Political Cartoons: Unique Perspective on Current Events

It’s been said that a picture is often worth a thousand words. Bill Benoit, professor of Communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has found that one type of picture—political cartoons—also conveys important symbolic and visual messages in public affairs.

Benoit and three doctoral students analyzed more than 2,000 political cartoons from U.S. and international newspapers that illustrated the Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr investigation and impeachment proceedings. The fictional cartoons dealt with real issues such as the political and social consequences of presidential behavior, Starr’s $40 million-plus investigation and the impeachment of a president. Previous research has indicated that editorial cartoons are capable of affecting readers’ attitudes and may reflect shifts in public opinion. Therefore, Benoit wanted to examine how political cartoons portrayed this specific political incident and how those cartoons influenced public opinion.

"Because they are cartoons, we tend to ignore them," Benoit said. "But, there is evidence that they shape people’s attitudes and make a serious point in a humorous way."

Benoit found that although political cartoons might include fictional elements, the ideas they portray contribute to public dialogue on important political and social issues. The public tends to enjoy a cartoon more than a news story because the cartoon is often funnier and more memorable. Plus, cartoons frequently possess ambiguity, which allows multiple interpretations. For example, cartoons can appeal to people with different ideological beliefs, such as Democrats and Republicans, because each person can interpret a cartoon differently.

Benoit’s research on political cartoons recently was published in Critical Studies in Media Communication. He currently is conducting follow-up research that examines political cartoons depicting the Enron scandal and cartoons portraying President Bush.

Benoit has an impressive standing as a scholar of political communication, and his insights offer fresh perspective on a subject often soaked with conventional wisdom. Benoit developed the "Functional Theory of Campaign Discourse" and since then, he and his research team at MU have completed several projects applying his theory to actual campaign messages. His most recent publications are The primary decision: A functional analysis of debates in presidential primaries (2002), which analyzes primary debates from 1948 to 2000 (co-authors: P.M. Pier, LeAnn Brazeal, John McHale, Andrew Klyukovski, and David Airne), and The Clinton scandals and the politics of image restoration (2001), co-authored with Joseph Blaney.

Seeing Spots: A Functional Analysis of Campaign Advertisements, analyzed more than 1,600 presidential campaign ads during the past 40 years. His studies have touched on debates, nominating conventions, primaries and general campaigns. An earlier Benoit book, Accounts, Excuses and Apologies: A Theory of Image Restoration Strategies was selected as a 1995 Outstanding Academic Book by Choice. He currently serves as editor of the Journal of Communication.

Additional links:

Bill Benoit
Department of Communication

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