International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 4 No. 5; March 2014 169 Words Speak Louder than Actions: A Critical Analysis of Ideological Perspectives in Media Discourse Jabreel Asghar Jeddah Saudi Arabia Abstract This paper critically analyses the discourses of a news report of one Pakistani and one British newspaper on the same incident. The analysis suggested that both newspapers, in line with van Dijk (1988) and Halmari & Ostmanb (2001), managed to fulfill the expectations of their primary audience and give their own interpretation of reality. The analysis indicated how social and cultural identities played a role in shaping these newspapers’ ideologies regarding the incident. Though, Dijk (1988) hypothesized that the Third World Press essentially lacks freedom and independence because it is dominated by Western information and communication policies, the current analysis generally seems to suggest that despite the Pakistani newspapers sought the international (largely western) news agencies for the source of information, and despite the Pakistani government’s policies on the issue in question were in alignment with the West, the Pakistani newspaper managed to maintain and reflect its ideological concerns in the news-report. Key Words: critical discourse analysis, ideology, identity, media discourse 1. Introduction This paper analyses the two news reports on the issue of Saddam Hussein’s execution (see Appendix 1 for complete text of both news reports). Both news reports were selected from the Daily Nation and the Daily Sun, published on 5 th November 2006 and on 6 th November 2006 respectively. Both newspapers can be viewed as diametrically opposite in the sense that they reflect two different perspectives on the journalistic issues catering to a completely different readership in two countries – Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The Sun, is a widely published British tabloid with a considerable readership whereas the Nation is one of the Pakistani newspapers, known to have tendency towards the right-wing. Both newspapers hold different circumstances in terms of their readership and political/ideological affiliations of newspapers as well as readership. 1.1. Background of Both Newspapers The Nation is a national newspaper in the serious press category in Pakistan with close affiliation with the movement of Pakistan which led to the partition of the sub-continent. It has always explicitly, though moderately, demonstrated its right-winged tendency in news reporting, editorials and articles. On the issue of Saddam Hussein’s execution, the government of Pakistan, even though having close strategic relations with the US government, gave a diplomatic statement in order not to arouse resentment among public in Pakistan. Pakistan's then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz “termed the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a sad incident and hoped the security situation in the country would not be further exacerbated” (Associated Press of Pakistan, 2006). However, contrary to a diplomatic stance of the government on the issue, reports of a Gallup Survey pointed out that “a majority of the Pakistani urban population was opposed to the death sentence given to former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein (Gallup International, 2006). It is interesting to note that despite the fact that the Nation uses western news agencies as sources, and although the Pakistani government’s official policies on Iraq were aligned with those of the West, the Nation encodes, albeit implicitly, its ideological concerns and those of its readership, in the discourse of the news report. The Sun has the tenth-largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom (UK Press Gazett, 2013). The newspaper falls in the tabloid category, and therefore, is most likely to perceive issues in a sensational style. The paper has been reportedly referring to foreign leaders who it deemed hostile to the UK in unflattering terms (Wikipedia, 2013).