Television’s connections between signs are systemically produced, not individually chosen

Evidence

The televisual process takes “objective” (i.e., systemic) responsibility precisely for the relations which disparate signs contract with one another, and thus continually delimits and prescribes into what “awareness of one’s total environment” these items are arranged. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 803

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that the connotative level of television meaning is systemic, not a private subjective matter.
• XREF: Connects to Hall’s encoding/decoding model elsewhere and to the broader cultural-studies critique of individualist models of perception.