Editorial Cartoons An influential and important part of the print media
...y was invented and this made possible the rapid mass production of these, sometimes complicated, pieces of art. In the nineteenth century the cartoonists made an alliance with newspapers and periodicals and became part of the first mass medium. Since then, editorial cartoons have proliferated enormously. The material is abundant and has a wide diversity of subjects represented in many different styles and genres. 2._How are editorial cartoon sources of information and entertainment? According to Katherine Smith, “A good cartoon is a potent factor in the complex world in which we live, for while one person will read an article, hundreds look at the illustration”. Cartoonists have the ability to understand what constitutes news. They are able to reduce the most topical aspect of the social or political scene, at any given time, to its basic ingredients. Through their cartoons, they express -in the simple possible graphic terms- the complexity of the issue. The editorial cartoon is capable of conveying meanings that no editorial can. The reader can receive a lot of information on the subject from this picture base message. There are two types of cartoons: funny ones and serious one. The first ones are aimed only at diverting us for a moment, to help relieve us from some of the pressures of daily living. The second ones use moral satire by making some point about the nature of man. I think we can say that editorial cartoons can be placed in the infotainment category; always a visual commentary on current events, usually satirical rather than merely humorous in nature. 3._How editorial cartoons have the power of persuasion? Jim Zwick observes, “Judged on the basis of influence per square inch, it would be hard to find a match for the political cartoon in the history of modern journalism” . In the cartoons it is obvious that there is always some underlying reason, some strong motivating factor that prompts the artists to draw about a specific topic. They may be violently opposed to, or in favour of, some political or social issue, or have a strong desire to ridicule or expose some aspect of social behaviour. Their major intent is to persuade us to view the issue their way; they try to shape public opinion. For example, with the news about the possible bad judging in the figure skating in the 2002 winter Olympics, judges were sketched as evil figures and with all kinds of bad connotations. The artists were trying to make the public feel how wrong were their actions, even before the truth was released. The success of the cartoon will depend upon its timeliness, upon the ability to seize a critical moment and anticipate the outcome while public excitement is still hot. “The cartoonist will always aim to express an idea and to impress it on the reader's mind in a forcible manner. The expression of this idea is the whole purpose of the work” . 4._How editorial cartoons bind people together? Being a part of the print media -that it’s relatively cheap- the editorial cartoo...