According to the Semiotic Model of Translation presented in this study and based on the Greimassian narrative scheme, Translation is conceived as a form of narration. It is the story of a subject, the Translator, who is expected to carry out a translational programme under specific contractual instructions by the Initiator, and according to specific semiotic modalities(causing-to-do, having-to-do / wanting-to-do, causing-to-be, having-to-be). The present study establishes not only that the question of translation for the general public can be tackled downstream through the analysis of the translated texts, but also that it ought to be evaluated upstream – namely, with a focus on contractual instructions. In the process of translation, the semiotic modalities function as “doorkeepers” of the cultural identity and individual space, and play a major role in the selection, transfer, recreation and censorship of the original texts. Examining translations published in the Italian magazine Internazionale and in the multilingual platform Presseurop.com, the present study shows that the concept of “target audience” or “readership” for the general public is a contractual instruction – one which is already inscribed in the translation contract. Such a conceptualization, therefore, does not overlap with a “real audience”; rather, it is the projection of a more or less defined image that both the Initiator and the Translator have of that audience.