Abstract:
This study aims to investigate the functional and dysfunctional roles of
ideological translation and mass media in the Arab World and challenges naïve
concepts of translation, like 'faithfulness' and 'loyalty' to the text writer, and of
mass media like 'modernization', 'democratization', etc. It hypothesizes that
both translation and mass communication can play a functional role promoting
modernization and development or a dysfunctional one promoting chaos and
conflict and that both have recently played a dysfunctional role in the Arab
world.
The importance of the study is twofold. At the topic level: a)-Ideological
translation has critical consequences on shaping the Arab societies; b)-If the
ideology of translation and the translation of ideology are linked directly to
mass media, then we can imagine the tremendous effects on message receivers,
especially if we are talking about an age of globalization where the international public opinion is shaped and reshaped by the dominant global
media. At the theoretical level: a)-It attempts to fill in the gap in the literature
on translation and mass communication in the Arab World; b)- It discusses this
issue from a multidisciplinary perspective: translation studies and ideology,
pragmatics, theory of power, theory of conflict in international relations and
communication theories; let alone the English/Arabic duality which is quite
rare in the literature.
The analysis of samples collected from Al-Jazeera English (AJE) and Arabic
(AJA) and Al-Arabiya channels reveals many interesting results. Ideological
translation has recently played a dysfunctional role in the Arab societies
creating conflict areas. The internationally-dominated mass media, like Al-
Jazeera, have been dysfunctional and promoted a neocolonial enterprise of
chaos, conflicts and wars instead of modernization, development and peace.
Such a role leads to grave distortions in message-content receivers' value and
information system globally. Al Arabiya, on the other hand, as an example for
confrontation media has a long way to go in order to be functional. There is a
gap in translation and mass communication models accounting for their
involvement in modernization or conflicts in the Arab societies. Consequences
of dysfunctionality include, but not restricted to, an increase in terrorism. The
U.S. and the West diligent attempts to convince the international public opinion
of modernization are absolutely deceptive.
