OSP: The Voice CSP

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?

On The Voice website we can see the topics bar where you can find the different news topics they cover, however they do cover some unique ones such as the lifestyle, opinions and faith. These show a more personalised side of their website and the type of things they cover.

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 some bars that normal websites would not have, such as the faith and black British voices, this shows that they focus more on the community and people aspect compared to other new brands

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. 

A crisis in criminal injustice and Peckham strangler, two cover the law and racism in the black community how it has affected the victims and how it could possibly affect them as well.

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.

We can see how in the different story headlines there are ones such as the Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos and how they were both found guilty of gross misconduct, the image used shows them as a family making them seem nicer, however, the main line reads a more sinister background to what they actually are.

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 give some advice about a lot of generic lifestyle choices, this shows how they have a more casual connection with their audiences. 

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

They talk about vaccines and black history month.

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

In the articles shown, we can see that there are a lot of subverted representations on the website, first, we can see how there is an article about a woman who leads and army and armed forces, so we can see a subverting of both gender and race.

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

They appear to heavily cover things on women and because it is The Voice, they cover things about black women which empowers women by making them more dominant in what they do.

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?

She says that "People who push for diversity in spaces that have been occupied and dominated" and how black people need to be more noticed for technological advances.

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

It talks about the difficulties that black-owned businesses have and how they struggle to raise funds. And as a result they started the "black pound" campaign. 

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?

The Voice was made so that they can voice the unheard black voices and opinions. We see how they talk about how the fire fighters had some form of racism, we can link this to Gilroy's black Atlantic and how it links to slavery and how black people felt inferior and seen as inferior.

However we can see that in the comments they show that none of the actions were racially motivated and how they had to make choices in which they could both survive. 

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 done in celebration of black-owned businesses in which they give a financial and emotional boost towards those companies. This is all due to the racial conflict following the death of George Floyd.

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

Businesses shared how the event allowed them to experience a better growth in sales.

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 promotes their company and what they do, as a result it allows them to have more publicity with their audiences in hopes of gaining more customers.

Audience

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

Demographic - B C1/2 black people

Psycographics - Aspirers, explorers, people who engage in activism

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

Personal identity/relationships - allows for audience to connect to the stories and people mentioned in them 

Diversion- some stories may offer a form of escapism.

surveillance- The website offers a range of news types.

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

since 4.2% of the UK is made up of black people we can see how the articles which affect the image of black people and and how it affects them as people.

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?

The voice was first made in 1982 and aimed towards black audiences, as during the time of Margret thatcher there was a lot of racial discrimination towards people of colour.

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 article about the young black music artist and how his music has "uplifted the youth"

This shows how anyone is a producer and the effect that it has on audiences and how it compels them to do such things.

Representations

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

They are presented to have their stereotypes subverted, however they will equally cover crime stories and crime cases also done by black people, they will cover motives and injustices if it is mentioned, but they do cover a lot more of the positives of black people, such as the doctors, army officers, farmers, etc. which shows a more brighter side to what is shown on normal newspapers.

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

I would say no as all of the stories are focused on black community and their views, so as The Voice's main aim to to show the story of Black Britons I think double consciousness is a main factor.

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?

More of a liquidity of culture and how it is very culturally heavy and cover a lot of things revolving around this.

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

In the view of the Voice they make them very positive, however there are stories of Black Briton which may appear negative.

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 Voice does include different countries in which many people may not heard of, they also focus on other things such as children and their achievements allowing for more inspiration within the younger communities.

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? 

You can tell that the intentions still stay true to this day as we can see that, the main intent of creating the Voice news was to make it so that they could provide a voice for Black Britons.

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? 

It highlights the voice's early sales and how it wasn't the best, we can possibly apply this to more of how The Voice is still niche as we can see on their social media accounts they do not hold a lot of views on their account.

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.

It makes it so that 

4) How does the Voice website make money?

Through their book that they released and some advertising done by other companies who came to them to advertise their business.

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?

They appear to be chosen adverts as they include a lot of things including black culture, people, their book and shows a university in which they advertise for 

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 it is a genuine service as even though they are not earning the money they need they are still going on nonetheless. 

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

We can see from their various forms of social media presence such as their twitter and youtube and how they still post all of their content to inform the public.

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

It allows them to have a platform even without a solid fan base, such as how the Voice has the youtube channel which doesn't get a lot of views but they are still posting.

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 Voice's twitter feed focuses more on news and promotional content as they want to advertise their books and show the public the news that they have to offer compared to Zendaya and how she is more of a "relatable model" 

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

They do not have the highest production value for their videos as their editing and audio qualities are not the best, it is very mediocre and doesn't ensure a lot of professional aspects in them, we can also see this from the views that they get and how it isn't a lot.