OSP: The Voice - blog case study

 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?

Head titles on the top

Adverts

Articles 

Social media icons

Menu bar

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

More unprofessional compared to the Vogue which is because of the low budget. More chaotic with the number of adverts.

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?

News
Sport
Lifestyle

There is a diverse number of topics ranging from different topics. There is a focus on the news element and 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. 

Ify Adenuga’s guide to raising Black babies- Targeting the black British audience, and targeting the 25-30 age group. 

Zaha the star man as Palace sink Fulham- Targeting an audience which is more interested in football and sports.

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.

On their news article, there is a use of disequilibrium in the titles which makes the audience click to the title to hopefully see new equilibrium in the articles.

The use of the character Propp's theory and the villain are displayed to be the politicians and the readers who want change are portrayed as the heroes.

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?

Fashion & Beauty, Food, Health & Wellbeing, Relationship and Travel.

The topics are more relaxed and casual to show how the Voice can focus on topics besides politics and empowerment. They provide a variety of options.

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

Recipe: chicken and pumpkin traybake
Black Dog Parents – Blaise
World Menopause Day: “The menopause community is incredibly non-diverse”
Recipe: prawn curry

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

Teen Vogue has more of focal point towards celebrities and gossip where the Voice is more focused on ordinary people and feels more personal.

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

Subvert typical black British Stereorpe by showing how they too live ordinary lives and can be satisfied, happy and successful with their lives.

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

Why you should talk to your children about race

Talks about empowerment and covers topics about racism

Recipe: chicken and pumpkin traybake

Cultured food, relating to culture and identity.

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?

The article reflects on black representation which is something the Voice encoruages. The post also makes black British audience feel empowered and inspired to create a change in the tech industry.

2) Read this feature on Michaela Coel supporting Oxfam's Second Hand campaign. Why might this feature appeal to readers of The Voice?

The article is representation black actors who don't receive the recognition they deserve from mainstream media. This may make the audience feel inspired.

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?

Audience

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

Target Audience around age 40- 50 plus. 65% of females and 35% of males.

C1, C2, DE

Target may be resigned, reformers and strugglers.

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

Personal Identity- The websites feature many people with a similar mindset so it's easy for the audience to see themselves within them. Surveillance- The articles provides information about many matters. Diversion- The lifestyle section can provide that because it can provide the audience with entertainment.

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

the Voice doesn't use mainstream celebrities and use more underrated celebrities to show this targeting for the niche audience.

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 created at its hight of racism in Britain and during the riots.

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’?

Representations

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

The audience is positioned to agree and give a positive response to their representation the website uses. The audience is felt to encourage the representation and support them.

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

The voice was produced to make the black British audience to see the world and media through their own eyes rather than through the British media, which can be often racist.

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 website shows many articles on food which is more traditional to make the audience feel more like they are in their homeland. This creates liquidity of culture because they cannot identify with which culture they associate themselves to.

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

Some of the audience may see the representation as positive and support the representation used in website whereas some may take the representations and interpret them in other ways and maybe even view them as extreme.

 

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.)

Their representation of women has definitely increased in the website and it shows not only to focus on racism and but they also tackle problems of gender inequality and empowerment.

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? 

targeted people who were born here and had spent most of their lives here

In doing so I had obviously captured a niche market, a market of people who had never had a voice before

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? 

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.

4) How does the Voice website make money?

Adverts

Subscription

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?

The website uses fixed advert instead of cookies so the adverts are linked towards the website for example the Voice job advert.

6) Is there an element of public service to the Voice’s role in British media or is it simply a vehicle to make a profit?

The website was originally set up to give black people a voice and platform which they can create content and make them see the world through their own eyes.

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

There is quite a lot of video and audio content with each article.

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

The rise in the digital distribution has given niche products like the Voice a chance to be in competition with big media conglomerates like TeenVogue.

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 tweets on The Voice is definitely less clickbait and misleading compared to Teen Vogue. The voice shows tweets which feel more informative and anyone can click on it if they want to unlike Teen Vogue where if you don't click you are more likely to 'miss out'.

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?

A strong contrast compared to Teen Vogue, the production value is much less compared to Teen Vogue so the value and quality of their videos are not as good and feel slightly unprofessional