Expressing "To give something an X spin/bias" in German

Question

I am looking for a good way to express sentences such as,

1. This newspaper gives the news a conservative spin/bias.
2. We need to put a positive spin on the bad news.

I see in some dictionaries an almost literal,

"...gibt den Nachrichten einen konservativen Dreh.", and "...den schlechten Nachrichten einen positiven Dreh geben",

but there aren't too many examples of this on the internet, so I'm not 100% sure. Other possibilities for sentence 1. seem to be using "Ausrichtung", but still, "eine konservative Ausrichtung geben" doesn't seem to be produce many results either.

Can anybody help me out here? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The most used translations for bias are Ausrichtung, Beeinflussung, Voreingenommenheit, and if more technical, then Verzerrung - or their adjectives or verbs. Otherwise, some alternate constructions are more useful:

This newspaper gives the news a conservative spin/bias.

Diese Zeitung verleiht den Nachrichten eine konservative Ausrichtung.

and

We need to put a positive spin on the bad news.

Wir müssen die Nachrichten positiver ausrichten.

and

This newspaper is politically biased.

Diese Zeitung ist politisch voreingenommen.

In technical contexts, you may read Verzerrung. However, especially in electronics, the English word Bias (capitalised as noun) is preferred even in German, because the word distortion also means Verzerrung but describes a complete different phenomenon.

Answer 2

In my opinion, "einer Geschichte einen Dreh geben" isn't a good translation as it sounds too positive. It means that you tell a story from a somewhat different - but valid - angle. That is a quality of a good author or journalist!

By contrast, "to give a spin/bias" is unequivocally negative: You distort some information. If you want to have this meaning in German, you would have to use some expresssion like "einen Sachverhalt verdreht/verzerrt wiedergeben".

I am not sure, how I would add the type of spin, e.g., "conservative spin". It's definitely not "konservativ verdreht". Maybe I would use "allzu konservativ". In that case my disapproval is already expressed by "allzu" and I could indeed say "einer Geschichte eine allzu konservative Ausrichtung geben" (or "einen ... Dreh").

Answer 3

"Dreh" is i.m.o understandable, formal-ish (it's what my parents are likely to say but neither my peers nor an official text would use it) and rather rare.

Propably the most formal way is "eine XY Konnotation" e.g. 1: "Die Zeitung gibt der Meldung eine konservative Konnotation" 2: "Wir müssen der schlechten Nachricht eine positive Konnottion geben". followed by "ein XY Bezug" 1: "Die Zeitung gibt der Meldung einen konservativen Bezug".

Generally you can use "etwas eine XY Note geben" or "etas einen XY Anstrich" thoght it is somewhat colloquial and I wouldn't use it for 1. (note that "etwas" is Dativ here)

In colloquial language you can use "etwas hat einen XY Touch", "etwas einen XY Touch geben". (Dativ too)

But the way I would phrase these thoughts myself is "Die Zeitung stellt die Nachrichten in ein konservatives Licht" or "Wir müssen die schlechte Nachricht in ein gutes Licht rücken". leo.org tranaslates "etw.[Akk.] ins rechte Licht rücken" with "to put sth. in perspective" and for me it feels most natural to use that idiom for anything that's beeing put in one perspective or the other.

Answer 4

To give something a certain spin can be translated into German very well by the following metaphor:

• Eine Sache in ein bestimmtes Licht rücken

This matches to give something a certain spin pretty well, because it also has a very proactive subtone.

Within the last years, the imported term framing has also gained some conjuncture in German, an it is now possible to use the verb framen as an anglicism from to frame:

• Eine Sache auf eine bestimmte Weise framen

Other possibilities of expressing this are:

• Eine Sache parteiisch darstellen (to present a thing with a certain bias)
• Eine Sache aus einer bestimmten Perspektive darstellen. (to present a thing from a certain angle / a certain perspective)

Though the metaphor

• Einer Sache einen bestimmten Dreh geben

would be understood - it is the literal translation of to give a thing a certain spin -, I do not think it would be used idiomatically.

Answer 5

First ... what is a spin?

Public relations term, referring to slightly altering facts to portray a desired version of a story.

A description or the act of describing negative events in an overly favorable way. Advertising Copy or political hyperbole, especially when intentionally misleading.

1, 2

From my point of view Dreh or Verdrehung are indeed your best choices. Or you can take a look at these words, where finassiert/finassieren may be another good choice.

fi­nas­sie­rt

Kniff (3b)

Pfiff (2b)

or very far fetched

Winkelzug

Edit:

(der Geschichte) eine neue/andere Richtung geben

Answer 6

»Ausrichtung« is okay for case (1):

Diese Zeitung hat eine [eher] konservative Ausrichtung / politische Färbung / Tendenz.

Diese Zeitung ist [eher] konservativ ausgerichtet / gefärbt.

To »Tendenz« there is also an adjective for biased behaviour:

Dieser Kommentar ist tendenziös.

tendenziöse Berichterstattung

Case (2) is more difficult, I would propose the following:

Wir dürfen nicht nur schlechte Nachrichten bringen.