This paper aims to introduce a research project dealing with the translation of international news and, in particular, the cultural transfer/transformation involved. It sketches an outline of the various elements playing a role in news agencies in languages that differ from the one in which the news is ultimately presented to the consumer. It also discusses why little research into this field has been done, why it is nevertheless useful and how it can be done. In the paper, news translation is looked at from the point of view of a small, semi-peripheral country, Finland.