A Semiotic analyisis on Jakarta Post Caricatures

ABSTRACT

In globalization era, the idea of journalism is not only delivered through words or paragraphs but also by pictures or cartoons. The writer chooses the caricature of Jakarta Post as the object to be analyzed. From the Jakarta Post caricature being chosen, the writer finds some matters that can be analyzed by using semiotic study. Semiotic approach is employed in interpreting the sign, symbol, icon, and index in Jakarta Post caricature. This study aims to identify: (1) the semiotic signs found in Jakarta Post caricatures, and (2) the interpretation of semiotic signs in the Jakarta Post caricatures.

This study uses qualitative approach in term of document or content analysis. Documentary analysis is applied in this study to analyze the interpretation or meaning of the Jakarta Post caricatures. Since the Jakarta post caricatures have been classified based on political and social topics, the writer takes four caricatures from each topic.

The result of this research shows that each caricature of Jakarta Post contains semiotic sign, such as symbol, icon, and index. The interpretation of the semiotic sign is related to the whole parts of the caricature, including the theme and topic of the caricature.

Finally, the writer suggests to the next researchers to conduct research on semiotic analysis from the other sources such as ballyhoo, magazine, or lyric of song, to obtain various result. Besides, the researchers can also conduct further studies by
seeing people’s interpretation on certain caricature.