The austerity that dare not speak its name

By Pavlos Zafiropoulos

In George Orwell’s 1984 protagonist Winston Smith, working for the Ministry of Truth, is tasked with revising past newspaper articles in order that they never conflict with the Party’s line. While Greece in 2014 may not be quite the dystopian nightmare envisaged by Orwell, the recent visit by Angela Merkel seemingly exposed shades of such revisionism.

When the German Chancellor visited Athens last Friday it was an opportunity for both the German and Greek governments to laud themselves on Greece’s return to borrowing on the  international markets the previous day. In the public announcements of the Greek and German leaders, the successful bond offering was, as expected, held up to show how Greece is ‘on the right track’.

However even despite the Chancellor’s praise for Greece’s efforts, the initial translation of the announcement issued by the Chancellery, while entirely accurate, apparently was still not quite to the liking of some.

The first wire issued by the Athens News Agency – Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA) reported that the Chancellor’s visit conveyed the message that the German government will continue to support the successful ‘austerity measures’ in Greece. However shortly afterwards the agency ‘corrected’ its translation, replacing the word ‘austerity’ with ‘consolidation’.

The problem, apparently, is not implementing policies of austerity, but saying that that is what you are doing.

The incident was seen by many as evidence that the news agency was massaging the Chancellor’s message to make it somewhat more palatable to the Greek electorate at the behest of the government. Now the Berlin correspondent behind the initial translation, Faye Karaviti, has  accused the agency of doing just that in a damning public letter. She alleges that she was told directly that her initial translation was not to the liking of some in ‘government circles’. She also adds that similar incidents had occurred in the past, leading her to question whether the news organisation is an “independent organisation with the goal of providing timely information to the media, or a government propaganda machine.”

Below is the letter written by Ms Karaviti in full (translation by TPPi).

Berlin 14.4.2014

Dear Mr Skyllakos,

I am sorry that I must once again make an official complaint regarding the behaviour of the Management of ANA-MPA towards me.

On the afternoon of Friday (11.4.2014) I received a phone call from my colleague, the Editor in Chief Ioannis Nanos, who conveyed to me the ‘displeasure of government circles’ over the translation of the Chancellor’s announcement regarding the visit of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Athens.

According to the ‘circles’, the term, ‘Sparmaßnahmen’ which the announcement refers to should be translated as ‘consolidation measures’ and not ‘austerity’ [λιτότητα] as I had written. I immediately sent an email to Mr Nanos and the Head of News Petros Dimitropoulos with the original text in German, and also, as a first example, the entry regarding the term  from the up-to-date electronic dictionary ‘Linguee’ which translates terms according to their usage in real texts. In English the equivalent term was clearly ‘austerity measures’, without a doubt therefore ‘μετρα λιτότητας’ and the texts it cited were economic and political about the Eurozone and the Greek crisis.

I did not receive a single response from any of my supervisors, only to be informed later that a correction was subsequently issued, substituting the term ‘austerity’ with ‘consolidation’ [misspelled in Greek]. Indeed, the word was written in the new wire repeatedly exactly like that, misspelled. However what was most troubling was the the corrected-wire bore my signature, without me being even informed of the fact, which is ethically, at best, unacceptable.

Without having been informed at any stage of the process by any colleague, on Sunday (13.4.2014) I was informed to my shock that the ANA-MPA issued an announcement which explained the correction that it issued, maintaining that it ‘was an error in translation that the ANA-MPA was duty-bound to correct.’

As the writer of the first wire, it is now my duty to note:

– The original announcement by the chancellor wrote, “Ihr Besuch ist aber auch ein Signal, dass die Bundesregierung die erfolgreichen Sparmaßnahmen Griechenlands weiter unterstützen wird”. The translation of the excerpt given was as follows, “Her visit however is also a message that the German government will continue to support the successful austerity measures in Greece”. The controversial phrase “die erfolgreichen Sparmaßnahmen” according to the Management of ANA-MPA would have been translated as, “A message that the German government will continue to support the course of consolidation in Greece is being conveyed by the Chancellor Angela Merkel to Athens…” A rudimentary knowledge of the German language is enough for anyone to see that the second version bears no relation with the German text.

– The well-known translation application ‘Google Translate’ translates ‘Sparmaßnahmen’ as ‘austerity measures’.

– The term is translated as ‘austerity measures by the English version of Deutsche Welle, which, I assume, cannot be accused of ignorance when it comes to the wider framework of the position taken by the German government.

– The terms ‘‘Sparmaßnahmen’ and ‘Sparprogramm’ which, for self evident reasons, have been written over the past few years exceptionally frequently in the German press and in statements of German officials were, until now, translated by ANA-MPA, just as the entirety of the Greek press, as ‘austerity measures’ and ‘austerity programme’ respectively. You can look back over your archive – it may be necessary for you to issue a few tens of corrections. ‘Consolidation’ in the political-economic sense is usually translated in German as ‘Sanierung’ or ‘Konsolidierung’.

– Finally with regards to the ‘multitude of translators and German speakers’ that you cite, it would interest me to learn if the translators in question and the German speakers are willing to speak publicly about their views.

The question, as such, I don’t believe concerns the precision or not of a translation of an official announcement by the Chancellor, given that the translation that was chosen is clearly a political choice and not… a devotion to linguistic exactitude.

More worrying is the fact that for the second time in the space of four months – and always in the context of meetings between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor – one of my superiors at ANA-MPA has referred to the ‘displeasure of the government’. I remind you that the first time, you reached the point of threatening me in writing, because I refused to transmit ‘news’ which proved to be false. I question therefore, with good reason, if the ANA-MPA is an independent organisation with the goal of providing timely information to the media, or a government propaganda machine.

I am expressing therefore my disappointment, not only for the case of interference, but for the choice of the Management of ANA-MPA, without even informing me, to smear me in public, attributing to me the responsibility for the ‘need’ to issue a second wire as a correction. In reality however, neither this should surprise me, as the Management of the Agency, for a year and a half, not only hasn’t taken the time to meet its correspondent in Berlin, but does not deign to respond to serious workplace and labour issues which have been raised and remain unresolved (eg my work for seven days a week without pay or a day off for 18 months).

Given the above, you will agree I believe that I must defend my professional dignity and my rights. My position as correspondent in Berlin, especially in these times, is exceptionally sensitive and demanding and one would expect that the Management of the national News Agency would choose to, if not make it easier, at least not undermine it.

For all these reasons I am obliged to inform the sector’s trade union organs.

Faye I Karaviti

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It should be noted that ANA-MPA has since released a statement standing by its revised translation which it claims is supported by the impartial experts at the…German embassy. However it makes no mention of the other allegations made by Ms Karaviti.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and its partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The project's page: Safety Net for European Journalists. A Transnational Support Network for Media Freedom in Italy and South-east Europe.