The Voice CSP: case study blog tasks

 Language and contexts

Homepage:

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

-recognisable logo "the voice"

-well established brand "40 years"

-unconventional Faith section in comparison to other newspaper brands 

-home bar

-the penguin logo is a big publisher logo

-search bar 

-articles

-big pictures 

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, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, rivalry, opinion, and faith are all available at the home bar.

These topics suggest that The Voice is thorough and takes care to cover a wide range of topics. They also feature news stories written from a black perspective, and in the section headlined Black parent-child experiences of racism damage whole family's mental health, new study, their opinions and aspirations about the black community are featured.

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. 

Disability of Black people faces more obstacles October 24, 2023

 According to THREE QUARTERS of Black British people, there is extra discrimination against Black disabled individuals in society.

This article describes how Black disabled persons experience more devastation since they are the targets of both racism and discrimination. Both statics and representations are mentioned in the article.

Race is deemed'more important' than religion.

October 24, 2023

Some religious leaders who preach that their identities as God's children should come first would be surprised to see that 51% of those surveyed chose their identification as Black people over their religious beliefs.The greatest study of social attitudes in the Black community in the UK, the Black British Voices (BBV) poll, also revealed that more respondents identified as "spiritual" than "religious." That may be a sign that the spiritual ties to the earth and ancestors are emphasised by "Black consciousness," and that belief in a "higher power" is not always restricted to the God of a certain faith or sect.

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 will frequently highlight how their content can restore our equilibrium and provide readers with a fresh perspective. Todorov's story theory provides a helpful framework for comprehending how newspapers captivate readers in the audience.ifestyle section.

Lifestyle section:

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

this suggest that it explore cultural conventions which links to blumber and katz theory uses and gratification theory as the audience would experience personal identity.

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

NHS Launches Campaign To Tell Patients About the Support Available at GP Practices

25 October 2023

Answers on vaccines

18 october 2023

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

Stereotypes are challenged, in my opinion, by the numerous inspirational stories of black achievement on The Voice, which refute the widespread belief that black people are failures. For example, the creator of Beats and Bands is extending an invitation to everyone to come check out the excitement for yourself.

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

Taking care of our children's health reflects considering the community's well-being and keeping an eye out for younger generations. Boundaries Are Essential for Trauma Healing. This ensures that the audience can relate to the newspaper by reflecting the community's well-being once more and offering advice on how to look after yourself.

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?

Choosing to embrace a brave, Black British future in the tech sector means allowing our community to grow and prosper in a setting that values and celebrates skill and authenticity. The Black British community is still influencing culture and spurring innovation. It's critical to realise that inclusion and diversity go hand in hand and that one cannot exist without the other.

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

Customers who show their support at Black Pound Day's two Westfield locations, which proudly feature a carefully curated assortment of over 150 Black businesses, will be able to access it for free. Interestingly, Black Pound Day has been successful in increasing the awareness of over 1,500 Black-owned businesses in the United Kingdom, including those involved in the Wray Forward programme, through its extensive marketplace and directory.

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?

"Had that been a block full of white people in there, they would have done everything to get them out as fast as possible and make sure that they do what they needed to do," Lady Lawrence stated in an interview with Channel 4 News last week. "Nobody wanted to mention the word 'race' in the whole thing," she continued. [Because] I had no doubts about the prejudice that was prevalent at the time when I observed the people who lived in that neighbourhood.

Social and cultural contexts - 40 Year of Black British Lives:

1) What is Black Pound Day?

Following the demonstrations that followed Floyd's death, Swiss went on to organise the inaugural Black Pound Day, an occasion meant to honour Black-owned companies and provide a financial and emotional lift to the Black community.

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

Celebrities lent their support to the first Black Pound Day, which swiftly rose to the top of the UK Twitter hot topics list. 

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?

When Michael Eboda, the former editorial director of Ethnic Media Group, founded Powerful Media as his own business, the Powerlist was born in 2007. The Powerlist, which debuted as a guide for young people looking for role models, compiled a ranking of the top 100 influential African, African Caribbean, and African American men and women in the UK. By using his connections in government, Eboda was able to arrange for Gordon Brown, the prime minister at the time, to attend the publication's debut; this achievement would set the standard for the publication moving forward. The Powerlist was introduced at 10 Downing Street the following year. Outside of the sports and entertainment industries at the time, Black people hardly ever received recognition. 

Audience:

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

-black Caribbean's

-working/a bit of middle class 

-aspirers, strugglers 

black Britons 

-older adults 

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

personal identity- can relate and reflect on things that the audience have gone through 

surveillance- as they do articles to educate and inform people 

 

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

-The Black British Voices (BBV) survey, the largest study into social attitudes in the UK’s Black community, also found more respondents saying they were ‘spiritual’ than ‘religious.’

-BLACK BRITISH people who suffer from a long-term health condition have poorer experiences of health care, according to a latest report.

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?

It is plausible to argue that Black people in Britain experience this sense of being "scattered." The idea of "liquidity of culture" holds that Black Britons continue to identify as British while preserving their distinctive cultural values and customs. Even after being born and raised in Britain, some people still face discrimination when people ask them, "Why don't you go back to your home country?" As a result, because they are aware of the negative effects of racism and have firsthand experience with it, they will be able to relate to the content of The 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’?

when people take it upon themselves to address problems on social media, as in the case of the George Floyd incident, which went viral because people addressed the problem and made it possible for the family to get some justice.

Representations:

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

The audience is primed for a positive response. Viewers of The Voice have the opportunity to see the world without the racial and biassed lenses of the British media at large.

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

The Voice only publishes news and content that is authored by black people. This implies that the viewers are able to see the world as they see it.

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 Voice seems to capitalise on the fact that the majority of its readers and viewers are foreigners, particularly those from the Caribbean, Africa, and other regions. This is emphasised in advertisements that encourage sending money to other countries. This relates closely to Gilroy's theory of the "liquidity of culture" because it emphasises the sense of displacement that some Black Britons may feel because their families are most likely still in Britain even though they reside there. Consequently, rather than being shaped by their place of origin, their identity is shaped by their travels.

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

Oppositional reading -They may consider The Voice to be a joke because they have spent years being subjected to derogatory stereotypes about black people

Preferred readings- There is a platform for black people to be valued and feel that there success is heard and represented in a positive way

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.)

Gender-positive portrayals of women are prominent, showing them as competent people who are making an effort to pursue a range of career paths.

Age - the representation of black youth being imaginative people trying to improve their community as opposed to the stereotypically negative image of them being aggressive and trouble making.

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?

"My husband died suddenly, and we are all absolutely distraught at the loss of such a great man," said Mrs McCalla, who was by her husband's side when he died.

"He was a loving father and husband, and will be sadly missed." Born in Jamaica, McCalla trained as an accountant at Kingston College, moved to London in the 1970s and started working on leftwing newspaper the East End News, where he helped edit a double-page spread called the Voice aimed at black readers. He had the idea of expanding the column into a weekly title for black Britons and in 1982 founded the Voice newspaper. The paper and the mini publishing empire that grew up around it quickly came to be regarded as a pillar of the black community in Britain and made McCalla a millionaire. "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 early sales were poor, but it was buoyed by job adverts from the newly aware London boroughs, which were willing to pour in money to satisfy their consciences, regardless of the response. Sales eventually rose, and by the start of the 1990s the Voice had its circulation officially audited at 45,000 - a figure which was proudly printed on the front page each week above the masthead. Nothing, it seemed, could stop the inexorable rise of the Voice - not even a challenge from me, its former assistant editor, when I launched a competitor, Black Briton, in 1991. Unable to break the Voice's  stranglehold on advertising, Black Briton folded after a year and by December 1993, Voice sales reached 51,318. But a few months later, the sales figure mysteriously disappeared from the front page, and observers began to realise something was going wrong. Sales began to slump and by the end of 1996 when another rival, the New Nation, was launched, circulation had dropped by 20%. Despite a shaky beginning, which caused the Nation to be sold on after less than a year to a local newspaper group, it slowly turned the corner. It joined a group with three other ethnic-minority newspapers, giving it strength in numbers; its owners were bought out by the giant Trinity-Mirror; and it is now widely regarded as the country's best-quality black paper. And as if to confirm the Voice's decline it decided not to have its sales figures audited last year, having seen a drop to 30,000 in 1999.

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.

In an all-share agreement, the Gleaner Company has acquired complete ownership of the Voice and Young Voices magazines from the family of Mr. McCalla, who passed away two years ago. Since then, there has been a drop in advertising revenue and more competition for the weekly publication that helped Martin Bashir begin his career as a journalist.

The buyer publishes six titles in Jamaica, including the oldest newspaper in the Caribbean, The Gleaner, which was first published in 1834. 

4) How does the Voice website make money?

The Nation gradually turned the corner despite a rough start that led to its sale to a local newspaper group in less than a year. It gained strength in numbers when it joined a group that included three other ethnic minority newspapers; the massive Trinity-Mirror bought out its owners; and it is currently regarded as the best black paper in the nation. And as if to further validate its decline, the Voice, which saw a decline to 30,000 in sales in 1999, chose not to have its numbers audited last year.

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?

These are usually fixed advertisements. This illustrates how outdated and low-tech the Voice is in contrast to the majority of modern websites. The fact that The Voice do not use customer data to create customised or targeted advertisements suggests that they are either incapable of operating at such a high level of technology or do not have the resources to do so.

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 my view, it serves as a forum for the black community to feel valued; their interviewers and low-budget videos give the impression that they are speaking out without much financial gain.  

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

The interviews offered with different influencers.

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

I think this is because niche products like The Voice are likely to become more well-known since people are realising how important it is to understand different points of view and because they can now access content more easily.

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?

-Compared to Zendaya's Twitter feed, The Voice's feed features a lot more clickbait.

-mainly images and videos 

-less texts 

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

-low budget production costs 

-bad editing 

-low camera quality

This is reflected in there views as they dont gain much views.