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?

Top Menu Bars - insight to content range of 'hard' and 'soft' news

Search icon - ease consumer to find content

Advert - jobs for target audience and supporting their community 

Advert of book - celebrating The Voice as a brand example 

Thumbnail news stories - attempt to hold interest through digital content 'click bait'

Positioning of news content (design/layout) - 'soft news' dominates home-page celebrating success of Black community 

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?

The top menu bar consists of news, sports, lifestyle, entertainment, competitions, opinion and faith. These could suggest that they focus both on the soft news and hard news to give audiences that sense of surveillance and entertainment. This could also help them to gain more audience by posting different news so that they can reach a mainstream 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. 

The stories that might appeal more to their target audience are the 'Sport Tennis' and 'UK News'. This is because it focuses on soft news, where they see their community being successful as well as the idea that they are being recognised in the news which could give their audience a sense of satisfaction. In addition, seeing the section of 'UK News' with a Black boy could give their audience diversion as it reinforces the idea of their community being succesful.

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.

Narrative is used to encourage audience engagement with the Voice through using short description as to what the news is, where we could apply Barthe's enigma codes as it doesn't really give the audiences that full information of the news, leading for their audience to perhaps click on the news section and have a read. 

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?

The items in the sub-menu bar for the Lifestyle section has fashion & beauty, food, health & wellbeing, relationships and travel. This could suggest that the Voice audience could be more interested in 'soft news' and perhaps the idea of them celebrating their own culture and identity. This could also show the order of interests that the target audiences might be interested in. 

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

The main stories in the Lifestyle section currently are on Fashion & Beauty , business community, business careers and business community. 

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

The sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section subverts the black stereotypes in British media as it shows them being successful in businesses as well as promoting their own fashion and culture. 

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

Fashion and Beauty Lifestyle reflects the values and ideologies of the Voice as it shows how they are gaining more exposure when it comes to fashion choices which could lead to them introducing their values to the much more mainstream audience. Furthermore, the business and career lifestyle reflects the values and ideologies of the Voice because it shows them being successful as well as the idea that they are becoming role models for the youth from the black community where they are encouraged to be more optimistic when it comes to future opportunities. 

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?

This reflects the values and ideologies of The Voice through the idea that the Black community are gradually showing to the society their skills and what their talent is, especially through the idea of dominating the tech industry. Also, they stated that they want to challenge the worklpaces to do better and to make their environment much more inclusive and diverse. 

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

Thia reflects the values and ideologies of The Voice due to the idea of the Black community gaining help from different people, showing how they have slowly gained justice from the Brixton riots. Furthermore, it shows how they are being successful when it comes to business which subverts the stereotypes of the mainstream media.

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 values and ideologies as it gives information and voice for the audience who might have been affected with the story or someone from the Black community who might have been going through the same situation. Furthermore, it is showing the experiences of the Black community through the idea of the Fire Brigades being exclusive against their race as well as the lack of support in critical times. The comments have agreed with the Fire Briages that the Lawrence was disgraceful and supports the Fire Brigades that they risk their lives to save people and that they don't use racism to do their job. 

This reinforces Gilroy's 'Black Atlantic identity' as it shows how Black people who live in a British society often felt excluded which links to his idea on double consciousness. Also, it could link to his diasporic identity as it shows how the peopl aren't treated as a priority. 

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 aimed at celebrating Black-owned businesses and giving the Black community a financial and emotional boost, after the anger at racial inequality in the UK evident by the protests that followed Floyd's death.

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

They utilise the emotional energy of recent months and turn that into an economic power as opposed to allowing those to come and go as we know emotions do and nothing comes of it. 

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?  

By operating outside traditional state structures, they directly target the systemic inequalities embedded in the UK's social, cultural, and economic landscapes. 

Audience

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

Demographics:

C - Lower-class to middle-class

A - Probably around 18 above

G - Male and female 

E - Black ethnicity 

Psychographics could be aspirers and succeeders as their website is focused on their positive successes as well as the idea of subverting the mainstream media which gives them more exposure and voice. 

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

The audience pleasures that are provided by the Voice website are personal identity, diversion and surveillance, due to them providing news. They also provide informations about their culture such as the celebration of their experiences and tradition. Also, their information gives entertainment as it also emphaises soft news such as sports. 

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

Their videos section and the Black History Month section suggests that their website is aimed at a niche audience as it focuses mainly on the experiences of the Black community. Also, in their videos, they use people who aren't really well known to the mainstream audience, where they ask questions about their recent life. 

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 might resonate with the Voice's British target audience as it focuses on the experiences that the Black community have went through as well as the focus on the idea of diasporic identities from the past. They also act as a counter-narrative for the mainstream media. 

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’?

In the Black History Month, there was a content about young people spoke up as to why Black History Month is important, where they produced their own videos stating their own opinions. This reflects Clay Shirky's idea on 'end of an audience' as it shows how anyone can produce their own content as well as being an audience to other people's content. This shows how the young people produces their content and the media or news people becoming an audience and then they further become producers again when they produced the video on the news. 

Representations

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

The audience are positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website through their content subverting any negative stereotypes about their culture which allows their audience to feel validated and seen. 

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

I dont think there are any examples that is not applying to Gilroy's concept of "double consciousness", but the Voice is used to celebrate their past experiences as well as their culture which acts as a community to resist Gilroy's concept. 

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?

An example of Gilroy's liquidity of culture is through the lifestyle section, where there are a mixture of different cultures through music, lifestyle and fashion. In addition, unruly multiculturalism is shown in the website through the use of sites promoting Black-owned businesses and community festivals such as the Notthing Hill Carnival, which mixes with the British identity. 

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

Using the constructivist approach, the black Britons might see the Voice website as empowered, where they could perhaps treat it as something that makes them feel validated. However, other black Britons could see this as an attempt at self segregation, where the content may be anti-British.

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.)

I noticed that their age group is very diverse, not just focusing on a target audience with a certain age but also the youth audience where it focuses on both hard and soft news which could perhaps attract both the youth and adult. 

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? 

This suggests that the values and ideologies behind the Voice brand all came from McCalla who gradaully built up the content about the black community for black Britons, where he eventually created its own newspaper, gaining a niche audience. The Voice led to move away from the controversy as well as 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 shift from print to digital has changed how the data is tracked. This could have led for the Voice to diversify their products, where less people may have been purchasing their newspaper. However, they may have gained more exposure by using the digital media, which may perhaps not be relevant today. 

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 Star
• The Gleaner
• Sunday Gleaner
• TVJ Sports Network (TVJSN)
• Jamaica News Network (JNN)
• Real Jamaican Television (RETV)
• The Weekly Gleaner
• The Weekly Star

They might be interested in owning the Voice due to the idea of expanding the diaspora which could perhaps lead to them gaining more exposure as well as trying to reach their target audience as well as the youth's generation.

4) How does the Voice website make money?

They make money through subscriptions and donations. However, their link doesn't work when clicked, suggesting low bugdet. 

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 adverts that they advertise are job recruitment, supporting their community and advertisement of the book, celebrating the Voice as a brand-example of digital convergence. This could perhaps suggest that they have low budget to gain that sophisticated technology. 

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?

I think there is an element of public service as it shows how they are much more authentic when celebrating their experiences as well as their culture. They also promote job recruitments to help support their community gain opportunities. However, they might only be using these contents to gain audience and profit as the black Britons see their website as them being validated, where the Voice might take advantage of that. 

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

An example could be the showreel, where there are selection of videos and interviews, inspiring individuals. There are also captions which could be an attempt at competing in the digital age, leading to convergence. 

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

Due to the ride of digital media they can gain more exposure around the world, where their target audience of black Britons may change to it being an international one as other people from around the world may want to celebrate their experiences with the Voice. Therefore, their audience could lead to becoming a mainstream as well them being potentially understood by other cultures. 

9) Analyse The Voice’s X 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?

Their banner promotes the brand of the book which is kind of the same compared with Taylor Swift as she was promoting her recent song. Their followers however, are approximately on 50k, which reinforces the idea that their target audience is niche. Furthermore, they have a low-engagement rate which could suggest that they target audience are non-digital natives. They do have example of 'clickbait' such as on their promotion of the newspaper, "cops 'give up' search for baby' which could perhaps come out as sensationalised. 

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

Production values:

-Amateur attempt at an interview such as the phone notification, poor audio and visual quality

-Whiteboard background which could be seen as unprofessional or that they have a low budget

-Loads of fillers - lack of editing such as the dissolve fade

-Attempt at brand identity through logo on screen

-Lack of connection for target audience - American

-Attempt at creating online content against online competitors