Introduction

Recent years have seen a growth in mass-mediated cultural artefacts and a concomitant growth in their social and cultural significance. Academia has been relatively quick to respond to some of these apparent changes (see, for example, Deacon et al. 2007; Talbot 2007; Matheson 2005). This has resulted in an expansion of analytic approaches (cf. Barnhurst and Nerone 2001; Bell and Garrett 1998; Cotter 1996; Fairclough 1995; Kress and van Leeuwen 2006; Machin 2007; Martin and White 2005; McGuigan 1997; Pickering 2008; Richardson 2007; Titscher et al. 2000) to make sense of the semiotic processes involved in contemporary mass communications, their relations to wider social and structural systems (for instance, markets, political formations, the law), as well as the consequences they may have on textual, discursive and social practices.