Barthes suggests that the

newspaper is ‘an object that

has been worked on, chosen,
composed, constructed,
treated according to
professional, aesthetic or
ideological norms which are
so many factors of
The Semiotics of
Newspapers
Group 2
Abhishek Mittal
Aseem Tuli
Chandan Pansari
Gauri Gupta
Richa Kapoor
 Backdrop to Discussion
o Is the reader able to deconstruct
what the author is trying to convey?
o Does the placement of a story
change it’s meaning?
o Does language change meaning?
o Does Osmosis occur between the
Newspaper’s and the reader’s
ideology?
 Scope
This project uses the elements of the
newspaper as the unit of analysis to
understand the various concepts of
Saussurean Semiotics

Attempts to find answers to some of

the questions raised
Elements of a Newspaper
The Semiotic Importance of the

NEWSPAPER MASTHEAD AND

LOGO
 Newspaper Masthead
Evolution
A

Newspaper Masthead: Newspaper identified on the basis of the Masthead

Times of India: Masthead

Signifies Colonial overtones, Belong to the league, Credibility

A
All Caps – Emphatic, Stands Tall, Separate Identity,
The emblem moves on top to represent the well established ‘The Times
B
of India’ Legacy
 Hindustan Times: Masthead
A

A Colonial, Credibility,
belong to the league

B Simplification, Bold,
B Identity, Current,
Dropped ‘The’ – Away
from ‘The’ league

C
Trendy, Informal, More
C bold, Refreshing, Young,
HT’s Break From the
Langue
Langue
oThe Masthead is black
oThe Layout is formal
oColorful First page,
remaining being lesser so

HT’s Parole
oTwin Colored Masthead
oInformal Layout
oThe entire newspaper is
color-coded
The case of Mumbai Terror attacks and the
NEWS EXECUTION
The Paradigm Set
Employed
Semiotic Analysis of

NEWSPAPER AD FORMATS
The Langue
Disruptive Parole
Contextual
Advertising
???
The Semiotics of

NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS
 The Ideological Framework
of the Editorials
• Editorials are one content parameter which is the
sole prerogative of the newspaper company

• Most newspapers conform to the ideologies

entrenched in their editorial boards over decades
largely dictated by-
– Stakeholder interests
– Political control

• Most newspapers get labelled as leftist, rightist,

conservative, etc. owing to the kind of viewpoints
expressed over a period of time in their editorials-
they thus get STEREOTYPED
 Connation and
Denotation
• Semiotic analysis cannot determine how an individual reader
might interpret the representations of the news items in a
real social context

• This emphasises that the reader comes to the newspaper

with a set of codes with which to decode the text, and these
codes may differ from individual to individual

• This leads to the point that the text is open to a variety of

interpretations depending on the ideological standpoint of the
reader, and whether the reader is familiar with the newspaper
and the codes which. it employs to communicate the ‘news’
The Semiotics Behind

NEWSPAPER LAYOUT
 Text and Images – The
New Langue
• All texts are multimodal….there is a trend in which ,
increasingly, the written text is no longer structured by
linguistic means but visually, through layout , through the
spatial arrangement of blocks of text , of pictures and other
graphic elements on the page ….(Kress& van Leeuwen)

• Different spatial layouts have a significant effect on reader’s

eye movement behavior. An “integrated format” with spatial
contiguity between text and images facilitates integration.
Reading of information graphics is moreover significantly
enhanced by a “serial format” ……Reading information
graphics ( Jana Holsanova, Nils Holmberg, Kenneth
 Some Interesting Points
to Note
• Reading of text and visual – from left to right
(before and after)

• Facing the future is signified by people moving

towards the right

• Left hand signifies that which is given and right hand

signifies that which is new

• Being located above (more, goodness, virtue,

happiness, having control or power) and below (with
less, badness, depravity, being subject to control or
power) is not simply about spacial relationship but
also an evaluative one
 Some Interesting Points
to Note
• When an image is structured along a vertical
axis, the upper and lower sections represent
an opposition between “ the ideal” and “the
real” respectively

• A dominant centre and periphery. For

something to be at the centre means that it is
at the nucleus of the information on which all
other elements are in some sense subservient

• The size of the photograph and the

position it takes on the front page is an
important code for the reader as it affects the
Lalu and Sonia, man on left and
woman on right
Boys placed above
Man moving to right indicating facing
the future
 Centre and margin/periphery
Left – that which is given , right –
That which is new
Above and
below
The Langue Varies
with the Regional
Context
 The Final Word..
Barthes suggests that the
newspaper is ‘an object that
has been worked on, chosen,
composed, constructed,
treated according to
professional, aesthetic or
ideological norms which are
so many factors of
connotation.’
 References
• A Semiotic Analysis of a Newspaper
Story  - Helen Gambles

• Bignell, J (1997): Media Semiotics: An

Introduction

• Semiotics for Beginners  - Daniel

Chandler