Words Speak Louder than Actions: A Critical Analysis of Ideological Perspectives in Media Discourse
Jabreel Asghar

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.

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