What Do Editorial Cartoons and Wikileaks Have in Common?

By Bernarda Vasquez

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At first glance, both tend to be controversial… but let’s dig a little deeper to find out in what do they resemble and in what they differ. Editorial Cartoons and Wikileaks are types of mass communication media, this means they are tools used to deliver and receive information to mass audiences. There are different types of media, from traditional media like TV, radio and newspapers to digital forms like websites or social media. Media are a great contribution to society by getting information to large numbers of people, reaching out to remote places and promoting the union and economy of a community. Following I will describe in more detail the two types of media represented in the image above and what roles they play in society.

On the one hand we have editorial cartoons, which are a unique form of journalism that utilizes satire and wit, with a tendency to ridicule its subjects. Since news must be unbiased and fact-based, cartoons have been adopted as a type of outlet to publish comments or critiques about particular events. For editorial cartoons to be effective, illustrators use visual and verbal vocabulary that is familiar to readers, as well as symbolism and exaggerated features, making them attention grabbing, in order to break the text pattern in publications and evoke some reaction in their audience. Caricatures may look silly or easy to read due to their graphic properties, but in reality, they are challenging, as they require interpretation and background knowledge from the reader. A person must first look at the picture and then, look at the BIGGER picture. 

Editorial cartoons are usually found in newspapers and magazines and nowadays also in their digital versions or news websites and later shared on social media. This type of communication media has 2 roles. The first is to inform and educate, because it makes its readers think about current political issues, it also provides an analysis of current affairs and encourages building connections to past events that may have been forgotten or not linked before. The second is that it serves as a public forum for discussion. As mentioned before, editorial cartoons show an editorial opinion in order to spark a conversion or discussion, either in person or though online comments, which can generate positive changes or social uprisings.


On the other hand, we have Wikileaks, an international non-profit multi-media organization that publishes worldwide news leaks and classified datasets provided by anonymous sources, like materials involving war, spying and corruption. This type of media was created to fuel the democratization of information and to expose wrongdoing by powerful interests. Created in 2006 as a website, it was innovative, easy to use and it was the best format for global reach and to provide a safe space for whistleblowers.  

Wikileaks has influenced the importance of data-driven journalism and has encouraged news organizations to work together to get stories, like the case of Panama Papers in 2016. The main goal of Wikileaks is to bring the truth to light, in other words, one of its roles is to inform and educate by providing data and publishing original sources so people can see evidence of the truth. This media also fulfills the role of serving as a public forum for discussion, not for the public, but for journalists who anonymously have a place to share information and supplement the data of others. And third, this website also acts as  watchdog, since it publishes hidden information that may contradict or complete what the government, industries or other media give, to expose their agendas or bias.

Communication media comes in different forms and shapes. I focused on these two options because it can be seen how they fulfill their main function of communicating to the public but from such different formats. Editorial cartoons do it in a graphic way and through opinion and Wikileaks with datasets and fact-based stories. However, they also have something in common, they invite the audience to take an active role. In both cases, the reader must be able to interpret what he has in front of him, they encourage the public to see beyond, which starts a discussion, exchange of ideas or incite a type of action. They are media that have an impact.

 

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