【中文标题】陈光标不是中国的杰夫•贝佐斯
【原文标题】China's Jeff Bezos, He Ain't
【登载媒体】外交政策
【原文作者】David Wertime
【原文链接】http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/01/03/jeff_bezos_chen_guangbiao_new_york_times
有钱就有话语权，但不一定能说服别人。中国最富有、最多姿多彩的一个人陈光标，在12月31日说他与一位匿名的香港投资者合作，准备出资买下具有150年历史的美国报纸。陈在12月31日接受路透社采访时说，他认为《纽约时报》市值为10亿美元，但报纸的所有者欧克斯萨兹柏格家族并不打算迎合他。2013年8月，家族的发言人称报纸“不会出售”，但陈坚持要尝试一下。陈的个人资产来源不明，估计有8亿美元，过去几年里，他的一些炫耀性的慈善行为给他赢得了很多负面的名声。据他自称，他在中国的街道上发放了数十万美元的现金，还砸毁了一辆梅赛德斯奔驰汽车来谴责石油消耗。他在网上出售罐装空气，筹资购买一个有争议的岛屿——钓鱼岛。他在微薄上有435万名粉丝，中国的主流媒体一直忠诚地报道他的可笑举动。
1月3日，陈在新浪微博上发布了一张机票的照片，显示将在下午到达纽约。陈写道：“行动高于一切。”明确暗示他要对白发老妇（译者注：指《纽约时报》）下手。（《纽约时报》发言人Eileen Murphy在接受《外交政策》采访时说，“我们没有任何安排”与陈的会面。）
但是陈或许不仅仅需要说服《纽约时报》家族放弃手中的至宝，他怪异的行为在本土也没有得到什么支持。中国门户网站中国国际广播电台上一篇被广为转载的文章说，陈的想法“不合时宜”，成功的机会“微乎其微”，主要是因为“任何一个级别的”美国媒体和政客都会反对中国人的出资。作者认为，这足以说明陈想让《纽约时报》对中国的报道更加“公平和客观”是多么的“天真和幼稚”。大部分微博用户都赞同这种说法，很多人说陈是“小丑”或者“土豪”，还不如干脆去买下月球或者“美国政府”，如果他有本事的话。
嘲讽的声音越来越多，陈自己也觉得有必要在国有刊物《环球时报》1月3日发表一篇文章，恳求读者不要把他的行为“当作一个笑话”。他问道：“为何这一收购会招来这么多不理解和嘲讽？”他的结论是，中国人太保守了。
有些针对陈的嘲讽极具自由思想。一个微博用户写道，买下《纽约时报》会让这家报纸堕落，或许会变成很多人害怕的“党报”。精明的中国新闻读者对统治政党控制的中国政府媒体一清二楚，它们经常过滤掉一些信息，以传达符合其自身利益的导向。（有一句老话说，党的喉舌《人民日报》发布的信息只有日期是真是的。）与此相比，《纽约时报》在2012年10月发表一篇普利策奖得主的文章，用英文和中文曝光前总理温家族成员的巨额财富。尽管当局立即封锁了这篇文章，之后又封锁了这家报纸的中英文网站，但一些中国网民依然在用暗语讨论这个爆炸性的消息。或许是考虑到这些事情，一个微博用户问陈：“钱可以买到企业，但钱真的可以买到出版言论自由的价值吗？”
对《纽约时报》的封锁让中国网民怀疑陈所说的，买下这家报纸可以让他加强美国与中国之间的沟通。一个微博用户不无讽刺地写道：“《纽约时报》专门帮助共产党铲除腐败，这不是给草根读的报纸。”另一个人质问陈的本意：“中国人不看《纽约时报》不是因为它不在中国，而是因为有强权用肮脏、低级的手段挡住中国人的嘴、眼睛和大脑。”
陈并没有立即回应这些问题，但他也有一些支持者。陈的微博有几千条评论，很多人祝他一路顺风、胜利凯旋，也有一些伸手要钱的人。有的人称赞陈奋起回击“美帝国主义”，“散播社会主义思想”。
有一个人恳求萨兹柏格把报纸卖给陈，但基于另外一个原因。由于没有更好的报纸，中国读者只能天天靠“环球大粪”这样的垃圾度日，这是对《环球时报》的蔑称。
原文：
Eccentric multi-millionaire Chen Guangbiao's countrymen don't think he can -- or should -- buy the New York Times.
oney talks, but it doesn't always persuade. Chen Guangbiao, one of China's richest and most colorful men, said on Dec. 31 that he is preparing a bid to purchase the 150-year-old U.S. newspaper of record, in concert with an anonymous Hong Kong-based financier. Chen told Reuters on Dec. 31 that he believes the New York Times is worth $1 billion, and although the Ochs-Sulzberger family, which owns the paper, is unlikely to entertain his offer -- the family stated in Aug. 2013 that the paper was "not for sale" -- Chen has insisted he will still try. Worth an estimated $800 million of murky origin, Chen has grown notorious over the last several years though his flamboyant charitable giving -- he has, by his own count, literally handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars on a Chinese street -- and through publicity stunts like smashing a Mercedes-Benz to decry fossil fuels and hawking canned air online to raise money to buy a chain of disputed islands which the Chinese call the Diaoyu. He has amassed over 4.35 million Weibo followers, and Chinese mainstream media reliably covers his latest antics.
On Jan. 3, on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, Chen posted an image of a plane ticket bound for an early afternoon landing in New York City. "Taking action is more important than everything else," Chen wrote, clearly implying he had the Old Gray Lady in his sights. (Eileen Murphy, a spokeswoman for the New York Times, told Foreign Policy, "we have no information" on any meeting with Chen.)
But Chen may have to do more than convince a New York family to part with its prize: His quixotic effort doesn't even have support at home. A widely-circulated opinion piece from Chinese web portal CRI Online calls Chen's proposal "inappropriate" and its chances of success "microscopic," mainly because U.S. media and politicians at "every level" would oppose a Chinese bid. That, the author reasons, is enough to render "naive and immature" Chen's stated desire to make the New York Times's coverage of China more "fair and objective." Much of the Weibo commentariat agrees, with many commenting that Chen is a "clown" or a "tuhao," an insult hurled at the nouveau riche, who would buy the moon or "the U.S. government, if he could."
The ridicule grew strong enough that Chen himself felt compelled to write a Jan. 3 op-ed in the state-run nationalist paper Global Times beseeching readers not to "treat as a joke" his plan to purchase the paper. "Why is this purchase bringing out so much misunderstanding and mockery?" Chen asked his readers. His conclusion: Chinese people are too conservative.
Some of the derision aimed Chen's way is in fact decidedly liberal. One user wrote that a purchase of the New York Times would result in the paper's downfall, perhaps turning it into what many feared: a dangbao, or "party paper." Savvy consumers of Chinese news know that Chinese state-run media, which is controlled by the ruling Communist Party, often filters its news to reflect a particular version of reality. (An old saw about party mouthpiece People's Daily is that the only information it publishes that readers can trust fully is the date.) By contrast, in October 2012, the New York Times ran a Pulitzer-winning exposé on the wealth of former premier Wen Jiabao's family, in both English and Chinese. Although authorities censored the article almost immediately -- then blocked the newspaper's English and Chinese sites -- some Chinese web users still managed to discuss the bombshell report in coded language. Perhaps mindful of this history, one user asked of Chen, "Money can buy a pile of papers, but can it truly purchase the values of freedom of the press?"
Censorship of the New York Times in China has made netizens skeptical of Chen's claims that a purchase would allow him to strengthen communication between the United States and China. "The New York Times specializes in helping the Communist Party root out corruption," one user wrote sarcastically; "it's not for the grassroots to read." Another questioned Chen's premise: "Chinese people don't not read the New York Times because it's not in China; it's because powerful forces use every dirty means to try to make Chinese people mute, blind, and stupid."
Chen, who did not immediately reply to a request for comment, still has his share of supporters. Several thousand commented on Chen's trip abroad, many wishing him a safe trip and triumphant return, while some, perhaps predictably, asked for money. Some lauded Chen's efforts to strike back at "American imperialists" by "propagating socialism."
Another begged the Sulzbergers to sell to Chen, but for a different reason. Without a decent newspaper, Chinese readers are stuck with domestic rags like "the Global Turd," a common insult aimed at the Global Times.
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