Many voices, one BBC World Service? The 2008 US elections, gatekeeping and trans-editing

Bibliographic Data

ID7477539
AuthorsTom Cheesman (0000-0002-6526-3691, Swansea University, corresponding author), Arnd-Michael Nohl (0000-0002-3528-175X, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität/Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg)
Year2011
Volume12
Issue2
Pages217-233
Publication date2011-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1464884910388589
OpenAlexW2171560139
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited5

This article concerns the trans-editing (simultaneous translation and editing) of coverage of the 2008 US presidential elections on BBC World Service websites. We investigate how English-language source texts were reworked in Arabic, Persian, Tamil, and Turkish, with a detailed analysis of the structuring, content, and rhetoric of a sample text in English and in these other languages. This analysis shows that, while the BBC’s corporate aim is to provide a univocal service across its multilingual output, this aim is in tension with widely differing journalistic norms, and differing assumptions about audience knowledge and needs, in each of the World Service’s language departments. The ‘melody’ remains essentially the same, but it is orchestrated differently by each department

Arabic · Art · Business · Gatekeeping · Linguistics · Literature · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Rhetoric · Service (business · Sociology · Tamil · Turkish · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Lexicography and Language Studies · Philippine History and Culture · Translation Studies and Practices · Law

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