‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for Newsnight
In one of his last appearances as presenter of Newsnight (BBC 20 May 2014), veteran journalist Jeremy Paxman interviewed Silvio Berlusconi. Three minutes into the voiced-over interpreter-mediated dialogue, the journalist known as "Newsnight’s Rottweiler-in-chief" asked: "Is it true yo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Milano University Press
2016-02-01
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| Series: | Altre Modernità |
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| Online Access: | https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/6846 |
| _version_ | 1797713124452728832 |
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| author | Denise Filmer |
| author_facet | Denise Filmer |
| author_sort | Denise Filmer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In one of his last appearances as presenter of Newsnight (BBC 20 May 2014), veteran journalist Jeremy Paxman interviewed Silvio Berlusconi. Three minutes into the voiced-over interpreter-mediated dialogue, the journalist known as "Newsnight’s Rottweiler-in-chief" asked: "Is it true you called [Angela Merkel] an unfuckable lardarse?" Momentarily flustered, Berlusconi toyed with the earpiece from which he listened to the interpreter translate. Recomposing himself he replied: "Non ho mai, in venti anni di politica, insultato nessuno", [I have never, in twenty years of politics, insulted anyone]. While the veracity of Berlusconi’s response is debateable, the issues at stake in this contribution are others. Combining approaches from ethnomethodology with critical discourse analysis (CDA), the article examines three aspects of the communicative event. The first focuses on its technical and linguistic construction, and the (instrumental?) choice of voice-over actor. The second aspect asks what pprompted the BBC’s decision to air the offending language, albeit through translation. Jeremy Paxman’s views on the role of interpreting and voiceover in the construction of the interview were sought, providing insight on the social actor’s perspective. The third aspect relates to the discursive construction of the event and outlines the intertextual chains (Fairclough 1995) it generated. A small dataset of British newspaper articles on the interview is analysed. Finally, the contribution offers some closing remarks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T07:31:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-125bb0ef7f0c411691ff9ed34b4977fd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2035-7680 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T07:31:49Z |
| publishDate | 2016-02-01 |
| publisher | Milano University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Altre Modernità |
| spelling | doaj.art-125bb0ef7f0c411691ff9ed34b4977fd2023-09-02T21:44:18ZengMilano University PressAltre Modernità2035-76802016-02-0100214110.13130/2035-7680/68466088‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for NewsnightDenise Filmer0Università degli Studi di CataniaIn one of his last appearances as presenter of Newsnight (BBC 20 May 2014), veteran journalist Jeremy Paxman interviewed Silvio Berlusconi. Three minutes into the voiced-over interpreter-mediated dialogue, the journalist known as "Newsnight’s Rottweiler-in-chief" asked: "Is it true you called [Angela Merkel] an unfuckable lardarse?" Momentarily flustered, Berlusconi toyed with the earpiece from which he listened to the interpreter translate. Recomposing himself he replied: "Non ho mai, in venti anni di politica, insultato nessuno", [I have never, in twenty years of politics, insulted anyone]. While the veracity of Berlusconi’s response is debateable, the issues at stake in this contribution are others. Combining approaches from ethnomethodology with critical discourse analysis (CDA), the article examines three aspects of the communicative event. The first focuses on its technical and linguistic construction, and the (instrumental?) choice of voice-over actor. The second aspect asks what pprompted the BBC’s decision to air the offending language, albeit through translation. Jeremy Paxman’s views on the role of interpreting and voiceover in the construction of the interview were sought, providing insight on the social actor’s perspective. The third aspect relates to the discursive construction of the event and outlines the intertextual chains (Fairclough 1995) it generated. A small dataset of British newspaper articles on the interview is analysed. Finally, the contribution offers some closing remarks.https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/6846ideology in translationvoiceovermedia- translationcultural stereotypes |
| spellingShingle | Denise Filmer ‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for Newsnight Altre Modernità ideology in translation voiceover media- translation cultural stereotypes |
| title | ‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for Newsnight |
| title_full | ‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for Newsnight |
| title_fullStr | ‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for Newsnight |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for Newsnight |
| title_short | ‘Did You Really Say That?’ Voiceover and the (Re)creation of Reality in Berlusconi’s ‘Shocking’ Interview for Newsnight |
| title_sort | did you really say that voiceover and the re creation of reality in berlusconi s shocking interview for newsnight |
| topic | ideology in translation voiceover media- translation cultural stereotypes |
| url | https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/6846 |
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