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?

 

They have a range of different genres which you can chose from such as news or entertainment covering all bases.

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?

 

 They have a wide range of items such as sports, lifestyle and entertainment which reveals that the voice is trying to appeal to all natures of people/audiences ensuring everyone is able to enjoy content to their tastes.

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. 

 

Hair shop in racism row renamed kings and queens. 

A crisis in criminal justice.

 

Both these stories feature discussion about race and inequality which would appeal to the target audience as the Voice was originally founded to help get black peoples voices into the mainstream media.

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: Disequilibrium as there is inequality between races which is solved through justice.

Barthes: The meanings behind news titles and the enigma codes within the thumbnails used.

Levi: Black Vs White people.

Propps: Black people being presented as the heros.

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, Travel

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

 

Answers on vaccines, NHS launches campaign to tell patients about the support available at GP practices.

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

 

I believe that although black people are primarily featured on the cover photos of the news the stories are focused towards the general public such as GP practices which are for everyone which challenges black stereotypes.

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

 

"Disrupting hair discrimination at work"

"Shroom with a view for farmer Alisha"

 

Both focus on the idea about black people being able to do things other races can such as being a farmer in scotland which is a primarily white based area. These reflect the values as it allows black people to present their ideas and work to the world.

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 writer in the article talks about the need for diversity to exist in the tech industry. This is because awareness needs to be raised for the black people who have come up with technological advancements.

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

 

The piece shows what black people are going through as it shows that black business owners are struggling more than their non black counterparts.

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?

 

Paul Gilroy talks about black diaspora and this is linked to the voice as it is a platform which can be used to give black people a voice. The piece shows how Doreen lawrence suggests that racism was a factor to why the response to Grenfel was slow. Again linking to Paul Gilroy he would suggest that black people are seen as insignificant.

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?

It is an event done by Swiss to commemorate and celebrate black business owners by giving them a helping hand either by money or emotional help.

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

 

Many business owners preached about how many more sales they were able to achieve thanks to Swiss. Adverts about this where then put on social media.

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?  

 

Eboday who was a Powerlist Black excellent awards leader was able to make the award much more significant due to his connections with the government. Even the Prime Minister at the time was on board which helped with publicity.

 

Audience

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

 

C1, C2 and maybe B as this is where most working class people can be found. For pyschographics aspiriers and explorers can be used as these would be the types of people who would seek escape and pleasure or they would desire to be more which the voice aims to help with by projecting their voices into the world.

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

 

Surveilance as people can learn through the news articles which are provided.

Personal identity as they can construct identity through people featured on the news articles.

Diversion as it can help people escape from their diaspora.

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

 

The lifestyle section features ways black people live their lives which people can use to form their own identity revealing that the website targets black people specifically.

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 would resitnate with the british target audience because at the time it was established there was a lot of racial discrimination towards people of colour which again links to a sense of black diaspora.

 

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’?

 

Theres a young black boy who created his own music competition in order to inspire the youth, this links to Clay Shirky as now people are able to become producers rather than consumers.

Representations

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

 

The representations which can be seen subvert the usual stereotpyes which are seen in movies, social media ect where black people are either presented as athletes, thieves or gang members.

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

 

 Yes due to the fact that the voice is showing Black Culture as influencing western culture in a way.

 

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?

 

Liquidity of culture can be seen through the food section of the website where there is a competition section. This shows a wide range of cultures.

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

 

Other audiences would view black britons as being independent, business owners and eductaed which is different to the normal representations seein in the media.

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 site is only targetted towards black people however an argument could be made that in the lifestyle section the news stories are for everyone.

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 says the original values of the voice brand was that the Voice was a left-wing newspaper focusing on fighting racism and black peoples voices.

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? 

 

Race riots and the representation of black people in the media.

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.

 

They own Weekly Gleaner UK and free newspaper extra. By owning the voice it allows them to tackle black diaspora. 

4) How does the Voice website make money? 

 

They sell spaces/advertising spaces on their websites.

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?

 

You can't find many adverts due to the the voice not being able to afford to hire big advertising companies or to promote their news articles which leaves them in a cycle of a lack of funds.

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?

 

Like the BBC entertainment and education is present within the voice however due to its niche audience it would be more focused for profit.

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

 

They have their own twitter page and their own youtube page.

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

 

They still post news articles in the same style as they use to.

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

 

The difference between the voice and Zendaya is that Zendaya has millions of views per post where as the Voice is barely able to scrap a few thousand revealling the Voice is more genuine.

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

 They use limited editing, lack of music and the camera quality could be much better.