PAK-SAUDI SMDA IN GLOBAL HEADLINES: 3D ANALYSIS OF MEDIA DISCOURSE AND NARRATIVE FRAMING

Abstract

This study intends to analyse the discursive structure of the Pakistan-Saudi Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA 2025). It is destined to extract how geopolitical patrons infer and frame narratives on this alliance by means of linguistic as well as ideological lens. To accomplish this objective, Norman Fairclough’s 3D model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is operated as a theoretical lens. Data is collected from 20 leading international media outlets, i.e. CNN, BBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Gulf News, Arab News and Al Jazeera etc. Data is analysed at the textual, discursive, and social practice levels. The outcomes of the analysis point towards a polarised narrative framing. Western media denotes “anxiety frame” to portray the pact as a decline of American hegemony through the metaphoric language, i.e. “trust erodes” and “wary”. Conversely, Eastern media theories “confidence frame” by legitimising the alliance through “sovereign” and prestigious phraseology such as ‘historic’ and “NATO-like”. The paper concludes that global media, not only reports but also constructs narratives on geopolitical dynamics. Divergence between Western narrative, i.e. “threat, fear, order collapse,” and Eastern, i.e., “confidence, historic, sovereign rise” features towards the authority that media discourse holds in influencing public opinion on the multipolar transition from unipolar dynamics or world order. The study has demonstrated media power as the indispensible tool or caretaker of geopolitical dynamics