Lost in translation: Russian TV distorts truth by intent - France’s Le Petit Journal
French satirical program Le Petit Journal aired on TV station Canal + sneered down the way of making news by Russian television, in particular Rossiya 24.
Its authors studied the structure of Russian main propagandist Kiselyov’s program ‘Vesti Nedeli’ broadcasted on May 15 and then met with the people who appeared in the man-on-the-street interview.
For example, exploring the topic ‘Increase in the Number of Eurosceptics in France’, Russian journalists mostly filmed rallies of the people dissatisfied with the new law on labor and interviewed demonstrators who expressed their opinions on the subject but hardly said anything about Europe or about euroscepticism.
When Le Petit Journal showed the interviewees what way their words were translated into Russian, they were perplexed.
“The fact that they interpreted my words in such a way is awful, disgusting and insulting. It’s not even a false translation – their text is cooked-up,” says a woman who, according to the Russian TV station, ‘is afraid of migrants’.
“No, I’m not afraid of migrants at all. I told them [Russians] that I feel safe and that the issue of migrants has nothing to do with the feeling of safety. I said that I have no problem with our country’s acceptance of people fleeing from a war-torn country,” the interviewee exposes equivocations of Kiselyov’s program.
“You are a dishonest man, you showed me as a racist,” the elderly woman addresses the Russian journalist after watching the edited version of the interview.
Except for ordinary citizens, the Russians asked two politicians for comment. One of them, former Food Minister Bruno Le Maire, wishes the Russian TV would not cut his words down and quote them in extenso.
“The thing broadcasted is not what I said”, he told Le Petit Journal.
Interestingly, tranlating the ex-minister’s words, the pro-Kremlin TV station put a special emphasis on the phrase ‘We should cooperate with Russia’.
