Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example

In recent years, the cartoons genre has gained considerable research interest across disciplines; for example, communication, media studies and health sciences. More so, cartoons serve as potent source of data used to study social phenomena. This paper aims at illustrating how political cartoons are...

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Main Authors: Sani, Iro, Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati, Abdullah, Faiz Sathi, Mohamad Ali, Afida
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Canadian Center of Science and Education 2012
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/1/24297.pdf
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author Sani, Iro
Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati
Abdullah, Faiz Sathi
Mohamad Ali, Afida
author_facet Sani, Iro
Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati
Abdullah, Faiz Sathi
Mohamad Ali, Afida
author_sort Sani, Iro
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In recent years, the cartoons genre has gained considerable research interest across disciplines; for example, communication, media studies and health sciences. More so, cartoons serve as potent source of data used to study social phenomena. This paper aims at illustrating how political cartoons are used as a vehicle of setting social agenda in Nigerian newspapers to reorient and shape the public opinion through recurrent depictions mirroring current socio-political issues at a given period. The cartoons texts were excerpted from two major Nigerian newspapers, Daily Trust and Vanguard during the period 2007-2010. One-hundred cartoons were selected using purposive sampling technique. Fifty cartoons were taken from each newspaper magazine. Specifically, content analysis was used to identify the themes contained in the cartoons depictions. Qualitative method was used to analyze the cartoons through semiotic analysis. The analysis is mainly concerned with the interpretation of the sign system based on the connotation and denotation elements in the cartoons. The results indicated that 80% of the themes focused on substantive issues through which social agenda is set to reflect social practices in the Nigerian social political contexts. Also, the results showed that Nigerian political cartoons set social agenda by mainly encapsulating current and sensitive issues that people are much concerned about. Finally, the study has identified the lack of supportive and clearly defined theoretical background in analyzing political cartoons as a major problem in previous cartoons research. Thus, this paper contributes to the cartoon research by offering theoretical insight to the cartoon genre through agenda setting theory of media effect.
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spelling upm-242972017-10-23T02:04:17Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/ Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example Sani, Iro Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati Abdullah, Faiz Sathi Mohamad Ali, Afida In recent years, the cartoons genre has gained considerable research interest across disciplines; for example, communication, media studies and health sciences. More so, cartoons serve as potent source of data used to study social phenomena. This paper aims at illustrating how political cartoons are used as a vehicle of setting social agenda in Nigerian newspapers to reorient and shape the public opinion through recurrent depictions mirroring current socio-political issues at a given period. The cartoons texts were excerpted from two major Nigerian newspapers, Daily Trust and Vanguard during the period 2007-2010. One-hundred cartoons were selected using purposive sampling technique. Fifty cartoons were taken from each newspaper magazine. Specifically, content analysis was used to identify the themes contained in the cartoons depictions. Qualitative method was used to analyze the cartoons through semiotic analysis. The analysis is mainly concerned with the interpretation of the sign system based on the connotation and denotation elements in the cartoons. The results indicated that 80% of the themes focused on substantive issues through which social agenda is set to reflect social practices in the Nigerian social political contexts. Also, the results showed that Nigerian political cartoons set social agenda by mainly encapsulating current and sensitive issues that people are much concerned about. Finally, the study has identified the lack of supportive and clearly defined theoretical background in analyzing political cartoons as a major problem in previous cartoons research. Thus, this paper contributes to the cartoon research by offering theoretical insight to the cartoon genre through agenda setting theory of media effect. Canadian Center of Science and Education 2012 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/1/24297.pdf Sani, Iro and Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati and Abdullah, Faiz Sathi and Mohamad Ali, Afida (2012) Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example. Asian Social Science, 8 (6). pp. 156-164. ISSN 1911-2017; ESSN: 1911-2025 http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article/view/16549 10.5539/ass.v8n6p156
spellingShingle Sani, Iro
Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati
Abdullah, Faiz Sathi
Mohamad Ali, Afida
Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example
title Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example
title_full Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example
title_fullStr Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example
title_full_unstemmed Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example
title_short Political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example
title_sort political cartoons as a vehicle of setting social agenda: the newspaper example
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24297/1/24297.pdf