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?

-Images

-Date

-Menu bar

-Subscribe button

-Search bar

-Social media links 

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 items on the top menu bar are News, Sport, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Competitions, Opinion and Faith. This tells us that the Voice wants to include Black talent and coverage in all the different topics surrounding news coverage. The fact that Sport is second in the menu bar suggests that possibly this is a key area Black people are under represented in and the Voice wants to give them a platform to share their accomplishments. 

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. 

-Christmas magic: Mum creates African inspired princess dress to empower Black girls this Xmas.

*Allows for Black girls being able to represent their culture proudly and give them a sense of belonging with their culture. Appeals to the Voice's target audience as the whole purpose of the Voice is to give the Black audience a platform where they can celebrate th/

eir culture, voice their opinions and realise the accomplishments Black people achieve. 

-Orcado vs Avocado: Black biz owner takes on food delivery giant.

*Gives Black business owners a platform to share their success and accomplishments with how far the business has come and evolved. Appeals to the Voice's target audien'

ce as the Voice supports the Black pound campaign therefore providing coverage on Black businesses allows for the Voice's audience to support it and follow in it's footsteps. 

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.

The Voice uses Todorov's narrative theory by featuring negative news stories such as Man, 45, charged with murder after mum stabbed in front of her children however end it on a new equilibrium by saying that fundraisers have been set up to help the family and that the man is going to court for the crime he committed so the family are getting justice. 

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?

In the sub-menu bar for the Lifestyle section there is Fashion & Beauty, Food, Health & Wellbeing, Relationships and Travel. This suggests that the Voice's audience is interested in these topics and possibly that the target audience is more female as these are stereo typically topics that we associate females with. 

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

*Different types of insurance and their benefits.

*Tips for buying a good set of ear buds.

*Travel to Turks & Caicos islands direct from the UK.

*Why your next getaway should be in the Scottish highlands. 

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

I believe that the Lifestyle section challenges black stereotypes in the British media as there are so many stories celebrating Caribbean food and black beauty in both genders and many success stories of Black women in the interview section. 

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.

*Reflects the Voice challenging and combating racist remarks being made in toxic, racist workplaces and trying to change the world for a better place for Black people. 

-The only woman in the world to lead an army.

*Again, this also represents the Voice trying to challenge stereotypes and celebrate change being made to the Black community in particular Black females being able to be in a position that stereo typically only males are in. 

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 piece reflects the values and ideologies of The Voice as it challenges the stereotypes that are made in the British media and gives Black people more specifically females even, a chance to subvert stereotypes in the media of there being a minority of Black people (females more specifically) in the tech industry. 

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

This piece reflects the values and ideologies of The Voice as it shows the support the Voice has for Black businesses and how Black businesses are under-represented in mainstream British media, therefore the Voice is acting like a platform for Black business owners to feel represented and appreciated. 

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 piece reflects the values and ideologies of the Voice as it showcases that racism is taken as a serious topic in the Voice however, the comments below suggest that Doreen Lawrence is over-reacting and that race has nothing to do with it, also the fact that it was disrespectful to firefighters, which may suggest that the Voice's audience has respect towards key workers such as firefighters, nurses, doctors etc. 

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. 

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

The inaugural Black Pound Day attracted support from high-profile celebrities and quickly became the top-trending topic on Twitter in the UK. 

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?  

One of the most important manifestations of this is the Powerlist magazine and the annual Power List Black Excellence Awards. The Powerlist published a list of the UK's 100 most influential men and women of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage.The following year, the Powerlist was launched at 10 Downing Street. At that time, Black people outside the realms of sport and entertainment were rarely given any recognition. Men and women such as Damon Buffini, Tom Ilube, Ric Lewis, Karen Blackett, Ken Olisa and Jacky Wright, all of whom have been hugely successful and influential in their respective sectors, were barely known until the Powerlist spotlighted them as number one on the list. The headline from The Voice's report on the 2020 Power List - 'We have the power' - in its November 2019 edition illustrated why so many in the community point to the Powerlist Black Excellence Awards as an inspirational event.

Audience

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

*Working class

*30+ age range

*Black-Caribbean

*Strugglers

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

Surveillance- News coverage on the Black community in the UK and other countries. 

Diversion- Entertainment purposes such as Sports, Lifestyle, Competitions, Opinion. 

Personal Identity- Can relate to the people that are covered on the website. 

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

"BBC Black audience at all-time low"

"GUBA Awards 2023: Black icons honoured in glittering return to the UK."

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's content might resonate with the Voice's British target audience as many Black British people may feel out of place and are seen as a racial 'other' in the mainstream media therefore the Voice acts as a platform for Black people to find their place to raise their voice.

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’?

Twitter responds to racial bias critique of image-cropping feature- Audiences have the power to be able to raise concerns with huge media conglomerates such as Twitter in this case, Shirky argues that audiences are no longer passive but active users therefore have the ability to boycott, or ruin major media conglomerates reputations. 

Representations

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

The audience is positioned to respond positively to representations in the Voice website as The Voice tries to portray Black success and subverts the stereotypes of Black people in the mainstream media. 

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

Yes, as the Voice showcases its news through the perspective and voice of the Black public themselves therefore they are seeing the world through their own perspective. 

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?

The food and destination prizes section portray the liquidity of culture as it shows how culture from different backgrounds influences heavily on the culture in the UK.  

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

Different audiences may view Black Britons as wealthy, educated and successful which is a contrast to what Black Britons are portrayed as in the white dominated 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.)

Not really, it is mainly aimed at a black audience. 

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? 

"I decided deliberately to have a newspaper that targeted people who were born here and had spent most of their lives here," said McCalla in a rare TV interview in 1992. "In doing so I had obviously captured a niche market, a market of people who had never had a voice before." The Voice, dubbed "the black Sun", has never shied away from controversy, building up a reputation for 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 Voice's readership is decreasing significantly and is struggling with attracting readers.

- Race riots.

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 GV Media Group already runs the Weekly Gleaner UK and free newspaper Extra. 

4) How does the Voice website make money?

Through advertisements and asking readers to make donations via PayPal. 

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?

There's not that many advertisements on the Voice website and they are quite small. The adverts are based on a users 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?

In order to be a public service broadcaster, the Voice would have to cater to all different diversities and a more mainstream audience, whereas the Voice only features stories on a Black, niche audience however, this doesn't mean that the Voice is a vehicle to make profit as their mission is to give Black members of the public the representation in the white dominated media they deserve. 

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

The Voice has their own YouTube channel on which they post videos on however it has been quite unsuccessful with low amount of views. The Voice also posts their newspaper articles online on their website. 

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 way the Voice distributes their news stories as it started out as a newspaper into now uploading news stories through their website, social media and YouTube. 

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 has a different feel compared to Zendaya, Zendaya mainly posts herself with her brand deals whereas the Voice is more focused on promoting news stories that it features on their website and in physical copies. In addition, Zendaya has more followers and is more active on her social medias compared to the Voice. 

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

The Voice have a very low production value due to the low quality camera, poor editing with jump cuts, the overall mise-en-scene is also poor, with what looks like a classroom with writing still on the whiteboard etc.