Critic or cheerleader? Editorial cartoons during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

An examination of editorial cartoons about the Coronavirus pandemic during the first 6 months finds that subjects and topics followed developments in the spread of the pandemic and public health and safety responses and mirrored those found in news coverage. More, messages generally reflected largely consensual establishment views of the crisis and official health and safety responses. Cartoonists seemed to adopt the role of cheerleader for government policy and efforts to grapple with the pandemic.