News translation of reported conflicts: a corpus-based account of positioning

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.…”

“…In some other studies, researchers have used the Appraisal Theory to examine evaluative language through the concepts of attitude, engagement, and graduation, as used to demonstrate the stance of manipulation in translation (Kamyanets, 2020; Zhang, 2013). Ultimately, Pan and Liao (2020) combined the three frameworks (CDA, Narrative Theory, and Appraisal Theory) and proposed a model for the analysis of manipulation in news translation. Using this model, they investigated the Chinese translation of English news about the Tibet riots in 2008 and examined the repositioning of target readers’ interpretations of the conflicts.…”

“…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.…”

“…Although ANT, as argued above, has the power to contribute to our understanding of the “how” of such interactions and associations of actants involved in the process, it falls short of addressing the “why” of the matter (Couldry, 2008), as it ignores the wider power structure outside the immediate process motivating an action (MacGregor Wise, 1997). Research shows that ideological manipulation is mostly practiced to bring the translation into line with the ideology of the target socio-political system (e.g., Filmer, 2018; Kamyanets, 2020; Pan and Liao, 2020; Spiessens and Van Poucke, 2016; Tsai, 2005; Valdeón, 2011). In other words, while in the current study ANT will contribute to the identification of the involved actants and the interactions among them that result in manipulation, it does not account for the reasons why this manipulation happens.…”

“…Many researchers have examined strategies and linguistic manifestations of such manipulation in view of cultural and socio-political differences between the source and target contexts. The results suggest that manipulation is practiced to bring the translation into line with the ideology of the target socio-political system, the institutional goals, and the target audience's interest (e.g., Filmer, 2018;Holland, 2006;Kamyanets, 2020;Kandil, 2009;Kang, 2007;Kuo and Nakamura, 2005;Pan and Liao, 2020;Shamsali, 2007;Spiessens and Van Poucke, 2016;Tsai, 2005;Valdeón, 2008Valdeón, , 2011Zhang, 2013).…”