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Article published In:
Translation in Society
Vol. 2:2 (2023) ► pp.188–212

Determining ideology through translation [*] *

A case study of an ‘oligarchic’ news agency

ORCID logo | Ivan Franko National University of Lviv

Based on the premise that journalistic translation functions as a gatekeeping force, this study uses Thematic Content Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse translation decisions of UNIAN, a leading news agency in Ukraine owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, in order to ‘reconstruct’ its ideological agenda. The findings indicate that, as regards international matters, the ideology promoted by UNIAN is oriented towards Ukrainian national interests. This conclusion follows from the dominant themes of the translated articles – such as the Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine, Ukraine’s relationship with the new US administration, and the EU’s attitude to Russia – and from ideological shifts in the target texts. Domestically, however, UNIAN appears to be at least partially pro-oligarchic, since the corruption and reform theme is downplayed in the translations, even though it was widely discussed in western press at the time when the corpus for the study was collected.

Keywords: journalistic translation, ideology, gatekeeping, discourse analysis, content analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Journalistic translation and ideology
  • 2.Material and methods
  • 3.Results and discussion
    • 3.1Themes of the translated articles
    • 3.2Shifts in the translation of headlines and leads
      • 3.2.1Translation shifts that have no ideological implications
      • 3.2.2Ideological shifts
        • 1.The European Union is overly optimistic about Russia and this is dangerous
        • 2.The Nord Stream-2 pipeline is dangerous for the West
        • 3.The pro-Russian sentiments in the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine are an effect of the war rather than its cause
        • 4.Donald Trump is an immoral individual and may pose a threat to the United States
        • 5.President Zelensky genuinely wants to rein in the country’s oligarchs
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tris.22011.kam
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