Abstract
The focus of this research was depiction of and persuasion on national interest agenda through semiotics of Pakistani newspapers. It targeted a broad comparison among the semiotics as depicted in two Pakistani English newspapers i.e., Dawn and The Nation. To achieve the objectives, the study was divided into two parts: In part 1 the semiotics were analyzed and in part 2 the written part of political cartoons was analyzed. The study devised an integrated framework of analysis by blending Barthes (1957) theory of semiotics and Fairclough’s (1995) ‘three dimensional’ CDA model for interpretation and explanation of semiotics’ discourse. The study revealed the frequent use of multiple persuasion modes in political cartoons of both the newspapers’ semiotics and discourse. While comparing the two newspapers’ semiotics and discourse, the study also found that daily ‘Dawn’ semiotics played very negligible role in persuasion on national interest agenda of establishing military courts. However, ‘The Nation’ semiotics contributed positively towards national interest agenda-setting. The study recommended careful comparison between various newspapers by readership in order to know the ideological bent of newspapers while representing the facts and opinions.
Highlights
Since ancient times, political cartoons have proven to be functioning as powerful cultural tools while encompassing viewers of all background
For the purpose of exploration of semiotics and related text in Pakistani English newspapers, only two newspapers were selected in the study while local languages newspapers, Urdu and remaining English newspapers could not be assimilated due to limited scope of the paper
The first research question was about the way daily ‘DAWN’ played its role in persuasion on national interest agenda-setting through its semiotics
Summary
Political cartoons have proven to be functioning as powerful cultural tools while encompassing viewers of all background They provide brief, humorous, clever snaps of all types of issues like political, legal, economic and social. The political cartoon can be defined as a satirical comment (using humor and caricature) about a political person, institution or event reflecting the cartoonist’s own values and opinions on that issue. The cartoons have been selected as object of this study because they provide a format within political communication in which complex messages can be expressed through a single image, wherein, a general extensive clarification is needed when the message is written in words.
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