在美国20世纪的新闻史上,有一类记者特别引人注意。他们从平民的视角出发,专门刺探政坛黑幕和肮脏的交易。他们以不屈不挠的精神一查到底,有时还会被人诬陷或者被所谓正统的新闻记者所不齿。这一类记者就叫做“揭丑记者”(muckraker)。而在这群揭丑记者中,美国《华盛顿邮报》专栏记者杰克·安德森可以算是赫赫有名的人物。他出身卑微,但由他揭发的内幕数不胜数,无数美国的政商名流视他为死敌,对他既怕又恨。如今,这位传奇人物与世长辞,他所开创的事业仍然“路漫漫其修远兮”。正如他生前所言:“我试图打碎华盛顿那堵秘密的墙。如今,这堵墙比以往任何时候都要厚,越来越多的高官正躲在这堵墙的后面”。 In the history of the 20th century in the United States, there was one type of journalist who was particularly eye-catching. From the perspective of civilians, they specialize in probing the dark scenes and dirty transactions of the political arena. They have been thoroughly investigated for their perseverance and sometimes they have been framed by people or defied by so-called orthodox journalists. This type of reporter is called “muckraker”. Among the group of reporters who exposed the ugliness, Jack Anderson, a columnist for the Washington Post in the United States, can be considered a famous figure. His humble origins, but the number of inside stories he exposes is countless. Countless U.S. political and business names regarded him as a mortal enemy, fearing and hating him. Nowadays, this legendary figure resigns from the world and the cause he pioneered is still “a long way to go”. As he said before his death: “I tried to break the secret wall of Washington. Today, this wall is thicker than ever before, and more and more senior officials are hiding behind the wall.”