Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Deliberating On Mistakes”

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May 30, 2006

Deliberating On Mistakes

Hatched by Sachi

According to Omar at Iraq The Model, a CNN report on May 27th that quoted Iraq's foreign minister about Iran's nuclear program seriously mistranslated the comments from Arabic to English.

Here is what CNN reported:

Iran has a right to develop nuclear technology and the international community should drop its demands that Tehran prove it's not trying to build a nuclear weapon, Iraq's foreign minister said Friday....

"Iran doesn't claim that they want to obtain a nuclear weapon or a nuclear bomb, so there is no need that we ask them for any guarantee now," Hoshyar Zebari said after meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki.

But Omar listened to the audio, and he says this is completely wrong. He supplies his own translation:

We respect Iran's and every other nation's right to pursue nuclear technology for research purposes and peaceful use given they accept [giving] the internationally required guarantees that this will not lead to an armament race in the region…

This is almost the polar opposite of what CNN reported, raising the dilemma of whether we trust Omar of Iraq the Model -- or the scion of Ted Turner. (Silly question.)

If it turns out CNN mistakenly reported, out of sheer incompetence, the opposite of what Zebari said, they should fire the translator.

But if the mistranslation were deliberate, rewriting the official statements of Iraqi officials to hew more closely to what CNN would prefer they said, then -- well, then that's just the traditional MO of the mainstream media, isn't it?

Hatched by Sachi on this day, May 30, 2006, at the time of 4:55 PM

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Tracked on May 30, 2006 5:46 PM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: chsw

Perhaps this was the Arabic translator recommended by Eason Jordan.

chsw

The above hissed in response by: chsw at May 30, 2006 6:05 PM

The following hissed in response by: cdquarles

Dafydd,

Given that CNN calls itself "The most trusted name in news(SM)" (not!), I'd lean toward the deliberate mistranslation view given their history of prostituting themselves to Saddam. This story needs to be fleshed out more.

The above hissed in response by: cdquarles at May 30, 2006 7:22 PM

The following hissed in response by: Michael Heinz

This is a very important issue - has anyone actually complained to CNN?

The above hissed in response by: Michael Heinz at May 30, 2006 7:28 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dan Kauffman

Maybe it's a case of do not attribute to malise that which can be explained by stupidity?

I when I get a chance may link back to this and expand my Purple Star Medal Post.

Maybe It's
NOT
Media Bias?

The above hissed in response by: Dan Kauffman at May 30, 2006 10:00 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dan Kauffman

I forgot I can never get your trackbacks to work

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