The voice

The Voice: case study blog tasks

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?

The News website key conventions that the voice has  all the categories on the top and has all its social platforms in the website.

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

The page design is differ from teen vogue as it has low budget and teen vogue is more smother and easier to use than the voice.

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?

It has menu bar like entertainment,news,sports and lifestyle and content has racism and is showing the perspective of black people.

4) Look at the news stories on The Voice homepage. Choose three stories and discuss how they have presented the news from an angle or perspective that reflects The Voice's role as a voice for black Britons.

• 1UK NEWS  Sir Trevor McDonald: ‘The Windrush Scandal was a great shock to the system’ 
• 2UK NEWS  Man, 29, found guilty of sexual offences against children 
• 3FOOTBALL  Tyrone Mings named on Ugo Ehiogu ‘Ones To Watch’ section of the Football Black List

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.

The voice uses todrov's equilibrium and disequilibrium as they. show both sides of the story and show their own perspective and opinion on it.

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?

The sub menu bar shows fashion & beauty, food, health & Wellbeing, relationships and travel which suggest that they are targeting everyone.

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

Main stories currently are Is devolution the key to a happier and healthier in manchester?

3) How does the Lifestyle section of the Voice differ from Teen Vogue?

This is different as lifestyle in teen vogue is more about gossip and celebrities but lifestyle in voice is more social.

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

It challenges the black stereotypes in British as they show how British is showing the negative represnetation of black people.

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

• Is devolution the key to a happier and healthier Manchester? 
• Honourees aplenty at 2019 Black Magic Awards
• Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America to premiere in Londo

Feature focus

1) 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 shows the ideology and values as the shows how Grenfell tower is not that significant and important as it mainly affects black people and links to Gilroy work for black Atlantic which means black people thinking that they don't belong or are being accepted in the western society.

2) Read/watch this Lifestyle feature about the Black Magic Awards. How do the article and video content reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice? What do you notice about the production values of the video interviews?

This reflects the ideology as it shows how black people are talented and are independent.however the production Is very low and it has not been recorded in a good setting and the quality of the video is also not great.

3) Read this feature about the Young, Gifted and Black Awards. What does this story suggest regarding how The Voice is trying to change the representation of black people in British media? 

This story is trying to represent black people in a good way by celebrating the success of black students in their sats and GCSE's.

Audience

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

Target audience-30 to 50
demographics-black people
psychographics-reformers 

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

surveillance-information and showing perspective of black people 
personal identity- people can relate to some stories.
personal relationship- people can relate to some stories and relate to the way they show relationships.

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

Example of -black music awards

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 might resonate with audience as most stories relate to the audience.

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’?

There is an end of audience as digital audience has allowed everyone to put. their opinion and share stories in their perspective.

Representations

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

The audience is positioned to see things from a black person's perspective.

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

This does not links to double consciousness as black people are being seen positive.

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?

Black young. people are being promoted by the voice. and the liquidity of culture Links to  a man in Jamaica.

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

preferred reading-showing black people struggling for their rights
oppositional trying to show black people positive and not their negative representations.

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.)

Interesting fact that they have not used one white people in their website.

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? 

This tells use that they are trying to show the black Britons born here and how they fell that they are not part of the society.

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? 

newspaper selling and circulation issues today.

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.

• The Gleaner, 
• Hospitality Jamaica 
• The Weekend Star

4) How does the Voice website make money? What is your opinion of the 'asking for donations' approach that The Voice is now using?

Advertsiement

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?

money transfer, flights to Africa

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?

no because they focus on black people and don't show any elements to make profit.

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

youtube interviews and social media 

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

It has helped them to reach out to a wider audience without any cost and reach out to the niche audience.

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

It contrasts with other twitter feeds. as they are more focused on celebrities which is applying for the younger. audience.

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

The content. is different from teen vogue as they focus more on black British issues and production value is also very low.