In Britain, Tabloids Held Back for Once, But It Didn’t Matter.

英小报终于放过王室一次 但情况没变

Days before Catherine, Princess of Wales, ended the wild speculation over her absence from public life by revealing that she is battling cancer, a top royal journalist appeared on British national television and delivered a stark message to the media: Knock it off.

英国威尔斯王妃凯萨琳揭露她正在对抗癌症、结束人们对她缺席公众活动疯狂猜测的几天前，一名顶尖王室记者出现在英国全国性电视台，向媒体传达一个直白讯息：住手。

“I think everyone just needs to give her a little bit of space,” Roya Nikkhah, royal editor of The Sunday Times of London, said on “Good Morning Britain.”

「周日泰晤士报」王室新闻主编萝亚．妮卡在「早安英国」表示：「我认为每个人都需要给她一点空间。」

The idea of an editor at a Rupert Murdoch-owned publication scolding other journalists for nosiness may strike some as a bit rich. After all, London newspapers pioneered the celebri-fication of the House of Windsor, famously hounding the previous Princess of Wales, Diana, and exposing the most microscopic details of her and her children’s private lives.

梅铎旗下一个刊物的编辑斥责其他记者好管闲事，可能会让一些人觉得有点可笑。毕竟，伦敦的报纸率先将温莎王室明星化，对前一个威尔斯王妃黛安娜紧迫盯人，揭露她和她的孩子们私生活极小的细节。

In the case of Catherine’s recent whereabouts, however, the British press largely showed an unusual level of restraint.

然而，关于凯萨琳近期动向，英国媒体多半展现很不寻常的克制。

Yes, they reported on the frenzy of rumors, but mostly in the guise of scolding social media users for spreading conspiracies. When the American outlet TMZ obtained a paparazzi photo of Catherine, who is also known as Kate, and her mother in a car, the London papers unanimously declined to publish it.

没错，他们报导了疯狂的谣言，但都以斥责社群媒体用户散播阴谋论来包装。美国娱乐新闻TMZ取得狗仔队拍到一张也被称为凯特的凯萨琳和其母亲在车上的照片，伦敦报纸一致拒刊。

And once Kate’s cancer was revealed, British media were quick to assail their counterparts across the pond, accusing American tabloids and media figures of recklessly amplifying the more outlandish rumors.

此外，凯特罹癌消息公布后，英国媒体随即抨击大西洋彼岸同业，指控美国小报和媒体人物不顾后果地放大更古怪的谣言。

The royal family and Fleet Street are a pair of British institutions whose fates and fortunes have long been entwined — and they are facing similar challenges in the new media age.

英国王室和报界，是一对命运和际遇长久交织的英国机构，而且他们在新媒体时代面临类似挑战。

Gatekeepers who once controlled the official flow of information — be it palace press secretaries or tabloid editors — are increasingly powerless against the online tide. When it was first revealed that Kate had undergone abdominal surgery, Kensington Palace declared that it would not offer further updates about her condition. Britain’s royal correspondents, who have a long-term relationship with the future king and queen to worry about, mostly abided by that directive.

曾经控制官方资讯流通的守门人，无论是英国王室发言人还是小报编辑，面对网路浪潮日益无力。凯特接受腹部手术消息首度发布时，肯辛顿宫宣布，不会提供她身体状况的进一步更新讯息。英国的王室记者顾及与未来国王和王后的长期关系，大多遵守这项指示。

But both camps were flummoxed by the rampant misinformation that spread on the internet. The tabloids that once led the way in royal sensationalism — and are still grappling with a long-running phone hacking scandal — were now helpless to shut it down. And palace officials, reluctant to compromise Kate’s privacy, mistakenly believed the rumors would fizzle out.

然而，两个阵营都对网际网路上泛滥的假消息不知所措。曾经引领英国王室煽情报导的小报，正努力应对长期存在的电话窃听丑闻，现在无力阻止这些假消息。王室官员不愿透露凯特隐私，错误认为谣言会逐渐消失。

The result was a narrative driven by online chatter that spun out of the traditional gatekeepers’ control.

结果就是一个由线上聊天推动的叙事，脱离传统守门人的控制。

文／Michael M. Grynbaum 译／罗方妤

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【张佑生】

周日泰晤士报的王室新闻主编要求同业给凯特太子妃一些喘息空间，纽时调侃她应该先照照镜子。泰晤士报跟英国销量第一的八卦小报太阳报同隶属于媒体大亨梅铎，太阳报挖王室八卦向来比谁都卖力，友报现在突然叫同业高抬贵手，颇有「龟笑鳖无尾」的荒谬感，正是rich在本文的意思。

英式口语有that’s rich (coming from him/you etc)的用法：He accused me of being dishonest, which was a bit rich coming from him.

Fleet Street是英国全国性大报报社所在地，是英国报业的代称，大写，前面通常不加冠词：He spent his entire working life in Fleet Street.而flummoxed则是困惑到不知所措，例如发生食物中毒，第一时间医院医师却毫无头绪：Doctors were flummoxed by the boy's symptoms.

动词片语fizzle out有无疾而终，虎头蛇尾的意思：The reform movement fizzled out because of poor leadership.