Historical JTR: journalistic translation in the representation of Mussolini’s rise to power in two British newsbrands

Giorgia Meloni’s ascension to prime minister of Italy occurred with serendipitous timing in terms of international newsworthiness. Described as ‘the most right-wing Italian Leader since Mussolini’ by British newsbrands, her assumption of office coincided with the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome that marked the beginning of the Fascist regime. This twist of fate is the point of departure for the study presented here. Adopting a historical approach to journalistic translation research, the study investigates the role of translation in representing Mussolini in British news discourse during the prelude to the March on Rome. A small corpus of articles published in two national newspapers of opposing political positions was compiled from the British Library newspaper archives. The dataset was examined through the lenses of framing and narrative theory with the aim of shedding light on possible ideological shifts in translational decision making and on the journalistic translational strategies employed at the time. The contribution reflects on the methodological challenges such interdisciplinary research entails and proposes ways to develop future projects of a similar ilk.