Media Theorised

Roland Barthes: How to read the signs in the news

French philosopher Barthes would have seen the TV screen as a cultural text – there to be read, interpreted, decoded.

The work of Roland Barthes (1915-1980) is difficult, slippery, whimsical – it calls on us to read the world around us as a series of texts – there to be interpreted, demystified, contested.

Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff narrates this video. Latuff is known for his biting satirical cartoons that provide political commentary on world affairs.