News and ads are not the only outlets for, or sources of, attacks in political campaigns. Editorial cartoons, political columns, and comic monologues are among the other sources of attacks over which a candidate exercises no direct control. These forms are especially difficult for a candidate to counter effectively.
A political attack in a comic strip is effective because it appears in a context that does not ordinarily provoke critical responses. We expect to be entertained, so we relax our guard. The same is true of the political humor in Jay Leno's monologues. Audiences laugh and, in the process, accept the premises underlying the jokes. Occasionally, when a comic strip becomes too blatantly political, the editors will move it from the comic section to the editorial page, as was done with Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" in the 1960s and with Garry Replica Cartier Watches Trudeau's "Doonesbury" in the 1980s. Occasionally, newspapers drop "offending" cartoons altogether or selectively delete them when the message proves distasteful or controversial.
Tiffany heart earrings,,,The national syndication of cartoons and columns means that when an attack occurs or misinformation is published, the impact is widespread. A column by nationally Political commercials also reveal their creators' perception that material culled from news reports constitutes credible evidence. Hard-hitting attack spots quoting an opponent's stand are often insulated from journalistic censure by their use of actual quotations from newspaper articles or television coverage to document their claims.
The nature of humor is such that a cartoonist or a comedian will tend to reinforce existing attitudes rather than create new ones. When audiences fail to laugh at a certain type of joke, that joke is quickly dropped. This ensures that Jay Leno will underscore, not initiate, attacks.
The effectiveness of such cartoons poses problems for attacked candidates. If a candidate is attacked in an editorial, a newspaper column, or an opinion editorial (op-ed), he or she may appeal to the newspaper for space to respond. Unlike the broadcast media, newspapers are under no legal obligation to permit reply. Nonetheless, most newspapers will give an aggrieved party who has been directly attacked space in an op-ed or in the letters-to-the-editor column. The controversy adds excitement to the paper and holds Replica Omega readership. Presenting both sides creates a sense that the newspaper is fair and responsive to the interests and needs of the community, so it is in the newspaper's self-interest to permit a person attacked in its pages the opportunity to respond. There is, however, no effective way to respond to an editorial cartoon.
Editorial cartoonists have more latitude than any other agent in the broadcast or print industry. Because their content is primarily visual, they are not readily subjected to tests for truth that are most suited to assessing verbal statements of factual propositions. Thus, for example, when one editorial cartoonist wanted to make the claim that Reagan's secretary of the interior was not interested in protecting wildlife, he showed James Watt at a desk with Bambi's stuffed head decorating the wall. The claim in the drawing, which can be comprehended in seconds, is stronger, clearer, and more damning than any of the columns of ponderous prose that defended a milder version of the same claim in deadly—and probably unread—detail.
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