The aim of this study is to examine how two Swedish newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, described the US occupation of Iraq (2003) and the Russian annexation of Crimea (2014). The questions examined are: How did DN and SvD form their news report regarding the US occupation of Iraq and the Russian annexation of Crimea? How were the involved countries (The US, Russia, Iraq and Crimea (Ukraine) etc.) portrayed? What kind of ideological messages can be told from the articles? 

Using the analysis method of Berglez (2019), as well as the method of critical discourse analysis (CDA) by Norman Fairclough (1995), ten news articles from each newspaper were analyzed. Theories used are the Gramscian theory of hegemony, the Bourdieu field theory and framing theory. The study shows that there are differences in how the two interventions were portrayed. The newspapers correspondents appeared to picture the conflicts in a way that may reflect the reporters own view of the conflict. Especially the SvD reporters appeared to be critical of the US war in Iraq. Both newspapers were prone to portraying Russia in a negative way as well as the US as a legitimate power. DN, to a greater extent than SvD, reproduced Russian stereotypes.