The Impact of Power on Translation of News Stories

Translation has always undergone the impact of various metalinguistic factors which impose their impact during the process of translation and rendering its final linguistic product. News stories or better to say political discourses are among those linguistic materials that more than other textual materials undergo the impact of factors such as ideology. Not being aware of such discursive practices leads the so-called translator to suffice to linguistic substitutions without observing imbedded intentions. For the purpose of this study through a qualitative type of research and based on critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach for textual analysis and following Tymoczko’s concept of power (2002) in translation this study aimed to scrutinize the impact of power on Persian translations of different pieces of news stories in English in 2012. The corpus consists of some pieces of English news stories in worldwide news agencies (namely, Reuters, Washington Post, New York Post, and Forbes) about Iran’s nuclear program. Results of the study showed that ideology is the very important stimulus which can control and direct the purpose of the news stories being translated from English to Persian and reveal its impact in a desired way as news stories for target audience.


Introduction
Nowadays translation studies scholars are much concerned with practices adopted by translators in rendering the linguistic material of translation as the final product rather the strategies and techniques used from the part of the translator.As part of discourse translation is a method and way of communicating with others through certain guidelines that are sometimes subject to culture, ideology, religion and power.Translation as a form of cross-cultural communication and the meeting point of different civilizations can undergo different ideological manipulations in order to serve the favor of dominant authority and or ruling power.Translators work in particular socio-political contexts and produce texts for specific purposes and for specific audiences.Translations, in other words, reveal the impact of discursive, social and ideological constraints, norms and conventions.In target-language, translation might in fact be used to fulfill a communicative purpose or function that is quite distinct from the original function of source text.The added value, so to speak, will be in close relation to the new context, the purposes that translators and other agents (who use the translation or for whom it is done) pursue and their overall political goals.Thus, particular textual features of translated texts have to be related to the wider social, political, cultural context of their production and reception, and the various choices that were made by the translator can be interpreted (at least tentatively) in terms of the wider goals and strategies pursued by agents in the cultural and political field, and in terms of the norms and constraints operating in these fields (Fairclough, 2008, p.68).Existing power relations and control factors in any socio-cultural context injects specific ideology/ideologies into the mentality of individuals or a whole community.The purpose of the present study is to take into account and analyze the impact of power (relations) in the process and product of translation of news stories from English (ST) into Persian (TT).The analysis shows that the manipulation of translation and deviations from source text (here English) are neither arbitrary nor constrained by the translator's incompetence, but largely motivated by existing ideology through media discourses.To clarify the issue discursive practices, the present research seeks first to examine the role power as invisible force twisting the translation product in news stories.Second the present research seeks to determine the extent to which such manipulations selectively affect and impose an impact on the act, process and product of translation.The notion of power as an influencing factor on translation of English news stories into Persian has been narrowly investigated to date.For the study scrutinize the phenomenon of power in translation of news and political discourse(s) introduces new point of view for incompetent translators to be on alert while translating such texts and also the study will hopefully enrich the translators' knowledge concerning the utilization of ideology in the process of translating, namely from English into Persian.The analysis shows that the translations of news stories serves not an objective goal as it is claimed to be or as expressed in ideal world; rather they work most subjectively serving dominant power via the language of political discourse.Modern thinking about power begins in the writings of Nicollò Machiavelli (The Prince, early 16th century) and Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan, mid-17th century).Their books are considered classics of political writing, and the contrast between them represents the two main routes along which thought about power has continued to this day.Machiavelli represents the strategic and decentralized thinking about power and organization.He sees power as a means, not a resource, and seeks strategic advantages, such as military ones, between his prince and others.Hobbes represents the causal thinking about power as hegemony.Power, in Hobbes, is centralized and focused on sovereignty (Sadan, 1997, pp. 33-34).
One of the most thought-provoking accounts of power is provided by Richard Sennet (1993).In sharp contrast to Weber, Sennett argues that authority need not be legitimate in the eyes of the population.For Sennett, authority is associated with a number of qualities: 'assurances, superior judgment, the ability to impose discipline the capacity to inspire fear.Above all, power has the image of strength; it 'is the will of one person prevailing over the will of the other'.For Sennett, 'authority' is both an 'emotional connection' between people and at the same time, a 'constraint' upon people.These bonds are seen as 'timeless' rather than 'personal'.Emotional bonds often mesh people together against their own personal or financial benefit.Even though the desire to be under some authority is regarded as indispensable, people fear the damage that authority can do to our liberties.Moreover, the emotional bonds of authority are seldom stable in nature (Best, 2002, p. 30).
Holzcheiter (2005) introduces three different dimensions of power; '' power in discourse'', ''power over discourse'', ''power of discourse''.Power in discourse means the struggle over meanings and interpretations of terms and discourses.This struggle over semiotic hegemony refers to the choice of 'specific linguistic codes; rules for interaction, rules for access to the meaning-making forum, rules for interaction, rules for decision-making, turn-taking, opening of sessions, making contributions and interventions.Power over discourse generally means access to publics, i.e. the extent to which specific actors become seen and heard.And power of discourse implies the influence of historically grown-structures of meaning, of conventions of language game in which actors find themselves.These struggles of power are not always visible, but sometimes happen beneath the surface.(pp.57-69).While the human subject is placed in relations of production and of signification, he is equally placed in very complex power relations.Now, it seems that economic history and theory provided a good instrument for relations of production and that linguistic and semiotics offered instruments for studying relations of signification; but for power relations we had no tools of study.We had resources only to ways of thinking about power based on legal models, that is; what legitimates power?Or, we had resources to ways of thinking about power based on institutional models, that is; what is the estate?He suggests a new economy of power relations, a way which is more empirical, more directly related to ongoing social situations.It consists of taking the forms of resistance against different forms of power.It consists of using this resistance as a chemical catalyst so as to bring to light power relations, locate their position, and find out their point of application and the methods used.Rather than analyzing power from the point of view of its internal rationality, it consists of analyzing power relations through the antagonism of strategies.That is, in order to understand what power relations are about, perhaps we should investigate the forms of resistance and attempts made to dissociate these relations (Foucault, 1982, p. 778-781).
Stewart Clegg (1989) sees power as a circular process that flows in three channels which he calls circuits of power.Each of these three circuits of power has a dynamic form of its own: - The overt circuit of power.
-The social circuit of power.
-The systemic circuit of power.
The overt circuit of power is self-evident, but it is not independent since it moves through two circuits of power in which a social and systemic integration occurs.''Facilitative power ''originates in the systemic-economic circuit and it creates change and tension, making possible new organizational forms.''Dispositional power'' originates in the social circuit and supplies social integration and stability to the power relations.Clegg's circuits of power provide the theory of power with a strategic approach to power relations.The circuits describe a field in which all the possibilities are opening, and none of the sides have the possibility of maintaining advantage or a fixed state over a period of time (Sadan, 1997, pp., 49-53).

Power and Translation
Translation wields enormous power in constructing representations of foreign cultures.The selection of foreign texts and the development of translation strategies can establish peculiarly domestic cannons for foreign literatures, cannons that conform to domestic aesthetic values and therefore reveal exclusion and admissions, centers and peripheries that deviate from those current in the foreign language (Venuti, 1998, p. 67). Fawcett (1995) holds that the first expression of power in translation is, as has long been recognized, making the decision whether to translate something or not and, if so, how much to pay for it (p.181).
Every translation is partial, as the Italian poet Magrelli puts it; faithfulness in translation has more to do with the choice of what to translate of source text, than with how to translate it.The partiality of translation is the decision on how to represent a foreign text and the culture it represents.Investigating the power relations in cultures, we should have more possibilities to understand why translations decide to be partial in one way rather than another.Analyzing translators' choices of what to translate, we probably need to connect their choices to the dialectics of power inside the social and political situation in which they work.Is the text they translate already known?Is it already part of the cannon?Are the translators working for an institution or for a 'general editor'?These and many more questions of this kind could be asked to offer a deeper understanding about the translation and the impact power relations would have on the final product (Nergaard, 2007, p. 40).Power in translation studies is closely linked to constraints from different perspectives (e.g.hegemony, norms, language, and target group).These power-driven translation practices can lead to oppression of discourse or people (e.g.Censorship, institutional constraints, ideological constraints), but they can also be seen as a means to resist oppression.In such a context power does not necessarily open out into a black-and-white thinking, an absolutist and dichotomous understanding of translation.It does not necessarily only mean the difference between the powerful and the powerless, but rather makes translation implicitly or explicitly partisan (Fischer & N. Jensen, 2012, p. 11).
Bruno Latour (1986) believes that the given token by one individual to another will depend on each other person deciding to take it up and transfer it or not, depending on that person's willing to do so.Thus the initial sender has no power and other persons will spread the token by translating it into something else depending on their interests.Here much agency is put and emphasized on the part of translator.He states that power may simply be conceptualized as a number of people subscribing to a token; this conceptualization does not disregard people having another meaning-or their power.He points out that his discussion of power through translation is a development of Foucault's' (1997) notion of micro power.The common trait of this view of power is that power is not spread from one single source or position, but rather circulates and is closely linked to the distribution of knowledge and truth effects (Kalonaityte and Stafsudd, 2005, p. 5).

Political Discourse Analysis
Political discourse can be described as "a complex form of human activity" which is based on the recognition that politics cannot be conducted without language.Politics is the use of language in the constitution of social groups.PDA, to put it simply, is the analysis of political discourse and relies on translation which can highlight socio-cultural and political practices, norms, constraints of political discourse.Therefore, the scientific combination of concepts and methods of modern translation studies and Political Discourse Analysis can result in a more extensive study of political discourse (Chilton & Schäffner, 1997, pp.117-150).Hence, political discourse analysis has not yet paid sufficient attention to aspects of translation.Within the discipline of translation studies, aspects of politics have been considered more frequently.It is to say that the phenomenon of politics can be seen both in a wider and a narrower sense.Concerning the narrower sense, i.e. translation of political discourse, we do not have major monographs, and the keywords 'politics' and 'political texts' do not show up in reference works.Political texts in translation have, however, been the object of study of a number of scholars.In the wider sense, the activity of translation itself has been characterized as being related to politics (Schaffner, 2004, p. 135).Fairclough (2012) emphasizes that political discourse analysis should be associated with what politics is like and with what politics ought to be like; it is both descriptive and normative.However, these two approaches are entirely separate, because political actors in actual politics constantly evaluate political action against normative standards assessing for instance what actually happens in political democracies against standards of what democracy ought to be like (p.25).It is often the case that contributions to the literature of political discourse analysis are not so much redefining the basic concepts of political discourse, but to appropriate some extra theoretical tools to set up a methodological dialogue with the existing procedural resources within political discourse, so that new themes and topics can be analyzed from a more complex prospective.Political discourse analysis like critical discourse analysis does more than nearly reflecting events which take place in the world; it interprets these events and formulates understandings, thus contributing to the construction of new reality (Okulska, 2010, p. 4).
Without collapsing political discourse analysis into critical discourse analysis Van Dijk (1997, p. 11) declares that PDA is both about political discourse, and it is also a critical enterprise.In the spirit of contemporary approaches in CDA this would mean that critical-political discourse analysis deals especially with the reproduction of political power, power abuse or domination through political discourse, including the various forms of resistance or counter-power against such forms of discursive dominance.In particular such an analysis deals with the discursive conditions and consequences of social and political inequality that result from such domination.

News Translation
It could be argued that the main objective of news translation is the fast transmission of information in a clear way so that it can be communicated effectively to readers.Journalistic factors related to time, space and genre are as important as the linguistic and cultural aspects involved in the process of inter-lingual transfer.Bearing in mind the influence of the former, some major features which specifically characterize news translation and distinguish it from other forms have been pointed out: 1.The main objective of news translators is to transmit information.2. News translators translate for a mass audience.Consequently, a clear and direct language needs to be used.3. News translators translate for a specific geographical, temporal and cultural context.Their job is also conditioned by the medium in which they work.4. News translators are subject to important limitations of time and space.
In translating news, journalists must rewrite texts to make them suitable for their new context according to the rules and practices of the medium in which they work.News translation entails a considerable amount of transformation of the source text which results in the significantly different content of the target text.On the other hand, the process of news translation is not dissimilar from that of editing, through which news reports are checked, corrected, modified, polished up and prepared for publication (Ibid).Van Dijk (1988, pp. 1-2) points out that news reports whether in the press or on TV, constitute a particular type of discourse.The influence of the social sciences in the study of mass communication has led to focus on the economic, political, social, or psychological aspects of news processing.Such orientation provides important insights into the conditions of news production and into the uses or effects of mass media reporting.
Another orientation is to address the very core of the process of mass media communication i.e. the mediated discourses themselves.Media discourses in general, and news reports in particular, should also be accounted for in their own right, e.g., as particular types of language use or text and as specific kinds of socio cultural practices.Richardson (2007) discusses that the theory and method of news analysis must be an interpretive, constructive and contextual approach.It means that critical discourse analysts: offer interpretations of the meanings of text rather than just quantifying textual features and deriving meaning from this; situate what is written or said in the context in which it occurs, rather than just summarizing patterns or regularities in texts; and argue that textual meaning is constructed through an interaction between producer, text and consumer rather than simply being read off the page by all readers in exactly the same way.Therefore we need to be familiar with what actually quantitative content analysis of newspapers is.The relationships between purposes, content and effects are, only inferred or suggested in content analysis, since it only studies ' the manifest content of communication' not any social or contextual factors outside of , or subsequent to, the text itself.So this results in different readings of meaning and therefore potentially different coding (pp.15-17).

Corpus and Method
This research is done based on qualitative-interpretive method with a critical discourse analysis approach to analyze translation of news stories with independent variable i.e.Power (relations) in the process of translation and dependent variable i.e. the imposed impact on translation itself.The research is briefly conducted at textual level (word/sentence level) via one to one comparison between source text (English) and target text (Persian), and consequently at discourse level by explaining the power related motives behind any related manipulations of the source text (English news) in corresponding translation in target text (Persian News).Since it is concerned with non-statistical methods of inquiry and analysis of translation, hence the results are mostly qualitative and interpretive and the need for readers' own interpretation is considered.The researcher in order to study the impact of power and the process and product of translation focused on news stories of different English news agencies and their corresponding translations in Fars news (an Iranian web based news agency) in 2014.Most of the news stories refer to news about ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers .The researcher believes selected samples out of the mentioned corpus for this study are of importance form the point of view of power relations and reveal applied discursive practices in their presentation.This study benefits from a comparative style in which the original text is read and compared with its translation.The researcher read different news stories in source language (English) and compared them with corresponding translations in target language (Persian) considering the imposed power relation on rendering translations.

Data Analysis
The main goal of this section is to analyze eight samples out of the corpus of the study regarding the notion of power relations whether in the process or product of translation.This section deals with the analysis of four selected samples out of the corpus of the study, which are pieces of news in English (ST) from different international news agencies and their corresponding translations in Persian (TT) in Fars News a web based news agency.Analysis is based on qualitative-interpretive type benefiting from critical discourse analysis approach and following Tymoczko's concept of power ( 2002) in translation studies.First, the news stories in source language (English) were studied and compared with their corresponding translations in target language (Persian) in order to find manipulated or twisted parts.Second, those manipulated parts of news stories were written separately along with their corresponding translations and the altered textual areas were underlined in order to clarify the point.Then, a brief table is presented showing the parts in question, and related translations and back translations for each sample to clarify more the specific problem which is going to be dealt with in following discussion.Finally, the following section (4.1) represents thoroughly the discussion of samples both at textual level and discourse level.Meanwhile it should be noted that the problematic parts in all samples benefit scrutinized textual analysis and discourse related analysis.

Sample 1:
Piece of news in this sample is about nuclear talks between Iran and world powers.

WASHINGTON POST (ST) writes:
Nuclear talks with Iran should be given more time.As it can be seen in research samples Iranian translator working in the favor of Fars News online agency (an Iranian online news agency) has altered and manipulated the part is in question in samples in the way that the pint of view of utterances in question and their connotations have been changed thoroughly in the way that they imply otherwise meaning than the original texts' concepts and meanings.For example, we can see such a distinctive shift in theme of the utterance in samples one and six where the translator has substituted ''should not fail'' ‫ﺑﺨﻮرد(‬ ‫ﺷﮑﺴﺖ‬ ‫)ﻧﺒﺎﯾﺪ‬ for should be given more time an ''encouraging'' ‫ﮐﻨﻨﺪه(‬ ‫)اﻣﯿﺪوار‬ for ''not a disappointing one'' accordingly where the original text referred to nuclear talks between Iran and world powers.Meanwhile the dominant power (here Iranian government) contributes in translations which seem due and responding for Iranian context in which the translator is to introduce different implications similar to what has been mentioned in the original text, but not exact.For examples we can clearly understand such differences in implication and meaning in the rest of research samples where the Iranian translator has substituted ''nuclear power'' ‫ای(‬ ‫ھﺴﺘﮫ‬ ‫)ﺗﻮان‬ for 'nuclear weapon'' ‫ای(‬ ‫ھﺴﺘﮫ‬ ‫)ﺳﻼح‬ in sample eight, ''the restriction'' ‫)ﻣﺤﺪودﯾﺖ(‬ for '' the freeze'' ‫ﮐﺎﻣﻞ(‬ ‫)ﺗﻮﻗﻒ‬ in sample seven, ''be suspended'' ‫ﺗﻌﻠﯿﻖ(‬ ‫)ﺣﺎﻟﺖ‬ for ''be disabled'' ( ‫از‬ ‫اﻧﺪاﺧﺘﻦ‬ ‫)ﮐﺎر‬ in sample three.
Regarding the impact of power on translation final product and pertaining process Tymoczko and Gentzler (2002) dedicate a whole book ''Translation and power'' to highlight the importance of intervening power relation in translation (the final product or pertaining process).Pliešovská and Djovčoš (2011) in their paper ''Power and Shifting Paradigm in Translation'' study the interrelation of dominant ideology Derived from power relations and its influence on the translation and publishing policy as reflected on the example of Slovakia.Bachrach and Baratz (1962) discuss about two faces of power and pay attention to different dimensions of the concept of power and its relation in daily practices including lingual interactions and translation related issues.Sadan (1997)  xxi) ''translation is not simply an act of faithful reproduction but, rather, a deliberate and conscious act of selection, assemblage, structuration, and fabrication-and even in some cases of falsification, refusal of information, counterfeiting and the creation of secret codes.In these ways translators, as much as creative writers and politicians participate in the powerful acts that create knowledge and shape culture'' as it was seen in samples one, two, three and seven.Also translators must make choices, selecting aspects or parts of a text to transpose and emphasize.Such choices in return serve to create representations of their source texts, representations that are partial.This partiality is not to be considered a defect, a lack, or an absence in a translations; it is a necessary condition of the act.It is also an aspect that makes the act of translation partisan: engaged and committed, either implicitly or explicitly.Indeed partiality is what differentiates translations, enabling them to participate in the dialectic of power, the ongoing process of political discourse and strategies for social change (ibid, p. xviii) as it was seen in samples four, five, six and eight.Therefore, we are to be precise in interpreting the product of translation and take into account the political and socio-cultural context in which the translator works.

Conclusion
This study investigated the impact of ideology on the translation of news stories in English (ST) into Persian (TT) through identifying the possible manipulations imposed by the translator working in the favor of the dominant ideology and or power in the context of Iranian community.Analysis was made on four samples out of the corpus of the study according to qualitative-interpretive type of research with a critical discourse analysis approach.The analysis benefited from Tymoczko's (2002) points of view on existing power related trends in translation process in order to clarify possible manipulations imposed by the translator of news stories serving for an Iranian news agency.Therefore, dominant power of translator's working environment and related relations (here Iranian government) always push the translator towards representing ideologically what serves the favor of the holder of power rather the exact concept(s) presented in the source text.In addition the ongoing power related trends and whatsoever are believed in such context (here Iranian community) will limit the translator's choices both in selecting linguistic materials to be translated and in representing socio-cultural issues as they are.It means the translator is not allowed to translate everything in any desired manner and his/her practice is limited in the framework of certain socio-cultural constrains that must be observed to be able to introduce the final translation product.

Flourishing
in '' Empowerment and Community Planning'' dedicates a chapter to discuss different theories of power.Wilson (2001) ''Power and translation in social policy research'' proposes an approach that obscures the power relations inherent in the production, translation and use of information.Delforouz Abdolmaleki (2012) ''Agents of Power and Power Relations in Translation'' studies the powers who determine what books, whose books and by whom a given book is to be read.As forTymoczko (2002, p.