Grace under pressure: Norms in news transediting

Abstract

This thesis deals with the norms of news transediting, a combination of translating and editing news source material according to journalistic practices for the consumption of the target audience. The aims of the study are to analyse how prominent norms affect news transediting and to identify potential general qualities of the field.

Norms are studied based on Toury’s theory and categories of translational norms through an analysis of semi-structured interviews with foreign desk editors of Yle Uutiset, a Finnish news agency. Although various elements of the news text are transedited according to different norms, the analysis confirms previous claims that news transediting norms are overall heavily target-audience-oriented. Contrary to the original hypothesis, news transediting appears less standardized than previous studies suggest and shows more independence and less normative restrictions than monolingual news production. Translation was also found to result in generalization and the use of neutral language especially in the context of sensitive issues.