2006年VOA标准英语-Blogging Takes Root After French Riots

By Isabelle Boucq
Paris
07 April 2006

Last November, as predominantly Muslim youths rioted in the suburbs of Paris, the media around the world struggled to find a way to tell the story. A Swiss magazine took the opportunity to try an approach to on-line journalism¹ known as blogging.

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Antoine Menusier, left, and Titus Plattner, right, Swiss reporters from weekly L'Hebdo, exchange instructions in their office rented in Cite Blanqui in Bondy, north of Paris   
  

As the Paris suburbs were erupting last November, a Swiss magazine, L'Hebdo, decided² that its articles had not gone far enough in helping³ readers understand what was happening in France. To bring their readers closer to the story, the editors assigned reporters on rotations⁴ of seven to 10 days to the suburb of Bondy. Located about 15 minutes outside Paris, the southern part of Bondy is considered affluent⁵; the northern part, where rioting occurred, is much poorer.

This is the part where the Swiss journalists stayed. On a daily basis, the journalists, living in a cramped⁶ office rented from the local soccer team, filed stories about their daily encounters. By the end, their blog attracted up to 3,000 visitors a day from all over the world.

The experiment was the brainchild of the magazine's world affairs editor, Serge Michel, who recently left the publication.

"We thought we must do something more, something different to understand the deep roots of the problems in the suburbs," he explained. " So we thought immersion⁷.

To live somewhere, to wake up in the morning and see these areas really in front of our eyes was important."

Several young people in Bondy took the foreign journalists under their wing, giving them access to local life and protecting them from residents angered by the media coverage⁸ of the crisis.
 

Antoine Menusier, Swiss reporter from weekly L'Hebdo, left, talks with Mustapha Margoum   
  
The Swiss journalists have now gone home, but the Bondy blog remains⁹ active, thanks to a group of local youths who, after being trained by the magazine in Switzerland, took it over.

"They were always asking us, the young people from the suburbs, 'You are here, that's nice. But what can you do for us? We need help, we need jobs,' explained Michel. "We thought, 'OK, that's the ideal solution.' We teach them how to blog, how to write. Instead of being victims, they would become actors of their own lives."

Sada, Hakim and Kamel are three of the main members of the team. Sada will graduate from high school in June. She just learned that she might be going to the International University of Political Studies next year. In her last year of high school, she joined a program aimed at allowing minority students from underprivileged areas to compete for entry in the prestigious¹⁰ school.

Hakim and Kamel are unemployed¹¹ and bitter. They say Bondy's mayor failed to keep a promise to help them open a tearoom in their neighborhood.

In some suburbs, up to 30 percent of the population is unemployed. Young residents complain that they cannot get jobs even if they hold degrees.

Chaouki, one of the bloggers, completed four years of university but the only job he can get is as a cleaning man in the metro¹².

On a recent afternoon, three of the bloggers spent time at a local high school where a group of students was planning a one-week visit to Bondy for

10 Algerian high-school students. They interviewed the students, took photos and recorded sound bites for the blog.

Later in the afternoon they met with Serge Michel in a local café to prepare for an interview with Gilbert Roger, the Socialist¹³ mayor of Bondy. Editor Michel was back in town for the launch of "Bondy Blog," a book which presents selected blog entries and commentaries left by visitors.

The book launch was held at the Bondy library. After the official speeches were over, the Bondy bloggers confronted the mayor over the lack of action since the November riots. The interview was immediately published on their blog.

Bondy Blogger Hakim is convinced the blog is an important outlet¹⁴.

It changes the city, we give a voice to those who have never been heard. We are on the ground, we can get information other journalists would not get, he says.

René Connat is a retiree and a long-time resident of Bondy. He says that the blog opened his eyes to injustices¹⁵ he was not aware of. He hopes it will foster dialogue between the underprivileged northern part of town and the more affluent southern section.

1 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 rotations   

旋转( rotation的名词复数 )； 转动； 轮流； 轮换

参考例句：

• Farmers traditionally used long-term rotations of hay, pasture, and corn. 农民以往长期实行干草、牧草和玉米轮作。
• The crankshaft makes three rotations for each rotation of the rotor. 转子每转一周，曲轴转3周。

5 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

6 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

7 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

8 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

11 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

12 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

13 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

14 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

15 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。