Translator Accuses PD Notebook for Manipulating Report

The staff of MBC’s TV Journal “PD Notebook” and translator Jeong Ji-min publicly posted a series of comments online one after another Thursday over the content of the program’s April 29 episode “American Beef: Is It Really Safe From Mad Cow Disease?”

In PD Notebook’s June 24 episode dealing with the additional negotiations on American beef and the controversy over the program’s alleged misleading report, the staff said that the content of its contentious episode had no problem in essence, though some of the translation was poorly done.

However, Jeong, who was in charge of both editing and translating for the episode, refuted the claim by posting her argument on PD Notebook’s online message board. She said that the problem was not the translation but the production team’s intention to distort facts by linking downer cows with mad cow disease.

PD Notebook also refuted Jeong’s claim through its message board Thursday, saying her argument is beyond understanding. “Downing is a common symptom of mad cow disease. Downer cows seen on the program might have been suffering from other diseases, but as they have already been slaughtered, there is no way to tell whether or not they were infected with mad cow disease. That’s why 64,000 tons of beef, the biggest ever in history, was recalled in the United States,” reads PD Notebook’s posting.

On this, Jeong rebuked PD Notebook again on the board. Her reply message reads, “I was convinced that relating (sick cows) with mad cow disease was improper considering how Americans responded when the video footage of a downer cow created a stir in the United States. Many causes can lead to downer cows, and mad cow disease is only one of the causes with the least possibility. If (PD Notebook) mentioned the flimsy chance, many people would have approached this issue more rationally.”

PD Notebook also said, “We did not specifically say that a downer cow is a cow with mad cow disease during the program. We simply reported that there is a possibility that a downer cow is a cow with mad cow disease. Jeong might not have had knowledge about downer cows and mad cow disease when she participated in the translation at the end of April.”

However, Jeong said, “Though the program did not introduce downer cows as cows with mad cow disease, except when the host made a mistake, it should have more carefully thought about the actual possibility of the downer cows being infected with mad cow disease. Many viewers took PD Notebook’s report as more than a simple suspicion.”

On PD Notebook’s claim that no one can tell if a slaughtered downer cow is infected with mad cow disease, Jeong also argued that what matters is the fact that there is only a tiny possibility.

Jeong also added that as she clearly asked two assistant writers to inform the producer of the show about the problem of associating downer cows with mad cow disease, the producer should have consulted with her, if the writers told the producer about the issue.

suhchoi@donga.com