Abstract
Cartoons have more recently become a prominent feature in newspapers. An
increasing number of publishers and editors have realised its relevance and are
beginning to exploit its full potentials. Despite its usefulness and popularity which
is assuming a viral dimension in many media houses, one wonders, as replete and
common place as these cartoons are in newspapers, do they command the
attention, let alone the readership of the reading audience? Hence, this researcher
sought to know the pattern and trend of: Audience perception of The Punch
newspaper cartoons: using Caritas University as a study. Employing the survey
research method, enabled by administering self administered questionnaires, this
study found out that newspaper readership and newspaper cartoon readership is
generally high among Caritas respondents. Six out of every ten lecturers read
cartoons on a daily basis, while two out of every ten students read cartoons every
day. Cartoon readership decreased as stude
1:1 Background of the Study
Communication being a mandatory factor for interaction and correlation, stipulates the
need to communicate with individuals in a contemporary civilization which is a basic
requirement for survival, just as food, clothing, shelter e.t.c. are essential for human existence.
Communication, the most vital form of human interaction, is absolutely necessary for any
enduring human relationship, be it interpersonal or international. Groups, institutions,
organizations and nations exist by virtue of communication and cease to exist once
communication is totally interfered with.
Communication therefore, is the livewire of any society and the world at large. It
stipulates the paramount factor of unification due to the fact that a society that is kept incommunicado is a dead one. Indeed, communication is the fulcrum of social intercourse and the
mirror through which society sees itself.
Cooley in Daramola (2003:1) asserts that ?communication is the mechanism through
which human relationship exist and develops?. It is through effective communication that every
part of the society is accessed and social and institutional changes effected.
Communication is, undisputedly the carrier of social system. It shapes people and people
shape it. Proper and effective communication provides useful information that enables people
make informed decisions and well executed actions.
In compliance to dissemination of information and communicating effectively are
journalists. Journalists who are professionals trained for the collection, processing, correlation
and dissemination of information, are powerful gatekeepers and actors whose work sustain a
society. The print media journalist through their news stories, editorials and opinions contained
in newspapers and magazines, not only set the agenda for public discourse, but also reflect the
environment.
Casmus in Abdulsalaam (1987:49) has said ?a newspaper is a nations conscience?.
Akinfeleye (2003:18) observes that journalists are ?public servants informing members of
the public on issues of public interest?.
Essentially, they are the watchdogs who keep watch on the institutions of the society.
They are, therefore expected to inform and educate the people and also create a forum which
affords people the opportunity to examine and consider all sides there are to an issue.
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Modern newspaper tends to carry many light and sensitive materials including articles
written in a light mood. This feature fulfils the entertainment function of a newspaper. Among
the light content is the cartoon.
According to Ahuja and chhabra (2002:22-23), cartoons are one of the light materials
used by newspaper houses to lighten the mood of their readers as they (cartoons) have become an
integral and common feature of most newspapers, if not all. In the words of Ahuja and Chhabra,
?even the most serious newspapers and magazines nowadays are expected to carry strip cartoons
or topical comics here and there. It is one thing on which most of the newspapers seem to be
agreed as it makes for the continued popularity of such newspaper…… and offers a welcome
change from the cares, anxieties and worries of everyday life?.
Rivers et al (1977:20-21), said that as an ?entertainment tool, cartoons provide respite for
the individual which, perhaps encourages him to continuously indulge himself with such
palliative media messages?. Regardless of the escape they provide from the supposed ?dreary‘
and ?boredom‘ of reading straight news, features, commentaries and opinions, they are also a
rich source of humour, satire, innuendos and parody, often used to condemn, commend, and
generally pass across salient and trivial messages.
In most cases, rather than real pictures, cartoons are used to illustrate stories, events,
occurrences and happenings. They also lend some aesthetic value to the overall design of a
newspaper or magazine. In fact, cartoonists are known to make a decent living from cartoon
drawings, just as more print media houses are beginning to appreciate the value of cartoons and
devoting more newspaper space to it.
According to the Longman‘s Contemporary English Dictionary, cartoons are funny
drawings in newspapers, often including humorous cartoons. The Oxford Advanced Learner‘s
Dictionary describes a cartoon as an amusing drawing in a newspaper or magazine, especially
one about politics or events in the news.
According to Obasi (2011:149), cartoon is a drawing or series of drawings that tells a
story or expresses a message. It can be a type of drawing, usually intended to be amusing used in
newspapers, magazines and books.
Pictures are said to be worth a thousand words according to a Chinese saying, and as
cartoons happen to be funny pictorial representations of real events and/or characters, this saying
also applies to them. This is so because pictures are able to depict more clearly things that have
to be explained in so many words. Apart from newspapers, cartoons are also used in magazines,
journals, books as well as television programmes where they are animated and made to seem as
if they are moving.
Newspaper cartoons have, however been employed as a tool for editorializing i.e. passing
across the organization‘s view on pertinent public or national issues. They have been used to
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accompany stories to illustrate what is written. Cartoons help sensitize people against social
vices, thus facilitating positive human interaction, yet bearing in mind the entertainment function
they are designed to serve.
Cartoons have proved to be very indispensable because while some individuals may not
be literate enough to read and adequately understand the message contained in news stories, they
are still able to have an understanding of cartoons and the recognition of the subject in such
cartoons.
Boss Tweed, an American politician, unwittingly underscored the importance of
cartoons when he was quoted in ?last laugh‘ (Campbel et al 2000:35), to have said back in 1871
?stop the damn pictures, I don‘t care for your newspaper articles, my constituents can‘t read
them, but they can‘t help seeing them damn pictures?, when cartoonist Thomas Nast published
satirical cartoons about his political activities. It can be said with some measures of certainty that
reading and understanding cartoons might not be a problem in an academic community such as
Caritas University Amorji-Nike, Enugu among lecturers and students. Therefore, it becomes
pertinent at this point to do a profiling on the object of study.
Caritas University
Caritas University is a private catholic university, the second of its kind in the West
African Sub- Region, after Madonna University Okija. By the grace of God this is the second
private university to be approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria and officially opened in
2005.
Caritas is the property of the Sisters of Jesus the Saviour, a religious congregation of
sisters founded by Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Emmanuel M. P. Edeh Cssp.
Being a fast rising private catholic University, enrolment in the university has now grown
to over 3,052 students presently in the University and a total academic staff of 206.
The University comprises of four faculties. The faculties offer a total of 27 programmes
in Engineering, Natural Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Management and Social
Sciences.
Inspiration and Spirit of Foundation
Caritas University was brought into being by the admirable efforts of the afore-mentioned
Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Emmanuel M.P. Edeh Cssp, of the Holy Ghost Congregation, Nigeria
Province.
Greatly distressed at the miserable state of education and morals in Nigerian society
especially in schools, Fr. Edeh prayed and sought any laudable means of doing something about
it no matter how small. In this he sought to rescue some of our wandering teeming youth
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population from further slide into academic and moral decay. This desire was to find its concrete
realization in the establishment of many primary and secondary schools and four tertiary
institutions, the Osisatech Polytechnic Enugu, Osisatech College of Education Enugu, Madonna
University Okija, and finally, the present Caritas University at Amorji-Nike Emene, Enugu State.
In all these institutions Fr. Edeh sought to combine provisions of holistic education at
affordable cost to the benefit of all both rich and poor, with sound moral formation or character
building without which any form of education can be turned into a formidable instrument of
destruction of the human person.
The University Motto
The University Motto is ?Love for Education and Morals?. This dictum is not meant to be
a mere paper proclamation of good intentions but a guiding philosophy of its entire University
life. Its practical implications are to be built into the University academic, moral, spiritual, socioeconomic and political life. Every aspect of life in the university must breathe this flavour.
The Ultimate Goal of Caritas University
To give efficacy to its motto and its philosophy of education, Caritas embraces not only
sound education for professional skills and competencies in various fields but also maintains
strict discipline. By discipline we mean the training of the mind, body, soul and spirit to
obedience and self-control. The students must not only be intellectually and professionally
prepared for different task and roles in the world, they must also be morally equipped to face the
world itself with all its tensions, conflicts, challenges and contradictions. They must be prepared
well for healthy competitions in the labour market and come out victorious. They must also be
adequately prepared to face the attractions of evil in all its forms and come out winners.
Before undertaking an even more critical look at the roles cartoons play in a democratic
society which will be undertaken in chapter two, it is necessary to examine the statement of the
problem in focus.
1:2 Statement of the Problem
True, many newspapers are replete with burlesque representations in the form of cartoons
which are used to pass across various messages, these cartoons to some people help lighten the
mood from stress when going through these newspaper cartoons, giving them a sense of humour
and freedom laughing through these caricatures.
Regardless of the readership of newspaper cartoons, specifically in Caritas University
which triggers a sense of reasoning as to what truly motivates the readership of newspaper
cartoons among lecturers and students of Caritas University; probably the readership of
newspaper cartoons by lecturers and students help motivate the buying of newspapers. Also,
educational advancement on the part of lecturers and students might aid a better understanding of
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newspaper cartoons and probably the effects of gender on newspaper cartoon readership
understanding, also pertaining to the social classification of individuals this research tends to find
out if demographic factors have an effects on the understanding of newspaper cartoons on
lecturers and students of Caritas University.
These problems and many more are what this research work tends to find out in the
course of research, using Caritas University as population.
Also, cartoons tend to be perceived by many newspaper readers from an entertainmentladen perspective, sometimes considered by intellectuals to be for the simple minded and less
intelligent, but ?inappropriate‘ for more serious minded people. Williams Stephenson lends
credence to this claim in his ?Play Theory‘ of mass communication when he posited that many
people use media messages more for pleasure and relaxation than for information and
improvement.
Hence, Aina (2003) states that ?it is not surprising that some people view only musicals
and drama on television, while also concentrating on fashion and comics in newspapers and
magazines?. This study therefore, sought to find out what other values people sought from
reading cartoons other than the entertainment value and if lecturers and students considers
cartoons to be for the simple minded? In all, this research work studied the psycho-sociological
attributes affecting readership patterns of newspaper cartoons; how individual differences and
social categories affected the readership patterns of newspaper cartoons.
1:3 Objective of the Study
1. To find out whether newspaper cartoons are read, by lecturers and students of Caritas
University.
2. To find out what other value outside humour that newspaper cartoons provide.
3. To assess how demographic factors affect cartoon readership.
4. To find out whether cartoon messages are understood.
1:4 Research Questions
In order to achieve the specific objectives of this study, the following questions guided this
study:
1. To what extent do Caritas University lecturers and students read the Punch newspaper
cartoons?
2. What other values do newspaper cartoons give readers outside humour?
3. To what extent is reading of cartoons one of reader‘s motivations for buying newspapers?
4. To what extent do readers of cartoons understand the messages?
5. To what extent do demographic factors such as age and sex have any sort of influence on
newspaper cartoon readership?
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1:5 Hypotheses
H1: Demographical factors influence the readership patterns of the Punch newspaper cartoons.
H2: The Punch newspaper cartoons are motivational factors for the buying of newspapers in
Caritas University.
1:6 Scope of the Study
For the purpose of adopting this research work into context, Caritas University lecturers
and students were chosen as the case in study, using sampling methods of two types namely,
cluster sampling and simple random sampling. Caritas University which is made up of four (4)
faculties and twenty-seven (27) departments, out of which two (2) faculties were randomly
selected and ten (10) departments from each of the two faculties were also randomly selected
which summed up to twenty (20) departments. Consequently, thirty (30) students from each of
the ten (10) departments were randomly selected which made three hundred (300) students.
Also, six (6) lecturers from each of the ten (10) departments were randomly selected
which made a total of sixty (60) lecturers. Thus, a total of three hundred and sixty (360)
respondents were approximately questioned in total.
1:7 Significance of the Study
This study attempted to analyze the readership of newspaper cartoons among lecturers
and students using Caritas University as the population with a view to providing insight, making
it a valuable document especially for media practitioners, advertisers, other stake holders and
researchers.
This study also examined the relevance of cartoons in newspapers viz-a-viz its readership
by respondents, highlighting the trends and patterns in its readership pattern from a Caritas
University perspective. Therefore, the significance of this study lies in the scholarship it offers,
going a long way in extending the frontiers of knowledge in mass communication research.
1:8 Definitions of Terms
Operational definition
The following terms have been defined to aid the comprehension of this study.
NEWSPAPER: This is an unbounded publication that is published on a regular basis containing
a variety of reading matters and if often supplemented with pictures.
CARTOONS: An amusing drawing in a newspaper or magazine about events or happenings in
the news.
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CARTOONIST: A person who draws cartoons.
READERS: Caritas University lecturers and students who read newspaper cartoons.
READERSHIP: The number and demographic attributes of Caritas University lecturers and
students who read newspaper cartoons.
MESSAGE: The important moral, social, cultural or political idea that a cartoon is trying to
communicate or portray.