Video news framing: the contribution of audiovisual translation

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, studies on media accessibility in general, and audiovisual translation in particular, have mostly focused on the reception of various audiovisual translation modes among target viewers. This study embraces wider social and ideological concerns to integrate audiovisual translation into the video news framing process. It aims to examine the role of audiovisual translation methods in mediating the framed representation that news broadcasters set out to achieve. It mainly focuses on the controversial operation of China’s China Global Television Network (CGTN) through the complex lenses of audiovisual translation in comparison with the parallel output of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Cable News Network (CNN). Three recent mini case studies are devised to describe the modes of audiovisual translation involved and explicate how they accentuate or modify the contested narratives of video news framing. The findings reveal that there is barely any value-free, random deployment of audiovisual translation. All the audiovisual translation methods under study are part of the selection process for the framing purposes of each news organisation. Moreover, this study found that CGTN has most effectively employed nuanced audiovisual translation techniques to highlight the societal significance of its framing perspectives despite the prevailing critiques of its executive operation.