CSP - The Voice

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:

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

• Top menu
• Design & Layout
• Thumbnail
• Advertisement
• Search Icon

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?

Some items include a wide range of content from hard news to soft news such as 'sport', 'entertainment' and 'opinion'. This is to be able to appeal to the audience.

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. 

• Black history month news- it is black history month in the UK so it makes sense that will be one of the main stories
• Black women's health because that is a recurring problem and spoken about topic in the news as well as it focuses on its affect to black people which is what The Voice is about.

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.

There is a wide range of stories which supports Todorov's theory on equilibrium, as it always follows the new equilibrium after one gets broken down or fixed - for example the most spoken about news.

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?

They are interviews of different successful black people. This suggests that The Voice does a good job at promoting their target audience and spreading information that is usually kept a secret or is overlooked.

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

• Urban synergy continues to open doors
• Stars unite at Black women Rising's first awareness lucheon

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

It challenges stereotypes in British media, often black people are presented as poor, criminals or complainers but The Voice represents them as hard working people who do as much to contribute to society as any other race does.

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

• Urban synergy continues to open doors

It shows their focus on minorities and belief that they deserve rewards too.

• Stars unite at Black women Rising's first awareness lucheon

Shows their firm stance on black women's representation by constantly be aware and promoting the events.

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 shows they are aware of micro aggression and are against it. Tokenism has been a problem for decades - if not centuries and it does the opposite of black representation. It can be used as an example of double consciousness.

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

They are promoting black businesses which doesn't usually get much limelight, at least not easily. This shows that they believe that black people deserve the same opportunities and other races and that they create good things too.

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?

Shows they are (obviously) anti-racism and will expose and report cases of it.

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?

Black Pound Day is an event that is aimed at celebrating black owned businesses

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

Black pound day utilised social media to generate coverage as they answered messages they received aswell as replied to posts that reposted them.

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 takes into consideration and promotes social and cultural traditions as well as it historical back ground to the wider public.

Audience

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

• Explorers
• Young and old
• Minorities (black people specifically)
• Any class

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

• Personal Identity: Black people feeling like a community on the website
• Entertainment: sports, film/tv
• Information: News and reports

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

• Black owned businesses
• Black music artists
• Black crisis' such as health concerns in the NHS

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?

This is because it is British focused as in for their politics and history but black focused for representation and awareness.

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’?

Under 'opinion' it is purely for audience views and conversations on a topic or question.This represents the end of audience because that isn't directed at anyone specific just anyone with an opinion.

Representations

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

They are positioned to respond positively, because they main and bolder representations are good wholesome news which can not be viewed in a dim light which makes The Voice look like they are true allies of Black success.

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

Yes, because it is done from the POV of black people.

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?

Sport, music, food, business

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

• Preferred: Citizens, law abiding, genuine, nice, educational, eye-opening
• Oppositional: Bias, unrealistic.

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.)

Many old people, not many young people (teens and children)

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? 

It is deliberately for a niche target audience and for the people who directly relate.

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? 

• Racism
• Riots
• Incorrect representations
• Murdering of POC

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.

• The Gleaner: A morning broadsheet newspaper. 
• The Sunday Gleaner: A Sunday newspaper. 
• The Star: An evening tabloid.

4) How does the Voice website make money?

the Voice website makes money through donations and advertisements

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?

The Voice doesn't have much of an audience and very few companies willing to advertise them which shows how niche they are and how low budget they have to be.

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?

They aren't making much profit but still keep up to date with everything which shows their dedication to inform their audience.

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

Some examples of technological convergence include: interviews, social media, subscriptions (online and print)

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

The growth of digital distribution through the internet has changed the potential for niche products like the voice as it prevents them from making a well enough profit for good production, their videos and elements are low budget.

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

It does contrast, although they do promote their stuff as Taylor Swift does - The Voice has to be more 'dramatic' and produce 'click bait' in order to get a reaction whilst Taylor Swift gets reactions and views naturally.

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

It is a really amateur production and not the best but you'd expect better from a news company that's trying to be mainstream

• Too many fillers in speaking
• Poor preparation (background is a whiteboard)
• Low video quality
• Low audio quality
• Poor post-production