A critical discourse analysis of Political cartoons in Indian and Pakistani Print media: The intensive interviews of Editors on cartoon’s significance

Abstract

Political cartoons are one of the most effective ways to draw attention to the news published in a newspaper. This article aims to analyze the value, position, and trend of political cartoons published in the newspapers of India and Pakistan. The study examines the linguistic and semiotic characteristics of cartoons using Kress and Leeuwen (2002) visual communication model as a theoretical framework. The results of the survey show that the majority of the editors are in favour of including a cartoon section in their newspaper and feel that this is one way to draw readers' attention. However, in Urdu print, people are more interested in political news stories, compromising the space for cartoons. The research has shown that editorial cartoons are a useful tool for analyzing both social and political scenarios.