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One of the translators for the report on the MBC news program ¡°PD Diary¡± on April 29 which triggered the hysteria over American beef, on the program¡¯s Internet website details what she says are intentional distortions committed by its producers. The translator says she made it clear it was unfair to depict footage of a downer cow taken by an animal rights group as showing a cow ¡°possibly¡± stricken by mad cow disease, but such concerns fell on deaf ears. She added the proper way of handling the death of the young Virginia woman, which "PD Diary" depicted as having died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or the human form of mad cow disease, would have been to clearly mention that it was by no means certain she had vCJD.
She said the distortion of facts committed by "PD Diary" was not due to a problem in translation, but a specific ¡°objective¡± or ¡°propensity¡± in the production and editing of the news program. She urged the producers of the program to admit their bias in handling that report. The translator directly involved in the production of the program has pointed out the inaccuracies in the two main distortions of facts by ¡°PD Diary,¡± which turned the country upside down by spreading exaggerated fears about mad cow disease.
But on Tuesday, ¡°PD Diary¡± passed the blame to its translators, saying the broadcaster regretted creating room for misunderstanding due to ¡°liberal¡± translation. "PD Diary" said its anchor made a mistake by saying the downer cow shown in the footage was suffering from mad cow disease. "PD Diary" is trying to downplay the seriousness of its mistakes, when it is responsible for imprinting on the minds of Koreans the belief that American cows carry mad cow disease and for driving young students out into the streets holding placards saying ¡°I only lived 15 years.¡± While acknowledging the mistakes it committed, the anchor of "PD Diary" even said it was ¡°painful¡± to have to explain something that does not need to be explained.
The intentional distortions of the facts committed by ¡°PD Diary¡± go beyond showing a downer cow as possibly suffering from mad cow disease and claiming that the Virginia woman died of vCJD when in fact she didn¡¯t. No matter how stubborn the ¡°PD Diary¡± producers are, the truth about their distortions will emerge one by one. The testimony by the translator is just the beginning. The producers should take responsibility for turning the country upside down and bear in mind how their distortion will be recorded in the annals of journalism in Korea.
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