Journalism and translation

Luc van Doorslaer

Lessius University College I CETRA, University of leuven

l¾rticu(arly with regard In for,ign 11cws ga thering and foreign news prnductio11, the
relationship between (angu•ge (knowledge) and journalism ha$ often been stressed and
Jcs.ribcd in the margins oflinguistk (discur,ivc, stylistic, pragmatic) or communkation-
o ricnted research. I lowevcr, the interest for Lhe specific position of translation, l><>th as a
process and a product in this interaction, is relatively new. Within the broad,rresearo::h field
on translation an,l!in the rnc,iia, v:1rious subfields can l•e ,iis.:crncd. Rcfrr ring to several
recent publications and making use of quantitative data, ,•an IJoorslaer 2009 shows that
this rc-:,,c;~n.:h d4.>main l:.irgd)· fucuS<·~on the subfidds uf audiovhu:.11 translation•. voi<covcr
arid dubbing• and subtitling'. The jo urnalistic aspects of media translation as well as the
position of translation in day to day joumali<tic work are nor an explicit object of study
in those suMiclds. In the wak,, of th,, Warwkk projc<'t nn 'Translation in Global News:
however, more and lll(lrt inttre:i;r ha!. arisen for new~ rr~nsl,irkm ;ind nthtr a~peas related
to news and translation. ')he mo~l promi nent publications of the \Varwick project il,l;.cl( arc
the confcrcncc proceedings in Conwuy & llassnctt 2006 and above all Biclsa & Bassncll
2(X>'>, the- nnal puhlication tn i<.<uc from the project. It explore< in particular the role of
translati<>n in so-called global news agcncks (mainly Al\ lkutcrs and Al'f>) as well as con -
c:rctt.· tra1ulalt·t.l 1u:w~ kxl~. D~pile tcndt·ndc~ luwards glvbi,H.tation and harmonization,
the incrcasins role played by English language and c,•cn the do minance of Anglophone
writing models (shorter and more direct tcxis), lhrrr still i1 an impmlant variety in the
use nf dittcrrnt fran1ing and translation practices, strategics ,111d value,t This variety can
so111r1imt.•sbe traced back ro the national/reg.irmal origin5 <lf rht news agency or ro marked
,:h~>iccs with regard to content, for instance- in the t'aS-<.·o( the ':ilte,rnative' !PS news agency.
Since the publication of the famous MacBridc report criticizing the very imt>alan,-.,J J1"W1'
circulation in the world and the media cxpnsul'c of the 'clile countries' ( Macllridc 1980),
new balances wer~ t'Stablishcd. Nevertheless, a complex mixture of powt•r relation.ships
(contincnt.,l, n,1til·m:d, ling11isti~ political ao,1 idrological) drtcrmin1.•s. important <fed-
s.ions and d'loi,es regarding nev,·s selection, news trans!Jtion and news editing. Christina
Schalfn,or (2008) analyz<S a cvrpu, vftran>latcJ .iournalislic t,'l<l> :111d political quvt,·• tlrnt
were rccontcxtuali1.cd for the home audience (without any r,fc,.cnce to the translation
acr). Shi! shows that institutional and ideolflgic:tl condition~ of tran.1olatio11 production are
of decisive imi,Ml,rnec in these cas,,s uf polilkal journalism and rolilicnl communication.
In hi< ca,oe <tudy o r, the Spanish BBCMundo, Roherto Vnldc,\11 (200~) dis,:over, an under-
lying difference in i;tatus h,·hvc1.:n Anglophone and Spanish.speaking culturcf-i, where the
importance nf rh,c former nvcr the lartcr I• often acccntu,1tcd ill the new. cnvcragc. l hc
journnlistic selc(livity visible in the appropriation, ltanslating and c,liling of certain malt ·
rials influence• the framinll of world perception. Luc van Doon,laer (2009) reveal•• dear
corrclalion be1wcen the news agencies used as main sources and 1he (<>untrles dcah wilh In
inltrnali<>nal news coverngc. Newsrooms in llclgium mainly using Al' for eun1ple, write
more ahoul 1hc USA.111osc who 11111ln ly use Al'I', wrire much more about France. Though
world news agencies may prrscnl lhcmsclvcs as 'globnl' nowadays. lhey obviously do 1101
deny their roots. News •ticnd,•s inevitably include norms linked lo their m1lio11al orii;ins
and lhis fact Is rcllec1ed In their selection and de-selection principle s as wcll as in 1hcir
framing approich. So II rcmoln• an unsolved question "whether they have sufficiently dis-
engaged themselves from lhcir notional an,i/or regional base in thei r news producllon"
(Bicls" & Bassncll 2009: 19).

,. Transedltlng and the various media

Various aspects oflrnnsh11lon con th us be found al sevcrn l levels in lhc news process: during
tho inlllol new• g:ithcrlt1g •rage (cnrrc•pondent•. now• ogcnde<), bur nl•n during the hn n-
Jling •loge (cdilin11 "'"' writin11) at news a11c11dos, (mttlonal or local) news o•K•nl 1.alions
ond newsrol11ns. l'urllcu l:i rly the solcction ond dc ,selerllon principles adopted 111 the dif,
forenl Magos are c on,lderably Influenced by l•nguoge knowledge •nd (n on-)lranslallon. In
many newsroon,s oil over the world, translalion is not done by tron,lo1ors. llul translation
form• ,111 intcgra I part of journall•rlc work: a complc1, lntegratod combinalion of info,.
m.rion golhorins, lran,laling, seltcling, rclnt<rprcling. contexluali1.ing and editing. Karen
Slelling ( 1989) coined a term for •uch journalism writing aclivitic• 1h01 include both
tr;inslating "nd editing aml that had often been reforrcd 10 Jn l•l<r rcs,•arch as 'transcdltlng'.
From this per•pcclivc, h seems lcgltimale lhat a 101 of research has mai nly focused on
tho person oft he journalis1-1r;1nslator.1s the crucial octo,· in 1his f>rOC<S.<<>f meaning-making
or 111c1111ing-re111aking. I lowev,ir, Ky(., Conwuy (2008) suggests 1lu1 Wt shoul,J no longer
concenlnle on lhe Journolist himself, bu1 rat her on the lorgcr socia l sy,1on, in which he
functi<>n,, induding sud1 asp«I> •• th,· pulitiC11I rnle of journ•lists, "r lhe inllu,·11,·c uf
degreos of nallonal Identity on the journali•ts' instltullnnal role,-.
Most of tht exi~ti ng re.search on news translation conccntrato on printed nnd onll nc
news 111a1-.~rhtls. 'lhc.- mosl important n·a~on for thas is vcr)' pructkal: 1.1u,liuvisual news
Items .ire spoken and, as n constquen..:c, not Immediately •1valh1ble for written textua l ana
lysii or romparison, II i, usually nut e,i,y tu relricv,· lhem from th,· mnlia themsdvn, 1101
even for schoh1rly rcscnrch. Contributions on the position of 1ranslo1ion and 1ransl.1tors
in TV ncW$.rnonu. hnvc foc:u~cd ,,., the prc~~urc, the ~tru .~ ond the hectic dn.:umAt~\llcc~
of news producllon wilh h11rdly any specific alien lion being p•i.l lo longu•K< lronsfcr or
$ubtitling lo the news. Claire T.sni (2006). for instnncc, dtals with TV ne,\fs transl1.1ton1 in
1&1 Luc van Ooorsla•r

Taiwan working under extreme lime prcs:surc. Under such circumsta nces, translation is a
very 11ncon1forrable activity to cnrry out. Such tmn~lntion products art nften the resu lt nf
or
high kvds 1implilkl1tk111 ur 1m111ipulatiun in news texts, One of the rnrc <'Iamplrs that
combine and compnrc broadc11sling and newspaper news tra nslalion can be found in Lee
(2006) for the languu11e pair Kurean· En11li•:h. The cumributiun analyze• dilforence• in lead
structurc.s between broadcasting and newspapers. \Vhcren• broadcast news translation
prefers the u•e nf •hortcr leads, this reduction in leads is not clearly identilfohle in new~-
p.ipn translntion, where lead upansion seems to be n frequenl ph,nomcnon. Although
trnnslators folfill tlwir trn,lilional rolr5 as c ulturnl meJiaton. and decision nrnken. in 1>01h
contexts, newsparer trnnshuors (or newspaper jnurnalist-translators) act more clearly as
gatekeepers. laking advantage of their gTealer freedom compared to broadca•t Lran,lation.

2. Both I crutlve and I re-crNtive practice

EXCCl)I for the few cnsc• where 'renl' translntor• wnrk in a newsroom crwiron,ncnr, transla-
tion in journali•m i< hardly ,v,r •«n •• 'trnnslotion proper' or 'translation-a.-gentrn lly
underslood'. Mon· thun lilly years ago Ro m•n Jnkobson (1!159) publishc,1 hi> seminal
article Jis1in11uishing between inlrnlingual, inlcrlingual and i111,•rscmiu1ic translation.
Althou11h lhe inlcrcsl in lran.,fer prnco,se• in a glob<alized world is huge and slill increas-
ing, in m,ny of these publicoli1>ns lronslat,on i, still considered mninly or purely linguis-
tic tr•n~fcr. Jaknhsnn< txplicit cnlorgcrnc,11 nf the nhjtct of Tran<ln tinn Srud ie< i< clearly
present in c,·cryday translation anJ editing practicc.-s in newsrooms.. An internet bnsed
E.nHli,h Ld,•x mcsngc Crom a sour, ..· in India that jj r~.'writh.•n for tomorrow·~ C."<.litivn of
Tlir /11,i~pcrrdc111, is an example of an inlrQlingual translation. An Italian news nnide in
/.c, Repubblica lhal Is adapted for •n ilcm on lhc news ofGcrn,an public 'l'V <talion ZD I'.
ii. an \'Xtrntplr of an intcr'4:mioti, trnnslulion. D,~pih.• this intrnlingual or inltrsemiulk
lrnnsfor. tlu.-rc arc a considernhle number o( cases outMid,• the media in which:. source 1c11
11.nJ a t;1rg4,.•t text or produd can be dearly iJcnlificd. Mo)l n•writi ng in the: juurnali)lk
field is more problc111a1ic, however. as far as lhe sl•lus of • (11) (idcn1iliable) source text is
concerned. 111 mnny ca~cs, ~vcral ~urc.c,., (')r m~rc p.trrh:ularty, M!vcrnl Aourct rcxr~ arc
u.sec.i when producing a nrw t.ugrt text. Lrt us re•visit thr last uarnplt. \Vhtn Zl>F wants
to prcp~rc an 11,.-m on ltnlhm l'>rim<" Minister Siiviu Bcrlui ..·onrs poli,y. it wou IJ nu1 vnly
be b:a.s~d on the article in /.,, R,•pubblk,, , but almost cer111inly ~,l~o on earlier nrws ilems,
o ther n11tional and international media co verage of lhc topic, a,c wdl :tis on infornution
or (,cdback fron1 txper1,. Snurce lcxls nrc nrnltlpllcd in such WMking procedures. and
combintd with ir1formation prncts.\ing. various transformation, rcwnrking :rnd rtwriting
sli,g('S in vnler le.> protlui;,-.c om.• nc.·w li1rgc.·t ,,•xt. Thi:s multipli,·"tion uf ll'xts probh.•maliu-s
the prc-sc-ncc- and status of lhc source lex.I in •1 'normal' translatiu,rnl relationship. Such ,1
11hua1ion i11 ncu unique. hut ra1hcr 1ypical of tra.nsl111ion in journaliim1: lhc combination of a
(hudly rcC<>nslruclnbk) muhi-sourcc silualivn wilh" highly pragmatic ll>C of tran>lalion
in potentially nll lhrcc obj ect fields as described by Jakobson. Whereas Jakobson's cxtcn•
, ion of'tr•n•l•tio11' was exclu,ivdy target-text and larget-situ•tinn -hnund, lhi• oddilio11al
cxlcnsion refers lo nspccls of 1hc sourcc•lcxl and lhc sourcc-11l1uatlon. As n rcsuh of this
com1>lex comhination of factors, studying the 1>Mition and role nf 'tr•n~larinn proper' in
lhc day lo Jay journalistic praclice of text produclinn con be scm as very challenging. bul
ii Is not nccC11lhlrily rewarding. Medi.i translation rc,carchcrs arc often confronlcJ whh Ihis
oh.iadc: i11 many co11cretc case,, it is 1101 realislic 10 dccnnslruct • news mcsui;e in order
to dclcrmln,· which parl• hove bem edi1,·d and which parts are likely to be lhc rcsuh of an
inlcrlingual lransbtion acl,
Translation in the journ•lislic field 11<>1only has lo take into ""ount lhc disinlcgraling
slatus of lhc source tex l, it also has lo problcmalizc the conccpl of au1hurship. In joumali• ·
tic 1ext production, transl.Hing and writing arc br<lught 1ogcthcr in one procei.s that is boih
crelllive and re-cr,.riv• 11t the same time. In most coses it is impossihle l<l distingui•h 1hc
two '1 Clivi1i,s involved in I his inlegrntrd process. lhe sum• goes for lht 1wo funclions in•
ncwsr,10111: journalis1s wrilin11 'origin• !' rcpurls or journ•li•t• trnnslatin11 und rcwriling 0 11
the ba.,is of cxi•lin11suurccs. 'lhi• praclice explains the ab,ence of 'real' lranslawrs in new••
room• , " silua1ion thal is highly paradoxic'11: bccou« lranslation is everywhere. !here arc
no formal lrar1sl<1tor po.;itlons. 1hc rclalivlt)' of both 1hc shtlus of source 1<•xt •ml author•
.ship crt3tts a situation that is oppositt in 1n:my rtsp«u to tht po111ition of tra1uh,tion in
trndiliomtl rt·sc,rdt 011 lilcrary lrunsl,tivn for exumplc, wh,·re lh,· author aml lhc ',acr,·d
original' arc of central importance, This specificity is whal makes the rclallonship between
journali•m and 1ron,l11io11 highly interc.ting for 1'ran,lalion Studio<.

References

Kid".1• f.<1pc:i.ul\t1 & 8m11on<lt, SuHn, 2009, 'thntsl,1Uv11 fr, <ifol,t,I Nc•wi , l.ond<m: Routk-Jge.
Conway, Kyk. ZOO~. "A culturnl ,1udl<t appr<>11ch to o<ma111ic lnSlablllty: The cue of new, tran,i.
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