Public service broadcasting: blog task

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

The site has many key conventions of a typical site and has similarities to Teen Vogue such as a banner, quick links, social media short-cuts, main images, side stories and more.

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

It doesn't include the moderate structure that the Teen Vogue site highlights. The site likewise includes a more extensivecolours for all the diverse segments of the site. 

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?

This tells us that the with the sport being the first that is shown it can be that it may just have the most amount of viewers due to it being such a popular category. The next category is an opinion which is due to the voice being a very vocal site hence the name of the site.

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?

• Negativity- many stories including natural disasters around the world, etc.
• Closeness to home (Proximity)- eg. Manchester young performers use talents to celebrate city
• Recency- campaigners protest for BAME on new £50 note
• Currency-Raheem Stirling in new Nike ad
• Continuity-sports tournaments 
• Simplicity- easy to explain and predictable 

There are plenty of articles on The Voice which fit most of the key categories of G&R news values, therefore we can assume that the selection of news stories fit this to a large extent.

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.

Ex Manchester City player admits to drinking driving- This story relates to Galtungg and rogues theory as the surveillance aspect of the story is shown as the player is sharing private information. There is also evidence of elite class as football players are often regarded to be quite wealthy.

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?

Health, Food, fostering and adoption, female, travel, relationships, competitions.

This shows that the voice focuses on stories such as healthy living and companionship which shows how the voice is trying to build and reinforce the community.

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

How technology is bringing trading to the masses, New year- same you- but better, contemporary Carribean food for the health conscious.

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

-The lifestyle section of Teen Vogue consists of mostly life-hacks and DIY articles, as well as intriguing real life stories such as "long lost besties reunite via social media"

-This differs from The Voice as the main stories on this website's lifestyle section are more politically relevant

-Many of the stories are about the achievements of black individuals

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

-Some of the lifestyle sections such as "fostering and adoption" reinforce black stereotypes in the sense that the suggest a sense of black female single motherhood

-Many of the stories highlight a sense of 'black excellence', as they revolve around achievements of black individuals in the community. This challenges black stereotype in British media, as it shows that they are incredibly academic, smart, and successful compared to the 'thugs' and criminals British media typically shows black people to be.

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

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 the Voice's audience because it is a recent event which has made black history. She- the photographer- is from South West London, so as well as being black, she is also local which would appeal more to the audience. The article also highlights female success, which appeals to the feminist values of the Voice audience.

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?

(Page not loading)

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?

Audience

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

-Afro Caribbean

-25+

-60/40 male to female

-C2/DE

-Psychographics aspirers and maintreamers (mainstream black opinion)

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

-Personal identity (as a reflection through the positive, more realistic media)
-Personal relationships (a community)
-Surveillance (on black media, news, achievements, etc)

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

-Windrush: three people wrongly removed flown back to UK
-Caribbean news: Coral reefs, hurricane troops + more
-Usain Bolt: 'I Don't Think London Has Proper Jamaican Food'
-Helping the faithful find an approach to healthy eating

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 may be due to the recent racism in both the media and reality with police and general community, therefore due to personal identification readers may find personal relations to the stories that they read.

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? 

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?

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.)

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 released.

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 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.

4) How does the Voice website make money? 

-Advertisements on the website
-Some YouTube revenue  
-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. Try to target their market of the audience and their background or to feed a parents idea of their child to go to uni.

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? 

YouTube uploads are sporatic, Instagram and Facebook posts are about their stories.

Instagram - 17.6k followers
Facebook - 610k followers
YouTube - unknown

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.