The Voice - background and notes
The Voice, founded in 1982, is the only British national black weekly newspaper operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GV Media Group Limited, and is aimed at the British African-Caribbean community. The paper is based in London and is published every Thursday.
The first issue of The Voice was printed to coincide with the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1982. Its cover price was 54 pence, and was only sold in London.
The Voice, founded in 1982, is the only British national black weekly newspaper operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GV Media Group Limited, and is aimed at the British African-Caribbean community. The paper is based in London and is published every Thursday.
The first issue of The Voice was printed to coincide with the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1982. Its cover price was 54 pence, and was only sold in London.
The Voice: social and historical context
In 1981, the Brixton race riots shone a spotlight on race relations in Britain.
The Voice emerged in 1982 partly as a result of these riots – both due to the need to offer a voice and representation to black Britons and also due to a business loan from Barclays Bank. The bank was keen at the time to improve their reputation with the black community due to investments in Apartheid South Africa.
Social context - The Battle for Brixton documentary
The Voice analysis: production values
The Voice offers a strong contrast to Teen Vogue with significantly lower production values across its digital operations – website design, video content and social media. However, the growth of digital technology means that the Voice can effectively compete on the same playing field as Teen Vogue, albeit targeting a niche audience.
Watch this video on influential black women in business and compare it to Teen Vogue’s video content – similar in ideology but very different in production values (note the view count too):
The Voice offers a strong contrast to Teen Vogue with significantly lower production values across its digital operations – website design, video content and social media. However, the growth of digital technology means that the Voice can effectively compete on the same playing field as Teen Vogue, albeit targeting a niche audience.
Watch this video on influential black women in business and compare it to Teen Vogue’s video content – similar in ideology but very different in production values (note the view count too):
The Voice: representation
The Voice was launched to cater for the interests of British-born black people. Applying Gilroy’s work on “double consciousness”, it could be argued that the Voice was launched to give black audiences an opportunity to see the world through their own eyes rather than through the prism of white, often-racist mainstream British media.
The Voice: industries
The Voice is owned by Jamaican media organising the Gleaner company and published in Britain by GV Media Group. It is a significant contrast to Teen Vogue and the international giant Conde Nast.
The Voice: case study blog tasks
Language and textual analysis
Homepage
1) What news website key conventions can you find on the Voice homepage?
There are many different types of news that can be selected from, e.g. Sport, Entertainment, Faith. There’s also different advertisements on the web page, along with a variety of news headlines that can be clicked.
Banner, Logo, Articles.
Banner, Logo, Articles.
2) How does the page design differ from Teen Vogue?
Teen Vogue has a very bland colour pallet with most of the page being white, apart from the pictures and the text, and even then all the text is either black or red. Whereas The Voice has many different colours on it, for example, there is blue, red, grey, purple and green text. There is also different colour backgrounds as the website has colourful banners. In Teen Vogue the news headlines are all spread out and there is a lot of empty space on the webpage, nut in The Voice there isn’t a lot of empty space and al the articles and advertisements are close together. There are no adverts on the Teen Vogue webpage, whereas The Voice has a lot.
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?
There is a Sport, Entertainment, Opinion, Faith and Careers section just to name a few. This tells you that The Voice offers a wide range of news stories to the reader. Also it shows that The Voice cares a lot about their readers as they offer something that everyone would enjoy.
4) Look at the news stories in the Voice. To what extent does the selection of news stories fit Galtung and Ruge’s News Values theory?
There are more short-term events than long-term ones, the top story is the name of a stabbing victim named. (Victim of fatal East Dulwich stabbing named)
There is personalisation, as they talk about the boss of Topshop as a-pose to the company. (Details of racism claims against Topshop boss revealed)
There is a lot of negative news as it sells more than good news (Cambridge Uni student facing death penalty is in 'hellhole').
There is personalisation, as they talk about the boss of Topshop as a-pose to the company. (Details of racism claims against Topshop boss revealed)
There is a lot of negative news as it sells more than good news (Cambridge Uni student facing death penalty is in 'hellhole').
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.
There are polls on the homepage. The structure of the articles are ordered to represent Todorov.
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?
Health, Food, Fostering and Adoption, Female, Travel, Relationships, Competitions. This suggests that the audience of the Voice are interested in a wide variety of things, as the categories vary greatly from Adoption to Travel.
2) What are the main stories in the Lifestyle section currently?
Usain Bolt: 'I don't think London has proper Jamaican food'
T.I calls for boycott of Gucci following blackface criticism
T.I calls for boycott of Gucci following blackface criticism
3) How does the Lifestyle section of the Voice differ from Teen Vogue?
The Teen Vogue lifestyle section is more put together and professional than the Voice section. The Voice talks about more negative things than Teen Vogue, and has a darker colour scheme than Teen Vogue.
4) Do the sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section challenge or reinforce black stereotypes in British media?
The stories challenge black stereotypes in British Media as it doesn't make suppress them or make them out to be bad people, it reinforces their beliefs in a positive way.
5) Choose three stories featured in the Lifestyle section – how do they reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice?
The Worlds Aids Day story talks about how women can be helped - black women mainly and they give statistics to show the effects STI's have and how it is harder for those from the BAME group have a stigma from their community and work if they choose to disclose to others so it says that there is a 52pc increase in black women declining HIV tests when offered in 2012. This reflects that the website is focusing on issues that effect the Black community to a large extent, it informs them about health issues affecting them. The epidemic in the 80s and 90s would be something the target age would remember as it affected them growing up.
Usain Bolt opened a new restaurant that is Jamaican inspired, with success of the brand he hopes to open a chain here in London and says that there aren't a lot of restaurants that capture the authentic Jamaican food and drinks. The website reflects their ideologies on focusing on a particular group and informing them of how a star is helping those who may want to find a restaurant that is more focused on Jamaican food.
Celebrity Black Hair Stylist is the first Black female has been inducted into the British Hairdressing Awards Hall of Fame. The fact that this story focus' on how the website and the hair stylist to spread inspiration to other young black women to help get involved and have a place in this job shows how the website are showing issues affecting black people - they are sticking to their mission statement.
The Worlds Aids Day story talks about how women can be helped - black women mainly and they give statistics to show the effects STI's have and how it is harder for those from the BAME group have a stigma from their community and work if they choose to disclose to others so it says that there is a 52pc increase in black women declining HIV tests when offered in 2012. This reflects that the website is focusing on issues that effect the Black community to a large extent, it informs them about health issues affecting them. The epidemic in the 80s and 90s would be something the target age would remember as it affected them growing up.
Usain Bolt opened a new restaurant that is Jamaican inspired, with success of the brand he hopes to open a chain here in London and says that there aren't a lot of restaurants that capture the authentic Jamaican food and drinks. The website reflects their ideologies on focusing on a particular group and informing them of how a star is helping those who may want to find a restaurant that is more focused on Jamaican food.
Celebrity Black Hair Stylist is the first Black female has been inducted into the British Hairdressing Awards Hall of Fame. The fact that this story focus' on how the website and the hair stylist to spread inspiration to other young black women to help get involved and have a place in this job shows how the website are showing issues affecting black people - they are sticking to their mission statement.
Feature focus
1) Read this Voice Lifestyle feature on the first black photographer to shoot the cover of Vogue magazine. Why would this appeal to the Voice’s audience?
This would appeal to them as it empowers a black woman, who is often suppressed by society, and celebrates her achievements. This follows along with many of the articles in The Voice and supports their beliefs.
This would appeal to them as it empowers a black woman, who is often suppressed by society, and celebrates her achievements. This follows along with many of the articles in The Voice and supports their beliefs.
2) Read/watch this Lifestyle interview with The Hate U Give star Amandla Stenberg. How does the interview reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice? What do you notice about the production values of the interview?
Talking about how others can speak out about the injustices that they see uses the continuing story of people being alienated from BAME origins, so this does target the audience as they are from this group. It informs them of how black people from America are being affected and I think this can relate to those who remember the Briton riots - they would have been affected from this just how the BLM movement is ongoing now. The newspaper started out as giving a voice to the black British community and this film wants to broadcast the idea to voice issues they face in America.
The backdrop of the video just being plain white is an upgrade from the previous videos of the two women being interviewed in the classroom but the production values are not as professional from an organisation like Wired or BuzzFeed which would have a much higher budget.
Talking about how others can speak out about the injustices that they see uses the continuing story of people being alienated from BAME origins, so this does target the audience as they are from this group. It informs them of how black people from America are being affected and I think this can relate to those who remember the Briton riots - they would have been affected from this just how the BLM movement is ongoing now. The newspaper started out as giving a voice to the black British community and this film wants to broadcast the idea to voice issues they face in America.
The backdrop of the video just being plain white is an upgrade from the previous videos of the two women being interviewed in the classroom but the production values are not as professional from an organisation like Wired or BuzzFeed which would have a much higher budget.
3) Read this feature on ‘buying black’ for Black Friday. What does this feature tell you about the values and ideologies behind the Voice? Does this viewpoint reflect Gilroy’s theory of the ‘Black Atlantic’ identity?
It shows that they believe in supporting black people, and allowing them to prosper in all different industries. It also wants to encourage everyone reading to
Audience
1) Who do you think is the target audience for the Voice website? Consider demographics and psychographics.
The target audience for the voice is black 18-30 year olds, probably strugglers and reformers as they want to build social awareness of issues affecting black identity and people.
The target audience for the voice is black 18-30 year olds, probably strugglers and reformers as they want to build social awareness of issues affecting black identity and people.
2) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses & Gratifications).
They publish stories that are of interest to the audience and they have created an easy website for people to use.
They publish stories that are of interest to the audience and they have created an easy website for people to use.
3) Give examples of content from the website that tells you this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.
One menu bar is focused on Windrush, they give stories like the Worlds Aids Day that focus' on black women. They go to locations such as Brixton and talk about young people. https://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/brixton-youngsters-get-taste-jockey-life The Racism in Football section mainly focus' on black players e.g. racist tweets to Yaya Toure and World News focus' on how black people e.g. a black family has been victims of a car shooting, Texas wears in 17 black female judges.
One menu bar is focused on Windrush, they give stories like the Worlds Aids Day that focus' on black women. They go to locations such as Brixton and talk about young people. https://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/brixton-youngsters-get-taste-jockey-life The Racism in Football section mainly focus' on black players e.g. racist tweets to Yaya Toure and World News focus' on how black people e.g. a black family has been victims of a car shooting, Texas wears in 17 black female judges.
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?
They may see their ideologies and experiences being reflected in these stories so it would appeal to them. They may not have feel represented with their politicians s seeing black people being more and more involved in industries that affect them and feel that change can be brought with this would interest them - the black female judges in Texas is an example.
They may see their ideologies and experiences being reflected in these stories so it would appeal to them. They may not have feel represented with their politicians s seeing black people being more and more involved in industries that affect them and feel that change can be brought with this would interest them - the black female judges in Texas is an example.
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’?
While the stories are being made to interest the audience there is not much audience involvement from the comments to shape what stories are used directly from the audience.
While the stories are being made to interest the audience there is not much audience involvement from the comments to shape what stories are used directly from the audience.
Representations
1) How is the audience positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website?
Positively to progress being made for black people in industries. They are meant to respond to issues affecting the black community as a whole not just on individuality.
2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying?
They aren't being told to conform to the norm in society by the Voice but the story of them being told to shop at black owned shops for the holidays does show that they are being conformed in one way or another. I feel like the concept is being applied which is why stories like this and the newspaper itself exists - it wants to guide the target audience in a certain way.
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 collective of the whole community progressing while also facing challenges.
4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of black Britons in the Voice?
As positive - trying to educate those in the community of that challenges they face, how they can help themselves and how they are being helped.
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.)
There is a focus on news in the Caribbean, stories on the decriminalisation of marijuana, but they do have a focus worldwide on issues affecting black people.
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?
When it first came out it focused on giving those born here and spent a lot of their lives in London a voice, it was more of a battle between the police and the Brixton riots when it first came about.
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?
Newspapers facing issues of selling and circulation, being bought out by other organisations
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.
The last two have more of a focus on the black commuity and Jamaica in particular so it would fit if they owned the Voice.
The last two have more of a focus on the black commuity and Jamaica in particular so it would fit if they owned the Voice.
4) How does the Voice website make money?
Advertisements on the website, some YouTube revenue and sales of the paper.
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?
Flights to Africa, university, money transfer services.
There aren't as many cookies involves - only 12 so it would mostly be fixed adverts. Teen Vogue has 104 so it would use those based on user data.
There aren't as many cookies involves - only 12 so it would mostly be fixed adverts. Teen Vogue has 104 so it would use those based on user data.
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?
It started out as the owner wanting to become a media mogul and the Guardian article says that time and money was wasted by the owner e.g. producing a record label, I feel like now there is an element of public service as it continues to have a focus on the black community or it would have more of a focus on 'Cats on treadmills'.
7) What examples of technological convergence can you find on the Voice website – e.g. video or audio content?
They do have YouTube interviews and social media links.
YouTube uploads are sporatic, Instagram and Facebook posts are about their stories.
Instagram - 17.6k followers
Facebook - 610k followers
YouTube - 1,065,788 views
YouTube uploads are sporatic, Instagram and Facebook posts are about their stories.
Instagram - 17.6k followers
Facebook - 610k followers
YouTube - 1,065,788 views
8) How has the growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?
It has but also the saturation of media products online has also made it difficult, they can grow their audience while competing with more and more people as setting up a blog is essentially cost free unlike setting up a newspaper.
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?
There is more of a celebrity focus - probably more to do with the younger audience so it is similar to the other two organisations, but there is evidence of more hard news covered.
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?
Production values are much lower but the content is more oriented to issues affecting black Britons, more mainstream news isn't covered.
Production values are much lower but the content is more oriented to issues affecting black Britons, more mainstream news isn't covered.
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