Semiotic Analysis of Cartoons of the Popular Revolution in October 2019 (Caricatures of Al-Mada News Agency as an Example)

Undoubtedly, the steady flow of media in newspapers, news agencies and television channels is unstoppable and always going on. This feature forces the media to collect a large amount of data and publish it in various ways. The receiver of the news has problems in analyzing its content and then, unintentionally, he cannot have a clear analysis of that event. The importance of this research lies in the issue of popular protests in Iraq, because the media deals with the concepts related to them, as this research aims to be an up-to-date event, and related to the society. today’s Iraq and that is the case of the Tashrin revolution. In this research, the researcher relied on the semiotics method in the analysis of his research samples, which includes caricature drawings and the number of which reaches 15 samples, he selected samples from the year He chose 2021 onwards and deliberately, all of which are related to the events of the Tashrin revolution. Among the most important findings of the researcher, the following can be mentioned: It became clear that “Al-Mada” electronic newspaper used images, objects or characters in its cartoons with a correct semiotic method. But this method has been used negatively and unfairly, because for example, the image (rosary) in these works refers to a corrupt religious character. Also, the seal is used as a tool for someone who wears stolen clothes and prays with it, the seal is a means of worship in the eyes of Shiites. Also, the researcher realized that there is a deliberate insult to Muslims, especially Shiites in these works, but at the same time, the name of a specific person is not mentioned, rather corruption is generalized to all Muslims. Common sense does not accept this generality, even though there are good and bad people everywhere. “Al-Mada” newspaper uses several colors for its cartoons; For example, he uses the color red to refer to blood, killing, danger and other meanings, and he also uses the color yellow to refer to the Iraqi parties accused of killing demonstrators. It became clear that “Al-Mada” uses many sentences in his paintings, which were expressed in the official speeches at the beginning of the Tasherin protests. And he uses them to express meanings and symbols opposite to what is in the cartoons. It also indirectly uses famous expressions of some political parties. Phrases such as “Anta Kadduha” which refers to the National Wisdom Party headed by Ammar Hakim as a Shiite scholar. So much so that former Iraqi Prime Minister Ebrahim Jafari uses the phrase (al-Qamqam). With this, he becomes a Shiite Islamic political figure.