The Voice blog task

Language and textual analysis

Homepage

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:
1) What news website key conventions can you find on the Voice homepage?
- Header images
- categories
- menu bar
- advertisements

2) How does the page design differ from Teen Vogue?

- It's definitely from a lower budget organisation as the website has a lot more ads

 
- They have a somewhat professional layout but it's not as appealing as TV's
3) 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 Voice reports on the same things as other newspapers do, just with a focus on the impact that those news events have on the Black British community.

4) Look at the news stories on the Voice homepage. Pick two stories and explain why they might appeal to the Voice's target audience. 

Lewis Hamilton talking about his experiences about growing up during the 90s as a young black Briton. The audience of Voice might find personal identity or relationship with this article. 
Marcus Rashford's efforts to increase the amount of free school meals will directly impact the demographic of the Voice reader so it would have a direct effect on them.

5) 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, much like Teen Vogue, present the current political powers as the Villains and their empowered readers as its heroes, according to Todorov's theory of narrative. This is presented in the Rashford article about the MPs declining his campaign. This vilifies the government and causes the readers to criticise the current political powers.

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?
Although they are focused on giving power to the black demographic, they also want to offer their readers a bit of diversion. This is done in the form of affiliate articles, which earns the Voice money. 

2) What are the main stories in the Lifestyle section currently?
Celebrating world menopause day
a prawn curry recipe
financial inequality

3) How does the Lifestyle section of the Voice differ from Teen Vogue?
The lifestyle section from TV is based on gossip and is a tangent to their empowerment campaign whereas the Voice use their lifestyle page to divert people away from the doom and gloom, like TV, but they do this mainly to earn money or to attract people to stay on the website.

4) Do the sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section challenge or reinforce black stereotypes in British media?
They subvert typical views of black people because they're presented as successful, happy and making a real change in the world.

5) Choose two stories featured in the Lifestyle section – how do they reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice?
Shakshuka recipe - traditional dish, making black diaspora feel more connected to their homeland.
black owned eatery gets a PETA award - this is significant as it's celebrating black people who would get left out of the mainstream news, which is white dominated.

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?
It celebrates the voice of the black community, lists some black pioneers and criticises the view of the black community in the contemporary media. 

2) Read this feature on Michaela Coel supporting Oxfam's Second Hand campaign. Why might this feature appeal to readers of The Voice?
Star power might attract a few people as she is a BAFTA nominated actress. Oxfam is also a well known charity in the black community as shown by the comments from The Voice. Therefore the readers are most likely to support this cause as the opinion leader in this case is black, like the majority of The Voice's readers.

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 black diaspora
 has not home to go back to. Even though they're being discriminated against, they feel that they don't belong here. This aligns with The Voice's ideologies as we see how they criticise the current political powers about how they handle issues with the black community.

Audience

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

AB/C2DE

Reformers, mainstream (activism)

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

personal identity - they find their life and culture reflected in the articles

personal relationship - they build a connection with the black community and The Voice's editors.

surveillance - current affairs to do with the black community

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

faith or religion - this connects many people together. (black churches are very social)

reporting news from places like Brixton, predominantly black area.

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 black community share that similar diaspora identity which means that the events they experience have an impact on their contemporary history. It's likely that they would've been involved in that history so they'd feel a certain sense of personal relationship/identity.

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’?

- Stories of Windrush

This logs the stories of black people who were on the Windrush vessel. This is a good example of news being made by the readers as it's the content that relates to them , being made by them. This is an example of one to many production.

Representations

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

As a platform for activism, surveillance and empowerment. They should respond to the representations in a way where they can relate to them for their race and feel connected to their story because of the lack of black diasporic identity.

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

Double consciousness provides more ways of understanding the world, but it places a great strain on black Americans as they consistently feel they are looking at themselves through the eyes of others.

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 - they focus on the impact of black people in the US, why not focus on the niche UK market? Funding I suppose.

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

How you process the information is dependant on the social conventions around you. Some people may view the articles as a sign that black people still feel oppressed however someone might see it as a sign that the black community need more media coverage.

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.)

Representations of old people: more wise and pioneering 

Representations of young people: revolutionary and breaking the mould

Black Britons: trapped by institutional racism

Black Americans: pushing the boundaries of racial tensions in the US.

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? 

Sports section receives a highlights page: The founder "loved horse racing"

He worked at a left wing newspaper firm when he was younger where he focused on a double page spread called "The Voice" which he later turned into a whole newspaper on his own. 

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? 

'Risky business' - the voice started off well but hit a slump later on, supporting Hesmondhalgh's theory 

Coompetition against rivals: - the move from print to digital saw many amateur and inexperienced outlets pop up

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.

- weekly gleaner UK & Extra

4) How does the Voice website make money?

Through paid promotion on their website or through advert campaigns. They even have a donation fund page.

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?

`    Using adverts from money sending apps to target specific diaspora

NHS advert, uses this to target most at risk

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?

The Voice uses their platform to inform their audience on the positive impact the black community have had so whilst they are doing some PS, they profit from the racial divisions.

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

YT content: they use their platform to profit from monetisation

Social media: they post different content on their social channels to attract a younger demographic

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

Because of the accessibility of the internet, The Voice can be on the same playing field as Teen Vogue because they have the same digital tools. The Voice can also be on the internet to increase their readership which is much easier digitally on social media.

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

The Voice is not clickbaity like Vogue, they're much focused on success stories which empower readers rather than attract them.

10) Study a selection of videos from The Voice’s YouTubechannel. How does this content differ from Teen Vogue? What are the production values of their video content?

They have a significantly lower budget than Vogue which is evident from their rubbish microphones and pciture quality. The fact that they dont make their subscribers oublic shows that their YT channel isnt something they value as much as their socials.