Project (cont.)

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd laid to rest - Aljazeera frontpage headline
Simple funeral for King Fahd - CNN sidestory headline

King Fahd, ruler of Saudia Arabia for the last 23 years, died after several years of ill health. His son, King Abdullah, who apparently had been performing some of his duties for him already, will succeed him. The funeral was described unilaterally as a somber if simple affair. The king was a devout follower of Islam, and did not believe in having a grave marked with his name.

The meat of this article was virtually identical between CNN and Aljazeera. The interesting differences lay in CNN's additional noting of the reactions of various other countries, and brief overview of Saudi Arabia's recent history. They even went so far as to remind their readers that 15 of the 19 hijackers responsible for the attacks 9-11-01 were of Saudi Arabian nationality.

Where the Aljazeera article is reserved and respectful, the CNN article goes a bit more in depth, in gauging the global reaction to the king's death. This difference most like stems from the readerbase of each of these news outlets. Aljazeera assumes that its readers are already somewhat versed in the history of Saudi Arabia, whereas CNN does not.