Document Type : Original Article
Abstract
This paper studies the issue of freedom of expression through the editorial cartoons displayed in Toofigh satire weekly which have been published between 1301 and 1350(Hijri calendar) in Iran. Authors divid the mentioned half a century into two periods of centralized and decentralized periods of power, and they found that the total number of cartoons accessible during the targeted 50 years reach 296 items. A discourse analysis of 40 items of these cartoons indicated a difference between two periods of power. The study found gender confrontations, a main theme in cartoons displayed in the centralized period, are diminished in the decentralized period. By the same token, the prevalence of sexual words, references, and drawings, in the decentralized period is less than the centralized years. In the centralized period, foreign policy is more salient than the interior policy and criticism doesn’t go beyond high prices, poverty, transportation problems, and educational costs. In contrast, during the centralized period, the high circle in political power is characterized as sacred and immune from criticism. This holiness decreases when the authors face the decentralized years. These findings are consistent with the media dependency theory. According to this theoretical explication, the amount of information and its worthiness, as well as the degree of freedom of expression, are dependent upon the surrounding social structure.
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