Cartoons have over the years become very prominent features of newspapers and magazines that some of them are sought by readers for their cartoons. However, there is the tendency to see cartoons as very trivial issues meant to create fun and laughter for readers only. This paper takes a critical look at the effectiveness of cartoons in print media communication and the safety they offer for the print media in terms of freedom of expression, especially during the intolerant military regimes. Premised on the Agenda setting theory, the paper equally evaluates the position of the cartoonist within his own organization and concludes that the lot of the cartoonist needs to be bettered to position him for higher productivity.

This study investigated audience perception of television animated cartoons as tool for political communication. The specific objectives of the study were: to find out the frequency of exposure to television animated cartoons between males and females; to find out the frequency of exposure to television animated cartoons between audience members with primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education; to find out the perception of television cartoons between males and females and to find out the perception of television cartoons between audience members with primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The sample size was 384 selected from three areas-Lokoja, Makurdi and Lafia of North Central Nigeria-while multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for the study. A self-developed questionnaire was the instrument of data collection. Findings showed a difference in the mean scores of males and females on their exposure to and perception about TV animated cartoons. Result also showed a difference in the mean scores of respondents with primary, secondary and tertiary education on their perception about TV animated cartoons. The researcher recommends, among others, that TV cartoonists should think out of the box and come with crafty cartoons that effective convey political messages.Key words: audience assessment animated cartoons, TV for political communication