1. AashishMishra
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BMS II Year / I Semester
How do the media codify the meanings?
The codification of meanings of objects in any form of communication is known as
semiotics. Semiotics is a study of how meaning is created and how meaning is
communicated. Our actions and thoughts are governed by a complex set of cultural messages
and conventions and dependent on our ability to interpret them instinctively and instantly.
These messages are known as signs, which can be audio, visual, etc. According to the Swiss
linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who also coined the term “semiology”, a sign is a whole
consisting of a material signifier and an immaterial signified. This signifier can be dots, lines,
shapes, sounds, etc; anything physical entity that we link to or associate with some idea or
notion. The signified is what that physical entity refers to in our minds. The associations
between signifier and signified are established with a rule (known as code) that we learn
during our lifetime and established by society. This code is a rule or convention that
associates a word, picture, object etc with a certain meaning.
In the context of television, film, newspaper and other forms of media, images are
used to codify certain information to the audience. This, of course, is reliant on the
assumption that the audience possess the necessary knowledge, appreciation and social
conditioning to decipher these signs. Simply put, this is how the media codifies meaning. The
signs which are viewed by the public in media are constructed by them to form meanings. For
example, let us consider the recent trend of Hollywood movies of showing African-American
guys as police chiefs. This image communicates to its audience a message of liberal and
understanding America that is inclusive and accepting of all its people regardless of their
race. This image is especially symbolic in the context of recent shootings of unarmed African
American people by white police officers. Such portrayal of black chiefs above white
constables in the chain of command of an institution that has historically served to segregate

2. AashishMishra
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BMS II Year / I Semester
and oppress the racial minority of the society defuses any tensions about inequality in society
by emphasising that even the most hard-lined racial organisations have now become
desegregated.
The same is the case with various American soaps showing mixed friend circles of
white and black friends. This shows how the American society as a whole has evolved and
has now moved beyond the colours of skin. While this may not be the case in reality, it
undoubtedly makes a powerful image. An equally powerful image was that of a woman
Syrian refugee hugging a French flag which was published on the cover page of a French
flag. This signified that any person, no matter where he/she comes from and under what
conditions, could call France his/her home and be proud of it.
In a similar way, when images are viewed in the media, the audience consumes and
connects images to various aspects of the society. Signs, therefore, are a point of domination
as well as definition; as the production, dissemination and consumption of signs in society
acts to shape and inform the structure of understanding of the real world. There is an added
feature of semiotics in media in that signs and symbols can be communicated further
effectively through technology. Camera angles, lighting, background music etc help to create
a context in the minds of the audience and thus, influence the decoding of media messages by
the audience. For example, let us take the opening scenes of a movie. We see a steam train
passing through fields yellow with crops. The sun is shining brightly with a soft melody
playing in the background. Sound of a train chugging and whistling is heard. The camera is
placed at an angle that the audience sees the train’s thick black smoke coming out of its
chimney. Combine all this in a continuous image and we get an idea that the movie is a
western. If not fully a western then at least we get an idea that the movie is set in a rural
environment. No words are shown on the screen explaining it to us nor does anyone say

3. AashishMishra
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BMS II Year / I Semester
anything to explain this. Yet, we automatically understand this because of semiotics. We are
taught to associate sunshine and fields with villages and the lighting, background,
foreground, music all work together to create a picture in our minds. This is media codifying
meanings to objects. This is how the media plays with semiotics.
An audience perceives what a screen shows in two levels – denotation ((immediate)
and connotation (indirect). The denotation is the first meaning that is interpreted from an
image and the connotation is the additional meaning that is interpreted from the larger socio-
cultural context of the audience. That is why the effects of media text vary from group to
group. Everyone sees the same picture, hears the same music or does the same dance but the
meaning attached to it is what changes. For example, a picture of a great white eagle is
denoted only as a bird or maybe a big bird by almost everyone but for most Americans, it has
a different connotation of pride and power which it may not have for Nepalese. The same is
the case with the symbol of Swastika. A visual of a group of people carrying a banner
displaying the Swastika symbol in the local news will denote just that – a gathering or a
protest. But its connotation will vary highly depending on where it is seen. In Europe, such a
visual will be associated with fascism, the Second World War, Hitler and the Nazis. In Nepal,
it will look merely like a gathering of Hindus or in the current political context, a protest
demanding the reinstatement of Nepal as a Hindu state. Such is the case with the denotation
and connotation of media text.
These are how the media codify the meanings. It plays with graphics, audio-visuals
and special effects to drive the audience to interpret its texts a certain way. And in many
cases, it is successful. But, the audience are not mindless mannequins. They have their own
social, cultural and linguistic contexts within which they again interpret (decode) messages
following their own specific ideologies. So, while media texts may be denoted as intended, its

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BMS II Year / I Semester
connotation is fully in the hands of the audience. Media’s codification of messages can’t be
understood by considering the audience as a passive group of recipients.
This is how the media codify the meanings.