Appraisal Theory and Translator’s Intervention in the Audience’s Perception of the COVID-19 Crisis in Iran

At the time of a crisis, news media are the primary source of information for people. When the crisis is global, the role of translators as members of news media is of paramount significance. In different countries, translators as communicators between languages can help people to understand and control the crisis. However, translators as representatives of an institution, organization, or media can influence people s perception of the crisis in line with ideological and political goals. In dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, news media also have played a significant role. Thus, Covid-19 news translation may also be influenced by translators’ intervention. Therefore, the current study employs an appraisal framework adapted from Martin and White (2005) to explore the probable translators’ intervention in audiences’ perception of the Covid-19 crisis in Iran. To do so, 130 Persian news stories along with their English translation were selected. Persian news stories all were gathered from Iranian news agencies. While English news translations all belonged to western or western supported news media. After data analysis, it has been identified that ideological shifts occurred at the resources of attitudes. It has been also cleared that at the time of crisis translators performance can be ideologically affected, and informing audiences can help to control the crisis more effectively.