” Meek said.

米克表示：「我们愿意这样做是因为我们有热情，相信这需要被报道出来。」

“We’ve always been told men’s sports have always been more valuable, and that model has not changed yet,” said Jane McManus, a former ESPN columnist who now works as the director of the Center for Sports Communication at Marist College in New York. “I would love to see that model change.”

ESPN 前专栏作家、纽约玛利斯特学院（Marist College）体育传播中心主任简·麦克马纳斯（Jane McManus）表示：「别人总说男性体育一直都更有价值，这种模式还没有得到改变。我希望看到改变。」

As the sport grows in popularity, the question of who gets to cover it will, too. In England, some of the top names in soccer writing have started to follow the sport more closely, particularly since the appointment of Phil Neville, a former England national team and Manchester United player, as England’s coach. That has led to deeper coverage but also to resentment from those with years invested covering the women’s game who now see themselves being pushed to the margins. Sometimes literally.

随着这项运动越来越受欢迎，由谁来报道的问题也会随之出现。在英格兰，足球文章领域的一些顶级人物已经开始更加密切地关注这项运动，前英格兰国家队、曼联球员菲尔·内维尔（Phil Neville）被任命为英格兰女足教练以来，媒体对于女足的关注空前高涨。一方面这带来了更深入的报道，但同时也引发了那些多年来投资报道女足人士的不满，他们认为如今自己被推到了边缘地带。有时候，事实确实如此。

Sophie Lawson, a freelance reporter, recalled some of the biggest names on Fleet Street, almost all of them men, descending on a media event to announce Neville’s hiring last January. The reporters were ushered to a circle of chairs around Neville for a group interview. But there was not enough room to accommodate all those present, so Lawson and several other female reporters were asked to sit behind Neville.

自由撰稿记者索菲·罗森（Sophie Lawson）参加了去年 1 月宣布任命内维尔出任英格兰女足主教练的媒体活动，她回忆起了英国新闻界的一些大人物，他们几乎都是男性。记者们被安排坐在内维尔周围的一圈椅子上进行集体采访。但是没有足够的空间容纳所有在场的记者，所以罗森和其他几名女记者被要求坐在内维尔后面。

She spent the interview staring at the back of his head.

整个采访过程中，她都只能看到他的后脑勺。

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原文标题：World Cup Reporters Find Huge Audiences and Familiar Challenges

原文作者：Tariq Panja

翻译：熊猫译社 唐尘

@2019 The New York Times