This paper observes that most discourses in a multilingual setting tend to be ideologically based. Using the multi-ethnic Nigerian situation as reference point, the study explores the ideological nature of reportage in selected newspaper headlines with a view to examining how the structures of media discourse are influenced by the structures of ideologies. The Triangulated Discourse Analytical Approach of Teun Van Dijk was adapted as the theoretical framework for the study. Twenty headlines, characterized by social properties of ideologies such as activity, perspective, rhetorical form, goal, resource and so on are purposively selected from five different Nigerian newspapers, formed the data which were content-analyzed. The surface structure of the newspaper headlines contained ideologies and belief system of the writers which were not overtly expressed but located in the linguistic expressions that characterized the selected newspaper headlines. The nature of language in the newspaper headlines indicate that the writers conceal their opinions in linguistic forms in order to create persuasion for ideological support.
Keywords: Ideology, Language, Media Discourse, News Story, Reportage
