以大公之心,发折中之论——《大公报》创始人英敛之新闻思想

Make Neutral Speech with Public Spirit:Journalistic Thoughts of Ying Lianzhi,the Founder of Ta Kung Pao

《大公报》创始人英敛之在十余年的办报生涯中,撰写了大量政论时评和新闻学文章,提出了许多新闻理论的思想主张。他最早提出报纸具有商业经营和社会责任双重性质,并认为社会责任是主要的,监督政府、向导国民、敢于直言,是报纸的基本职责;他主张,报馆是主持清议、维持公理的地方,记者必须具有清华高贵的品质,不然就没有资格从事这个行业;他认为,新闻法制要以维护言论自由为前提,明了清晰,便于执行,成为舆论监督的坚强后盾,而不是官员用来任意查封报馆的保护伞;他提倡,报纸要更好的达到开民智的目的,就要积极提倡内容健康、语言通俗的白话文。

Ying Lianzhi, the founder of newspaper Ta Kung Pao, wrote large numbers of political comments and journalism articles which put forward many thoughts and views in field of journalism theories during his over ten years＂ experience of managing newspapers. He was the first one to propose the dual na- ture of newspaper business benefit and social responsibility, and held that social responsibility is the primary aspect, which decided that newspapers assume basic responsibilities of supervising the govern- ment, leading citizens, and being outspoken. He claimed that newspaper is a platform to express principled criticism and maintain justice; hence only those who with noble nature and unsullied character are qualified to be journalists. He believed that press law should take the precondition of protecting freedom of speech, be clear and easy to enforce, and be the strong backing behind supervision by public opinion instead of an umbrella for officials seal up newspapers illegally. Also, he advocated that more use of vernacular Chinese, characterized by popular language, in propagating healthy contents can help newspapers do better in enlightening the people.