The Voice CSP: case study

 Homepage

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:

1) What news website key conventions can you find on the Voice homepage?

The subscribe button, the top handle with all the subjects and the headlines on each article

2) What are some of the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content, values and ideologies of the Voice?

News- this shows the Voice report on issues regarding balck communities

Lifestyle-  represents black culture and celebrated black identity

Entertainment- covers film, music and television etc.. celbrating black talent and pitting a spotlight on black voices in these industries

3) Look at the news stories on the Voice homepage. Pick two stories and explain why they might appeal to the Voice's target audience. 

The record stores that shaped Black music in Britain- highlighting black influence in music industry

‘A leader, mentor, and friend’: what Lord Herman Ouseley meant to me- keeing audience informed about politics and current events - inclusivity 

4) How is narrative used to encourage audience engagement with the Voice? Apply narrative theories (e.g. Todorov equilibrium or Barthes’ enigma codes) and make specific reference to stories on the homepage and how they encourage audiences to click through to them.

Enigma codes- the headlines that grab the readers attention and leaves them no choice but to click on the article

Lifestyle section

Now analyse the Lifestyle section of the Voice and answer the following:

1) What are the items in the sub-menu bar for the Lifestyle section and what does this suggest about the Voice audience?

Fashion and beauty, food, health and wellbeing, relationships, and travel- this suggests that their audience are older adults that miot likely work 9-5s because 

2) What are the main stories in the Lifestyle section currently?

British African heritage brand make history at Arsenal, Frank Bruno's charity fight is given a Royal seal of approval...

3) Do the sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section challenge or reinforce black stereotypes in British media?

They subvert black stereotypes in British media as thye put a spotlight on Black achievement's in health sectors and political sectors

4) Choose two stories featured in the Lifestyle section – how do they reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice?

British African heritage brand make history at Arsenal- pushing black people and african culture on the map in different indistrues (fashion, sports) 

The Benefits of Earning a Master’s Degree in Health Services- gives advice on working in the health sector and the diverse job opportunities for black people

Feature focus

1) Read this Voice opinion piece on black representation in the tech industry. How does this piece reflect the values and ideologies of The Voice?

It is giving black people the spotlight in industires that may not have diverse opportunites and gives black people the platform to express their success in tech that is not reported by the mainstream news

2) Read this feature on The Black Pound campaign. How does this piece reflect the values and ideologies of The Voice?

It gives back owned business' the platform to advertise their services and supports them buy providing a range of workshop and masterclasses.

3) Read this Voice news story on Grenfell tower and Doreen Lawrence. How might this story reflect the Voice’s values and ideologies? What do the comments below suggest about how readers responded to the article? Can you link this to Gilroy’s work on the ‘Black Atlantic’ identity?

This reflects The Voice's vlaues because they showcase racism and discrimination in British culture that mainstream news shy away from. The comments all disagree with the racism allegations. This links to Paul Gilroys theory- Gilroy suggests diaspora challenges national ideologies and creates “cultural tension”. This tension helps to create the diasporic identity but often comes with negative experiences such as exclusion and marginalisation

Social and cultural contexts - 40 Year of Black British Lives

Read this extract from The Voice: 40 Years of Black British Lives on rapper Swiss creating Black Pound Day (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access the document). Answer the following questions:

1) What is Black Pound Day?

An event aimed  at celebrating Black-owned business and giving the black community a financial and emotionally boost, afterthe anger at racial inequality in the UK by the protest that followed George Floyd's death.

2) How did Black Pound Day utilise social media to generate coverage and support? 

By attracting support by high profile celebrities- then became the top trending topic on twitter in the UK

3) How do events such as Black Pound Day and the Powerlist Black Excellence Awards link to wider social, cultural and economic contexts regarding power in British society?  

It encourages the challenhe of power dynamics by promoting black owned business and brings a spotilight on racial wealth gaps... etc.

Audience

1) Who do you think is the target audience for the Voice website? Consider demographics and psychographics.

young adults and middle ages people from african, carribean heritage, reformers and succeeders,

2) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses & Gratifications).

Information and surveilance- learning about the accompliments of black britons.

Diversity- lifestyle pages with fashion and beauty sections.

3) Give examples of sections or content from the website that tells you this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.

The cultutral content- black business section and black history section shows that tbis is targeting british people with african-carribean heritage.

4) Studying the themes of politics, history and racism that feature in some of the Voice’s content, why might this resonate with the Voice’s British target audience?

Their target audience may feel misrepresented or underrepresented by maintream news, history and politics so this is where they get their news from

5) Can you find any examples of content on the Voice website created or driven by the audience or citizen journalism? How does this reflect Clay Shirky’s work on the ‘end of audience’ and the era of ‘mass amateurisation’?

The opinions section where audiences can give opinion pieces where they can give their own individual thoughts and perspective on issues regaring politics, history and racial issues. This links to Clay Shirkeys work on mass amateurisation because the consumers are now taking the role of publishers 

Representations

1) How is the audience positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website?

An audience is positioned to resonate with the representations fo the website because the acoomplishments of Black Britons are always highlighted

2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying?

They are not applying becasue the Voice constantly give representations to culture, highlighting back communitites and takes away the marginalised focues narrartive.

3) What kind of black British identity is promoted on the Voice website? Can you find any examples of Gilroy’s “liquidity of culture” or “unruly multiculturalism” here?

There is evidence of liquidity of culture on the Voice website as there is contanlty a mix of Black and British culture like how the msuic section talks about afrobeats, reggae and grime.

4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of black Britons in the Voice?

Black Britons will have an intentional approach and feel empowered from all the accomplishments they have achieved 

White- non black audiences will have a constructivist approach becasue they may have their own biases and assumptions

5) Do you notice any other interesting representations in the Voice website? For example, representations or people, places or groups (e.g. gender, age, Britishness, other countries etc.)

The representations of women: constantly shows black women in leadership roles

Age: represents young people's accomplishments a lot

Industries

1) Read this Guardian report on the death of the original founder of the Voice. What does this tell you about the original values and ideologies behind the Voice brand? 

He created the newspaper to represent black communities by building up a reputation for campaigning against racism and injustice.

2) Read this history of the Voice’s rivals and the struggles the Voice faced back in 2001. What issues raised in the article are still relevant today? 

-The Voice does a lot more racism-based stories - maybe it's because they came out of the 1981 riots. But people now want to know what's going on in the mainstream community that will affect them.

3) The Voice is now published by GV Media Group, a subsidiary of the Jamaican Gleaner company. What other media brands do the Gleaner company own and why might they be interested in owning the Voice? You'll need to research this using Google/Wikipedia or look at this Guardian article when Gleaner first acquired The Voice.

Radio Jamaica, The Star- newspaper

the Gleaner Company would own the Voice becasue they both target the same audiences and foicus on black communities. But they would also need to diversify their portfolio and brand 

4) How does the Voice website make money?

Avertisements and sponsered content, subscription revenue, promotions of events

5) What adverts or promotions can you find on the Voice website? Are the adverts based on the user’s ‘cookies’ or fixed adverts? What do these adverts tell you about the level of technology and sophistication of the Voice’s website?

Display advertisments and sponsered news articles the website is not that sophisticated or complicated

6) Is there an element of public service to the Voice’s role in British media or is it simply a vehicle to make profit?

There is an element of public service as they focus on British news and culture. They also promote brands wirth inclusion targets to Black Britons involved in the community

7) What examples of technological convergence can you find on the Voice website – e.g. video or audio content?

Video content like interviews, podcast features, and social media links like instagram posts

8) How has the growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?

They have a wider reach with their content and have access to a global audience, the Voice face lower distribution costs becasue they are online, they also have direct engagement from their audience with their comment section and opinions section

9) Analyse The Voice’s Twitter feed. How does this contrast with other Twitter feeds you have studied (such as Taylor Swifts)? Are there examples of ‘clickbait’ or does the Voice have a different feel?

They have less engangemt and only 54.3K followers compared to Taylor Swift who averages millions of likes, retweets and comments on every post

10) Study a selection of videos from The Voice’s YouTube channel. What are the production values of their video content?

They only have 14K  subscribers and hardelt average 100 views on each video, the quality of the video sare low and their interviews are not in person but on call