Newspaper cartoons: what are they, characteristics and examples?

The journalistic caricature is a form of journalism based on the use of images and irony.

The journalistic caricature is one of the most powerful elements of current affairs communication.A few images can express a lot, even from very abstract ideas. This mixture of topicality, emotional charge and (usually) humor and sarcasm make these pieces very attractive to readers' eyes, and that makes many newspapers, magazines and websites bet on including several graphic works of this type in their publications.

Throughout this article we will see what are the journalistic caricatures, which are the characteristics that define them, and we will also review several examples of these.

What is a journalistic cartoon?

A journalistic caricature is understood as a piece of journalism in which, through drawings or other forms of graphic representation, an idea is expressed through fictitious situations that exaggerate some aspect of current events from a critical and, in most cases, ironic and humorous point of view. that exaggerate some aspect of current events from a critical point of view and, in most cases, ironic and full of humor.

These pieces can be presented as a single image that contains a story in itself, or using a "comic strip" format, several vignettes in which a narrative development is created. On the other hand, the characters that appear in journalistic cartoons do not necessarily have to be representations of people who exist in real life, but there are always references to phenomena that happen in real life. there are always references to phenomena that occur in the present day, and that in fact constitute the subject matter of the cartoons.and that in fact constitute the main theme of these pieces.

If famous people are drawn in these cartoons, they are usually depicted with emphasis on their distinctive features to make them recognizable, but it should be noted that it is not called "journalistic caricature" because it contains graphic representations of caricatured physical features, but because of the use of exaggeration and humor in the subjects treated.

Where is it published?

The journalistic caricature is usually published on a daily or weekly basis in newspapers, in the form of a single cartoon or a short series of cartoons which occupy a strip of modules of the page, often in the skirt (so as not to detract from the importance of the titles of adjacent articles. However, they are also common in monthly magazines and on websites.

Unlike other forms of graphic expression in cartoons, such as Japanese manga or Western graphic novels, journalistic cartoons are not usually attributed an entity of their own, so they are almost always considered as a complement to textual pieces explaining current events on topics of general interest or on subjects in which the publication in question specializes. Sometimes it is possible to acquire pieces of journalistic cartoons bound in book format, but in these cases they are usually compilations of pieces made and published during previous years.

Characteristics

These are the main characteristics of journalistic caricatures, although it must be taken into account that as the pieces of artistic expression that they are, they do not always follow definitions or excessively or to formats that are excessively planned in advance.

1. Periodicity

Journalistic cartoons are usually a series of pieces in which a follow-up of current events is made, so in practice they usually have a continuity. in practice, they tend to have a continuity.. Newspapers, magazines, fanzines and other publications that use them regularly collaborate with the authors of these works to create a loyal audience.

2. News

As mentioned above, journalistic cartoons deal with topics that are being discussed in the present and that are part of current affairs for the majority of people in a region or for the niche of readers targeted by the publication for which they work. These topics tend to be related to politics, society, and other areas of interest that provoke debate and position that provoke debate and positioning for and against certain ideas.

3. Exaggerates characteristics of people and entities

The use of stereotypes is another of the constants of journalistic caricature, which tries to offer an extreme to the point of absurdity version of those physical and to the point of absurdity of those physical and behavioral characteristics of people, organizations, etc. of people, organizations, etc. This has led to controversy as to whether it is correct to take advantage of these stereotypes to represent discriminated minorities.

4. Indication of who the author is

The journalistic caricature always has an indication of who created the work; the author may use his or her real name or a pseudonym.

5. It is used in the context of opinion contents.

Neither the authors of journalistic cartoons nor the editors of the publications in which they are included intend to pass these pieces off as purely informative and descriptive elements of what is happening nowadays. It is evident that there is opinion and ideological positioning in them, and that it is normal not to agree with the message of what is expressed. For this reason, in newspapers, journalistic cartoons are usually found in the opinion column section.

6. The position in which it is published is fixed

In periodical works, such as magazines, websites and newspapers, the position in which the cartoon appears is fixed, the position in which the journalistic caricature appears is almost always the same.. This is due to the very functioning of these publications, which start from a distribution of contents (layout) already planned in advance, and thanks to which readers already know where to go to find what interests them most.

Functions of this form of journalism

Among the main functions of the journalistic cartoon are the following:

• To enliven reading with humor.
• To create a graphic element that "airs" the page, avoiding having only text.
• Encourage debate on a given topic.
• Criticize positions of entities and public figures.
• To mark editorial line showing a point of view that represents the publication.
• Propose topics for reflection by showing a clash of ideas.

Examples

These are some examples of journalistic caricatures that help to understand what they consist of.

Piece by eneko

The cartoonist and illustrator Eneko las Heras represents the so-called "caverna mediática", a derogatory term used in Spain to refer to a group of media associated with right-wing ideology.

Piece by El Roto

This piece by El Roto criticizes nationalism by pointing out a tendency to pass off personal interests as the essence of a collective with a history that legitimizes it.

Bibliographical references:

• Cohn, N. (2013). The Visual Language of Comics: Introduction to the Structure and Cognition of Sequential Images. Londres: Bloomsbury.
• Mackay, B. (2008). Behind the rise of investigative cartooning. THIS Magazine.
• Robinson, S. (2011). Journalism as Process: The Organizational Implications of Participatory Online News". Journalism & Communication Monographs. 13 (3): 137.