Below is an element-by-element overview of the entire "Power in Art: The Watchdog Role of Editorial Cartoonists" lesson. To the left of longer elements, you will find short summaries of those elements. In each assessment element, a yellow highlight indicates a correct answer. Whenever relevant, we also include teacher tips💡and definitions of important words from NLP's word wall 💬*.*
Power in Art: The Watchdog Role of Editorial Cartoonists
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Cartooning is one of many ways people can express their thoughts and feelings about issues they care about.
Editorial cartoons (also called “political cartoons”) have three main elements: an opinion, an idea and a drawing.
“Let’s face it, keeping up with the news is important, but it can also be pretty exhausting. The news cycle is so fast and even though there are lots of examples of good news in the headlines a lot of what winds up being newsworthy can be hard to process. And there’s just so much!
People respond to news especially about issues they really care about in all kinds of ways. We talk about it with our friends, our family members and just about anyone else who will listen and we’ve come up with countless ways to express our thoughts and feelings in the digital world. Me? When I really have something to say about an issue, I draw a cartoon — but not the kind of cartoons you see on TV or watch on YouTube. I make a particular type of drawing called editorial cartoons.
Even if that seems like a brand new term to you, I’m willing to bet you’ve seen them before. These cartoons go waaaay back in history. Editorial cartoons have three main elements an opinion, an idea and a drawing. Cartoonists combine images and text to express their ideas and opinions just like columnists might express their opinions in a newspaper column or pundits express their opinions on TV. In fact, editorial cartoons — which are also sometimes called ‘political cartoons’ — are one kind of opinion journalism. And the people who make these kinds of drawings are called ‘editorial cartoonists.’ People like me.”
<aside> 💬 Word wall: Editorial cartoon is a form of opinion journalism that conveys an opinion through graphic expression. Also known as political cartoons, editorial cartoons use devices such as exaggeration, caricature and symbols to concisely express an opinion about current events.
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<aside> 💬 Word wall: Opinion journalism is a piece of journalism intended to share an opinion or perspective and, often, to try to persuade the consumer to adopt or support a specific point of view about an issue or subject.
High-quality opinions are based on verified facts and employ sound logical reasoning. Opinions — which, by definition, do not seek to avoid bias — should be clearly marked to help readers or listeners avoid confusing them with straight news. Opinion pieces are often called “op-eds” — short for their traditional placement on the page opposite the editorial page of a newspaper. Opinion journalism includes op-eds, columns, editorials and editorial or political cartoons.
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This lesson is about editorial cartooning, a form of opinion journalism that elicit strong responses and play a watchdog role in democracy.
“So I should probably introduce myself! I’m Lalo Alcaraz and I’ve been drawing editorial cartoons since I was in college. I’ve been published in newspapers all over the US, Mexico and the world. I believe strongly in the power and the value of editorial cartoons. I am a Chicano artist, and I often incorporate cultural imagery in my work that Latinos, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans would be familiar with. I use editorial cartoons to advocate for the Latino community and immigrants in particular.
In this lesson, we’ll take a look at the unique and, from my perspective, amazing form of opinion journalism that is editorial cartooning. We’ll walk through the history of editorial and political cartoons and view some important examples together. We’ll also think about how these drawings can play a watchdog role in democracy — testing boundaries, pushing buttons, exposing wrongdoing and holding powerful people accountable for their actions and making some of them pretty darn angry in the process. I know my drawings have! In some cases this has resulted in cartoonists being harassed, threatened, jailed, tortured or even killed for their work.
So, what makes editorial cartoons an effective and powerful form of expression? Why do they elicit strong responses, including from those in power? I mean, they’re just drawings, right? Well, let’s see about that...”
<aside> 💬 Word wall: Watchdog role is the function played by any person or organization that monitors or documents the actions of others to discover deceitful, corrupt or unlawful activity. This role is often played by news organizations — for example, as they monitor and report on government offices and meetings or corporate activity — but citizens can also act as watchdogs by documenting unjust or illegal practices.
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These are both opinion pieces about the same issue.
List three ways they are similar.