美国刚刚经历了其历史上最短的新闻秘书任期：仅五天。很快，一位新人将站上讲台，走进美国公共生活中最艰难的工作之一 — — 而这个工作场所与众不同，因为这个房间以一位前任的名字命名，他曾因执行此职几乎丧命：詹姆斯·S·布雷迪新闻发布厅。吉姆·布雷迪是我认识并深爱的人。我在里根白宫新闻办公室工作了八年。
The U.S. has just watched the shortest press secretary tenure in its history: five days. Soon, someone new will stand at that podium, stepping into one of the hardest jobs in American public life — and a workplace unlike any other, because the room is named for a predecessor who nearly died doing it: the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Jim Brady was a man I knew and loved. I served eight years in the Reagan White House press office.
在那段时间里，有三人先后站在讲台上，每个人都教会了我新闻秘书必须具备的东西。布雷迪教会我，新闻媒体不是敌人 — — 它是工具。他在任职仅十周后，一颗原本针对里根总统的子弹永远改变了他的生命，但他的影响力超越了所有人。他机智、幽默，且毫无做作。与他交锋的记者们都敬爱他，因为他明白，新闻发布厅是政府向被统治者解释自己的地方，而提问的人正是解释得以实现的方式。
Three men held that podium in my time there, and each taught me something every press secretary needs. Brady taught me that the press is not the enemy — it is the instrument. He held the job only ten weeks before a bullet meant for President Reagan changed his life forever, but his influence outlasted everyone’s. He was quick, funny, and utterly without pretense. The reporters who sparred with him adored him, because he understood that the briefing room is where the government explains itself to the governed, and the people asking the questions are how the explaining gets done.
你可以整天与新闻媒体周旋；布雷迪就是这样做的，而且很开心。你若厌恶新闻媒体，实际上就是厌恶这种安排本身。历史细节：枪击事件后，里根总统从未将布雷迪的头衔交给他人。近八年里，拉里·斯皮克斯，随后是马林·菲茨沃特，以其他头衔执行着这份工作，因为“新闻秘书”这一头衔属于布雷迪，直到政府结束的那天。
You can joust with the press all day; Brady did, happily. You cannot despise them without despising the arrangement itself. A detail of history: after the shooting, President Reagan never gave Brady’s title away. For nearly eight years, Larry Speakes and then Marlin Fitzwater did the job under other titles, because “press secretary” belonged to Brady until the day the administration ended.
这就是忠诚 — — 也是一堂课：这份工作比其担当者更重要。拉里·斯皮克斯教会我什么是艰苦工作。他在里根总统任期内最艰难的下午 — — 1981年3月30日站上讲台 — — 当时总统正在手术中，全世界都在要求答案 — — 然后他坚持做了六年。从斯皮克斯那里，我了解到新闻发布会的胜负在于其前几个小时：早晨的报纸、过夜的电报，以及为弄清真相而在大楼每个角落打电话求证。讲台会惩罚 unprepared（未做好准备）的人，无论多少魅力都经不起猜测的考验。
That was loyalty — and a lesson: The job is bigger than its occupant. Larry Speakes taught me the grind. He took the podium on the worst afternoon of the Reagan presidency — March 30, 1981, with the president in surgery and the world demanding answers — then did it for six more years. From Speakes I learned that the briefing is won in the hours before it: the morning papers, the overnight cables, the calls to every corner of the building to find out what was true before someone asked. The podium punishes the unprepared, and no amount of charm survives a guess.
菲茨沃特教会我，你所拥有的只有可信度 — — 而它会在一次交易中被耗尽。他曾服务于性格截然不同的两位总统，而新闻记者团队在两个时期都信任他，原因只有一个：他从未对他们说谎。当他无法说话时，他就说他无法说话。结果是，总统最忠诚的捍卫者也是记者们相信的人 — — 这正是他辩护之所以有价值的原因。
Fitzwater taught me that all you have is your credibility — and that it is spent in a single transaction. He served two presidents of very different temperaments, and the press corps trusted him through both, for one reason: He never lied to them. When he couldn’t say, he said he couldn’t say. The result was that the president’s most loyal defender was also the man reporters believed — which is precisely what made his defense worth anything.
一个随时可能说任何话的新闻秘书，从专业角度来说，就是哑巴。这是没人会在第一天向你解释的结构性真相：这份工作要服务于三位主人。总统，他值得拥有一位有力的倡导者；新闻媒体，他们有权代表读者得到直率的回答；以及公众，他们拥有总统职位，并且是讲台上每一句话的实际受众。这三方每天都在朝不同方向拉扯 — — 而唯一能让一个人同时服务于这三者的东西就是可信度。
A press secretary who will say anything is, professionally speaking, mute. Here is the structural truth nobody explains on the first day: the job serves three masters. The president, who deserves a vigorous advocate. The press, who are owed straight answers on behalf of their readers. And the public, who own the presidency and are the actual audience for every word said from that podium. The three pull in different directions daily — and the only thing that lets one person serve all three is credibility.
你的可信度不是你的资产；它属于总统。永远不要挥霍它。因此，以下是我跨代际对下一任新闻秘书的建议，出于真诚的善意。要经常简报 — — 房间存在就是为了被使用。要像斯皮克斯那样做准备 — — 问题不是考验，事实才是。永远不要猜测，当你错了时，要快速而坦率地纠正。要期待从记者那里学到的东西比他们从你那里学到的更多 — — 好的记者对这栋楼的了解时间比我们大多数人在其中工作的时间更长；这就是每位新闻秘书的起点。
Your believability is not your asset; it is the president’s. Spend it never. So, here is some counsel across the generations for the next press secretary, offered with genuine goodwill. Brief often — the room exists to be used. Prepare like Speakes; the questions are not the test, the facts are. Never guess, and when you're wrong, correct fast and plainly. Expect to learn more from the reporters than they learn from you — the good ones have covered that building longer than most of us worked in it; that’s how every press secretary starts.
要成为总统的支持者 — — 这就是工作 — — 但支持者不是阿谀奉承者，而两者的区别正是这一角色的全部价值：回声无法说服任何人，而一个被相信的倡导者才值得师出同门。还有这一点，来自一位传播者对另一位传播者的话：许多美国人不爱新闻媒体，这没关系。但绝不要在镜头前对记者无礼作为表演 — — 为剪辑制造的蔑视，为了讨好任何人，都会贬低这个房间，而房间会记得。国家也会记得。
Be the president’s supporter — that is the job — but a supporter is not a sycophant, and the difference is the whole value of the role: an echo persuades no one, while an advocate who is believed is worth divisions. And this, from one communicator to another: Many Americans don’t love the press, and that’s fine. But never be rude to reporters on camera as a performance — contempt manufactured for the clip, to gain favor with anyone, demeans the room, and the room remembers. So does the country.
门牌上的名字还有一点。布雷迪用身体投入这份工作，却从未能以全力投入去完成。房间以他的名字命名，是为了纪念他所代表的意义：总统职位应当坦率、乐观、果敢地向自由媒体解释自身，因为总统职位属于公众。我会对任何党派的新闻秘书提出这一标准，逐字逐句，我毫不怀疑布雷迪也会如此认为。讲台既不是盾牌，也不是武器。
One more thing about the name on the door. Brady gave the job his body and never got to do it at full strength. The room was named to honor what he represented: the belief that the presidency explains itself — cheerfully, combatively, honestly — to a free press, because the presidency belongs to the public. I would offer this standard to any press secretary of any party, word for word, and I have no doubt Brady would too. The podium is not a shield and not a weapon.
它是一种承诺。对接下来将站上讲台的人：欢迎来到这栋楼里最艰难的工作。祝你好运。房间上的名字将一直注视着你。那是一种友善的目光——也是严格的目光。马克·温伯格，执行传播咨询公司Ethos的创始人，曾在里根白宫新闻办公室工作八年，后来担任里根总统的演讲稿撰写人。他是畅销书《与里根共度电影之夜》的作者。
It is a promise. To whoever takes the podium next: Welcome to the hardest job in the building. Good luck. The name on the room will be watching. It is a friendly gaze — and an exacting one. Mark Weinberg, founder of the executive communications consultancy Ethos, served in the Reagan White House press office for eight years and later as a speechwriter for President Reagan. He is the author of the bestselling book “Movie Nights with the Reagans.”.