Drawings that speak more than words A study on digital comics journalism Andrea Abellán Mancheño Acknowledgments Thanks to Ingrid for the guidance, support, and knowledge shared. Thanks to my family for always supporting me and encouraging me in every step I take. Thanks to everyone I met in Utrecht for the inspiration, the good times, and for making me fall in love with Journalism again. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 4 Real Life Cartoons: An Introduction 5 Chapter 1: Theoretical Framework 8 1.1 Historical Review 8 1.2 The Birth of Serious Comics 8 1.3 Digital Comics’ Characteristics 12 1.4 Postcolonial Contexts 14 Chapter 2: Methodology 1 6 2.1 Operationalisation & Case Selection 1 7 2.2 Strengths & Limitations 1 8 Chapter 3: A Closer Look: Graphic 19 Memories’ Analysis 3.1 Data Explored 20 3.2 The Readers’ Role 2 1 3.3 A Postcolonial Perspective 2 6 Chapter 4: Drawing Discussions 2 8 4.1 Digital Vs Print Comics 2 8 4.2 The Impact of Drawings When Used 29 to Tell Real Facts 4.3 Unequal Audiences 3 0 4.4. Postmodernism and Digital Comics 3 1 Chapter 5: Conclusion 3 3 5.1 Future Lines of Research 3 5 Appendices 36 References 41 3 Abstract This thesis investigates the implications that the increasing popularization of new media formats such as digital comics have on traditional journalism in terms of reader involvement and the reproduction of inequality. The study provides a historical overview that contextualizes the connection between journalism and comics. This background explains the characteristics of digital comic journalism by using a postmodern approach that sustains that new media is a reinvention of past media formats. The study argues that digital comics are a good medium to report on hard-news because the information presented can be contextualized with drawings and appealing tools such as videos and animations. However, the research explores the risks of oversimplifying serious topics in order to attract the mainstream audience. The study claims that the popularization of converging media formats is challenging the role of journalists who are asked to carry out more tasks than ever before in order to build rich multimedia features. As this thesis claims, the role of the audience in digital comics also changes as its structure allows the readers to be more in control of their own reading experience compared to their paper counterparts. At the same time, users are now invited to constantly comment and share content which are conditions that have changed the traditional journalism paradigm. The analysis is guided through the description of a case study, Graphic Memories, a digital comic depicting the story of four female Ugandan ex-soldiers. The piece mixes illustrations with embedded multimedia resources. Although the story is grounded in Uganda, the project has been developed and consumed mostly by Western users. The research describes this case study using a postcolonial angle, based on the principle that digital spheres are reaffirming and reproducing postcolonial relationships. 4 Real Life Cartoons: An Introduction There is a child staring at her computer. She looks fascinated and fully immersed in the images displayed on the screen. It is difficult to say what is absorbing her that much. It would be hard to guess that she is learning about war stories. Cartoons are telling her about the cruelties that girls, like her, experienced after being recruited as child soldiers. Animations engage her with the story, she feels like she is there, running across Ugandan fields. However, she is not. Her teacher recommended this comic to her knowing she had a strong interest in arts and a negative attitude towards reading. She agreed on having a look- If it’s a comic it must be funny! - she thought. Indeed, this is a common thought amongst young people. Generally, if we think about comics, Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman and other magnificent superheroes are probably the first images that come to mind. Pieces that can recreate fantasy worlds and make us dream of faraway realities. However, nowadays comics are also used to represent matters happening just around the corner, situations in which reality overcomes fiction. Stories of violence, human trafficking and other global concerns are increasingly covered through cartoons. Comics seem to be a very appreciated tool for journalists who are trying to call the attention of an audience already overwhelmed by information and images. In addition, many cartoonists are taking advantage of the opportunities that the internet offers to enrich their illustrations with different multimedia features such as animations and videos. Well-established media outlets are paying increasing attention to this genre and, consequently, these works are becoming more accessible to the mainstream audience. Digital comics prove that the way news is told is evolving, as are the platforms which are used to spread them. However, should we as a society consider whether there are consequences involved with this evolution? It is true, that many authors have investigated the implications of digital comics as an emerging format. For instance, there is an extensive body of research examining the potential of digital comics when used for educational purposes (Azman, Bahrin Zaibon and Shiratuddin 2014, 589-594). Many other studies focus on the discussion of whether digital comics should be considered as an evolution of printed pieces or as a new genre (F.Dittmar 2012, 88). However, there is a gap of research looking precisely at digital 5 comic journalism and the possible consequences of its popularization regarding ethical issues such as how objectivity is treated on these type of multimedia pieces. To shed light on these matters, this thesis explores the risks of presenting hard topics as pieces of infotainment in order to make them more appealing to the audience (Calcutt and Hammond 2011, 8-197). To do so, it explores the consequences that bigger levels of participation might have in the public and in the working routines of professional journalists. Therefore, the research question that leads this study is as follows, how do digital comics shape reader involvement and the reproduction of inequality in the case of Graphic Memories? This paper claims that there are consequences to a small extent because new media should be understood as a reinvention of past formats. This paper will show this by first; providing a historical overview of comics, establishing the connection between journalism and comics. This is important in order to establish how comics have evolved into a new type of media. This is achieved by analysing the characteristics of digital comic journalism and the consequences involved in the popularization of converging media formats. Secondly, this paper considers whether or not digital comics can pursue ‘serious’, socially and politically relevant topics. This is investigated in order to define if a medium characterised for its ability to represent fiction can accommodate the needs of a discipline with truth as its main goal. Thirdly, reflecting on the impact that a new form of media format such as digital comics has on traditional journalism paradigms, this thesis also reflects on the changing role of the audience. To do so, this paper explores the effects that bigger levels of participation might have in the public and also in the working routines of professional journalists. In order to carry out this analysis, this paper takes a postmodern approach and doing so, it utilizes Jean Baudrillard’s and Fredric Jameson’s theories on postmodernism which analyse the construction of reality by questioning common assumptions (Mease 2016, 1- 21). These theories are used for the purpose of revealing the cultural effects of technology on the media. To take part in this debate, Graphic Memories, a digital comic depicting the story of four female Ugandan ex-soldiers, is used as a case study. Graphic Memories was chosen because it covers and engages socially relevant topics, using rich multimedia resources. Furthermore, access to the author was available. The study’s data is gathered from the text, audio, illustrations, videos and photos used in the piece. Moreover, statements from the author, who was interviewed with the purpose of this thesis, are used 6 in order to describe the challenges he faced during the reporting and editing process to illustrate how his position is also involved in the reproduction of inequality. 7 Chapter 1: Theoretical Framework 1.1 Historical Review First, this chapter provides a brief historical overview of comics in order to show how the medium has developed over time and what historical changes have made comics an appropriate medium to portray serious topics. According to international experts at the Lucca Comics Festival in 1989, the first ever comic was published on 25 October 1896. From their point of view, a strip of the Yellow Kid (see appendix A) published by the New York Journal on that day had “those special linguistic characteristics which would transform it into a new medium of communication” (Gravett 2014, 22). Yellow Kid´s contribution to comic art went beyond redefining the genre. The popularity attained by this comic strip resulted in an argument between Joseph Pulitzer, head of the New York World, and William Randolph Hearst, in charge of the New York Journal, who fought to have Outcault´s engaging cartoon as a fixed presence on their Sunday supplement pages. This demand to reach the largest audience possible at all costs constitutes the first steps to a new type of journalism that came to be known as Yellow Journalism (Silbermann 1986, 28). It is noteworthy that the first pieces officially considered as comics were published by newspapers. This proves that comics had an influence in the press industry from the very beginning.