Hidden Hands: An Institutional Force in Political News Translation

Abstract

This article explores translation in news institutions. While being heavily relied on by media organizations, translation is rarely acknowledged. Translation is deeply interwoven with news in that it is used to employ ideological tendencies and political agendas. This study investigates the powerful role of media institution as a force that intervenes in producing news reports. It uses a questionnaire and interviews to see the influence of editors in the translation of news texts. For this purpose, the views of 21 news translators, journalists and news were surveyed to infer the role of institutions in translation. The study looks at this role from different angles including translator training, instructions given to translators, textual alterations, and policies of news institutions. The findings indicate that intervention by the editors and producers on translation is taking place. The interview participants tend to agree with the intervention of the institution. The questionnaire respondents agree with the statement that translators are given instructions to use specific terminology but disagree with a statement that they have to comply with the policies of the institution.

Ideological manipulation in political news translation: An actor-network perspective

“…Previous studies, in their analysis of translation manipulation, either had no focus on the agency in manipulation or assumed it to be typical of translators and editors (see Darwish, 2006; Elewa, 2019; Ethelb, 2020; Filmer, 2018; Holland, 2006; Kuo and Nakamura, 2005; Pan and Liao, 2020; Qin and Zhang, 2018). In the present study, on the other hand, the utilization of ANT, which allows for observation of the interactions and associations that produce a social entity (Latour, 2005), helped to reveal the elements whose agencies have an influence on translation manipulation.…”

“…They assert that all of these agents, together, produce the final product: that is, the manipulated news. A small number of studies have gone beyond the textual analysis and have addressed the role of other agents involved in the process of manipulation in news translation, such as editors (Ethelb, 2020; Pan and Liao, 2020; Qin and Zhang, 2018). For example, surveying news translators and journalists, Ethelb’s (2020) study showed that editors and producers would intervene in translation through translator training, translation instructions, and textual alternations, with the aim of meeting institutional ideological policies.…”

“…A small number of studies have gone beyond the textual analysis and have addressed the role of other agents involved in the process of manipulation in news translation, such as editors (Ethelb, 2020; Pan and Liao, 2020; Qin and Zhang, 2018). For example, surveying news translators and journalists, Ethelb’s (2020) study showed that editors and producers would intervene in translation through translator training, translation instructions, and textual alternations, with the aim of meeting institutional ideological policies. Nevertheless, these studies have revealed little on the network of involved (human or non-human) agents and their roles in the manipulation process.…”