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The Drudge Report. A new voice in the Journalism world. The Absentee Ballot


News organizations can radically alter foreign stories because of their inability to speak the language.  Two recent
stories demonstrate how wrong translations can influence the way that the facts are reported.  Two examples
come to mind and both were reported by the Drudge.  One of them was an Italian girl from Turin who, according
to the Drudge Report and other media outlets, was ordered to have an abortion by an Italian judge.  They cited an
Italian newspaper extensively in the report which the Drudge linked to his site.

The true story was radically different.  Somewhere, someone failed Italian 101.  The girl was required by Italian
law to obtain both parent's permission to obtain the abortion but only had her mother's signature.  Her father
refused.  Her only alternative was to sue to have the abortion.  She did and she won.  The judge allowed her with
only one parent consenting.  That was the story and it was radically different than what was reported.  It wasn't
the mistake of the Italian news article either-they got it right.

News outlets recently reported that Italian television had broadcast the Taliban's beheading of an Afghan who was
working with an Italian journalist.  That would be similar to ABC opening its nightly newscast with the Daniel
Pearl beheading.  It would make for a violent and gruesome society.  Again the report missed a crucial detail.  
The video was shown right up to the beheading and the screen went black.

All of this creates false and bad impressions of European society, and I'm just including two examples.  The same
occurs on the European side.  Language is a barrier even when all parties think that they have the correct
information.  The Drudge Report breaks news and has media connections. But when it comes to International
news, in a foreign language, it's useful to have people that can get an accurate picture-not one that simply makes
headlines.