The Voice CSP: case study blog tasks

 Language and contexts

Homepage

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:

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

You can find a top menu and recent news invents on the front page linking to news websites key conventions 

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, sport, lifestyle, entertainment this shows the voices content as also celebrational to the black community 

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. 

Top Jamaican diplomat and fundraiser to support with memorial, this celebrates and shows support to people in the black community  

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.

Todorov's equilibrium is used through new equilibrium as a fundraiser was launched to support the memorial making people click on. Barthes enigma code is used through making black history today, this attracts audiences as they want to know what made black history today

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, interview and relationships. This shows the voice has a broad audience as they target a variety of topics 

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

Fashion and beauty, health and wellbeing, business, community 

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

This challenges black stereotypes in British media as it reflects their achievement 

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

Community and health and wellbeing as it provides a platform to recognise the achievements of 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?

The Voice is asking a diverse range of Black people what it means to embrace a bold, Black British future, this reflects as it’s giving black people a place to speak 

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

Research by leading Jamaican rum brand, Wray & Nephew, has found that nearly a third of Black business owners have struggled to raise business funds. This raises relevance on black social issues 

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 raises political issues in the black community. The comments below are responding to the article with the allegations being false or the firefighters were racist, this links to gilroy black Atlantic as the shared experiences are being marginalised 

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 businesses and giving them a financial and motivational boost 

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

As each Saturday they encourage people to spend at black owned businesses 

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?  

This shows how power in British society is with white people as they have to convince the audience to purchase form black owned businesses 

Audience

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

Targets the black community with a wide range of age and explores, aspirers and succeders 

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

Surveillance is provided through giving updated news 

Diversion can be used to get away from real life problems 

Personal identity as people may relate to the content the voice are producing 

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

The insider interviews and the news headlines tells us it’s aimed at a niche audience 

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?

As the history of the uk has been colonisation and racism experienced in the uk, this can be relevant for the voices target audience 

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’?

Content created by audience like funding black business or black people becoming successful this links to clay shirky as they are now active participants in the media 

Representations

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

The audience on the Voice website is positioned to view the representations as positive and trust the information presented

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

Gilroys idea of double consciousness does not apply as the representation suggest recognition and national unity 

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?

A positive identity or black British people, you can see Gilroys liquidity of culture in the website blending language, fashion and community from different backgrounds 

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

Using Stuart halls constructivist approach different audiences may interpret representations of Black Britons in the voice in various ways, it’s constructed by audiences so interpretations depend on each viewer’s background, values, and cultural context.

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.)

Both men and women are showed equally and positive and also the younger generation is shown positively in the voice website 

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 had the idea of expanding the column into a weekly title for black Britons and in 1982 founded the Voice newspaper. This shows the original values and ideologies behind was to target the niche audience and the people that were born in Britain 

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's primacy is being challenged as never before, its sales are in a slump, and many are wondering how much longer it can continue to claim to be "Britain's Best Black newspaper"

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 Company owns media brands like The Gleaner, The Star, Power 106 FM and TVJ. They might want The Voice to diversify their media holdings, reach international markets and address issues relevant to the Black community in the UK.

4) How does the Voice website make money?

Through the sale of NFTs, transaction fees on its marketplace and potential partnerships or collaborations

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 Voices website shows banner ads, sidebar ads, and sponsored posts. These adverts are mostly fixed, not targeted or personalised based on cookies

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?

Their is an element as it was produced to give a black people a community to talk and the voice don’t make many profits as they have little views 

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

The website offers podcasts and other content like instagram and YouTube interviews. This shows multiple media texts a sign of convergence 

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

It has increased the potential for growth as it’s easier to attract new audiences and publish the product as all audiences have access to online content 

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?

The voice has less clockbairs then other twitter feeds like Taylor swift which relates to them being for the audience and could be the reason they have less views 

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

Low production value on the channel and is seemed unprofessional with background noice and little cuts