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The mass media are studied from all kinds of theoretical and empirical angles, from psychology and sociology to media studies itself. In this interdisciplinary mix, semiotics stands out as central, both in the history of media studies and in the kinds of insights it provides. This chapter discusses how the semiotics of the mass media can help understand how cultural meanings are encoded into media texts (programs, spectacles, and so on), reflecting specific interpretive emphases that link into meaning systems present in contemporary media culture. As the media change, so too do the patterns of semiosis—the construction and use of texts. Although the scientific study of the mass media, and their effects on cognition and behavior, go back to the late 1930s, a semiotic approach did not surface until the late 1950s, especially with the work of Roland Barthes. Media semiotics has now become a major branch within semiotics and an investigative framework in other fields of media analysis. The power of the semiotic approach lies in the way it interweaves insights and findings from cognate fields in order to unravel the codes present in media representations.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9404-6_20

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