Translation as a political action: reframing ‘the deal of the century’ in the translations of the BBC

Abstract

The media coverage of international events is often shaped by major actors who express their personal ideologies in the news stories they present. The ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians since the mid-20th century has sparked global media attention. Several studies have explored the crucial role of translation during the news coverage of this conflict. One recent development is Trump's peace plan, termed as ‘the deal of the century’, announced on 28 January 2020. It was received amidst much controversy that polarized the international community into supporters and detractors. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the media channels' representations of this plan despite the topic's sensitivity. This research article examines the media's depiction of the announcement of Trump's peace plan. It attempts to answer the question of how Trump's peace plan is narrated through different media channels to be transmitted to target audiences. Given the conflict's sensitivity, it is necessary to examine the way this plan has been represented in the media using a powerful, simultaneously flexible framework that captures the complexities of the interaction between various powers that are involved in this conflict. Mona Baker's narrative theory offers such a framework that is particularly appropriate for the current study. The analysis reveals that the BBC English source texts raise doubts about the plausibility and success of Trump's peace plan while the target text goes further by considering the peace plan as a failure since its initial proposal. Translators of the target texts used omissions, additions, lexical variations, and substitutions to frame narratives that are absent in the source texts. The Arabic text constantly describes the plan as a ‘deal’, demonstrating sympathy with Palestinians and suggesting that the proposed plan manipulates Palestinians' lives and denies them the right to decide their destiny.