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Title Ink and Ideology: A Comparative Multimodal Analysis of Gaza Cartoons in British and Pakistani Press

Author(s) Muhammad Osama Shaheen

Abstract The Gaza conflict continues to be a focal point of global discourse, with profound regional and international implications. The study focused on the representation of the Gaza conflict in editorial cartoons from The Dawn and The Guardian newspapers. The objectives were twofold: to explore the portrayal of the conflict by means of semiotic repertoire employed and to identify similarities and differences in ideological depictions of the conflict between British and Pakistani print media. The research methodology involved qualitative analysis of thirty cartoons (fifteen from each newspaper), selected purposively from August 2020 to August 2024. Machin’s Multimodal discourse analysis (2007) and Van Dijk’s Ideological Square (1998) were leveraged as conceptual frameworks for the analysis. The findings show that cartoons in the British press through the use of devices such as inter-textuality (three wise men) and drawing parallels with the Ukraine conflict provided a relatively objective and comprehensive picture of the conflict. It highlighted not only the wrongs committed by both sides in this fight. On the contrary in the Pakistani newspaper, the Hamas element was avoided altogether which may provide an incomplete and lop-sided view of the conflict. Similarly, when depicting the negative role of the global community, the Dawn newspaper was found to be focusing on the UN or OIC; whereas the Guardian extended it to the role of western leadership as well. This aligns with the region and demography each newspaper basically caters to. The findings align with those of Shreim (2014) and Tasseron (2021), as when it comes to assigning the responsibility for the wide scale chaos, there are nuances and subtle differences in both newspapers’ depiction. These differences allow for downplaying the faults of a faction and providing it leeway for possible further aggression. The policy implications of these multimodal representations are significant since they influence how the conflict is perceived by the masses and thereby affect the decision-making at higher government echelons.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2025-09-12

Subject English Linguistics

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