Examination of the Portrayal of Corruption in Nigerian Editorial Cartoons

Editorial cartoons are a distinctive genre of political communication that condenses complex political critiques into visual metaphor, and their treatment of corruption, Nigeria's most pervasive governance challenge, reflects and shapes public attitudes toward political accountability. This study examined the portrayal of corruption in editorial cartoons published in selected Nigerian national newspapers. A content analysis was conducted on 200 editorial cartoons published in Punch, Vanguard, and This Day between January 2021 and December 2023. Each cartoon was analysed for symbolic representation techniques, targets of criticism (political office, institution, or individual), humour type (satire, irony, absurdism), visual semiotics, and implicit moral framework. Results showed that politicians in federal executive positions were the primary corruption targets in 58.5 percent of cartoons. Material symbolism (bags of money, stolen objects) appeared in 73.5 percent of images. Satire was the dominant humour mode (68.0 percent), with absurdist treatment used for systemic corruption and direct caricature reserved for named political figures. Women were underrepresented as corruption actors in 91.0 percent of cartoons, reflecting the gendered nature of media corruption narration. Cartoons most frequently implied personal moral failure rather than systemic institutional causation as the corruption explanation. The study concludes that editorial cartooning in Nigeria constructs corruption as an individualised moral phenomenon rather than a systemic governance failure, which may limit its effectiveness as political critique aimed at structural reform.

Keywords: editorial cartoons, corruption, political communication, visual journalism, Nigeria