The Voice was founded in 1982, and is a British national African-Caribbean newspaper operating in the United Kingdom. The paper is based in London and was published every Thursday until 2019 when it became monthly. It is available in a paper version by subscription and also online.

Steve Neale presents ideas about genre, depicting it as a “Corpus” or repertoire of elements. This includes both traditional and innovative ones, and The Voice contains many innovative elements such as the repeated use of people of colour as role models and opinion leaders in articles. The dominant reading of this representation of the world from the perspective of someone of colour is likely to be one which supports others of colour, and so it is likely to be reactionary to the intended audience of British-born African-Caribbean people. On the other hand, there are also traditional codes and conventions of news in The Voice, such as categories of stories, headlines, and these help to make the product accessible to a wider audience.

The embrace of digital platforms by The Voice signifies that media producers are embracing the impact of new media, and using the audience’s ability to actively consume their products to their advantage to make money and encourage sales.

The Voice

Media Language Media Representations Media Industries Media Audiences

Social Political Economic Cultural

Paper 2

The Voice, first published in 1982, is a British newspaper committed to celebrating black experience and delivering a positive change by informing the black community on important issues with its news stories, in-depth interviews, opinion pieces and investigations.

The paper is owned by GV Media Group Limited and aimed towards an African-Caribbean audience. It is based in London and was published every Thursday until 2019, when it became monthly. It is available in a paper version by subscription and also online, and remains Britain’s most successful black newspaper.

Media Language

Media Representations

Paul Gilroy

Stuart Hall

Media Industries

David Hesmondhalgh believed that most companies involved in cultural industries were motivated by profit rather than a duty when it came down to public service broadcasting. No one would invest in a newspaper unless it was going to make money, however, the social and political context of the early 1980s allowed The Voice‘s founder, Val McCalla, to secure £62,000 from Barclays Bank who had attempted to counteract the negative publicity they had gained from investing in South Africa, where racial segregation was institutionalised in a system known as apartheid, by showing support for African-Caribbean causes. McCalla obtained the money with the backing of the Loan Guarantee Scheme which was part of a series of initiatives set up by Margaret Thatcher‘s government to help the unemployed begin their own businesses. The Voice was a success and the bank loan was paid off within five years.

Media Audiences

Clay Shirky argued audience behaviour has progressed much further from the passive consumption of media texts to a more active consumption, interacting with both the products and each other.

Stuart Hall‘s reception theory describes how producers use various signs to encode a programme’s meaning, according to their ideologies and resources, which the viewers then decode, to interpret the message through their own framework of knowledge, shaped by their age, social class, ethnicity, geography, and a myriad of other factors.

The circulation of the paper peaked at 55,000 in the early 1990s with young women being a substantial majority of its weekly buyers.

Context

Post-Colonialism

In 1978, Margaret Thatcher had a concern that the UK would become “swamped by people of a different culture”. This led to ‘Operation Swamp‘ in 1981, where the Metropolitan Police used their authority to arrest innocent members of the public, with a disproportionate number of people from the African-Caribbean community being taken into custody, prompting accusations that the police were motivated by racism.

The Voice is a British national African-Caribbean newspaper located in the UK. The newspaper was founded back in 1982 by Val McCalla which he aimed to be the voice of the British African-Caribbean community. He addressed the interests of a generation of immigrants by passing on news from their countries of origin in the Caribbean and Africa, rather than addressing the concerns of the generations born in the UK. The print was issued weekly on a Thursday until 2019 when it then became monthly, the newspaper has also expanded onto social media and it even has their own website.

Industry:

• The Voice was established with a £62,000 loan from Barclays Bank, at a time when African-Caribbean businesses found it particularly hard to get financial backing from banks. 
• The cover price was 54 pence, and it was only sold in Greater London
• The newspaper’s first editor Flip Fraser, led a team of journalists who set about addressing issues of interest to Britain’s African-Caribbean community. They combined human-interest stories and coverage of sports, fashion and entertainment with hard news and investigative reporting
• In under a decade the paper was selling more than 50,000 copies weekly
• The Voice is produced in tabloid format 

Representation:

• “Britain’s most successful African-Caribbean newspaper”
  • In 2012, The Voice journalists were denied entry to the Olympic stadium despite the strong presence and interest in Black British athletes
  • July 2017 – The voice hosted a charity dinner for Usain Bolt before his final appearance in the World Championships. The event raised over £30,000 for Bolt and coach Glen Mills’ Racers Track Club
  • In 2022, the paper launched a survey to find out more about the lived experience of Black British people – linking to their active engagement showing a more genuine concern for their audience
  • The Voice newspaper is “committed to celebrating black experience” and aims to deliver “positive change” by “informing the black community on important issues”

Recognition and awards:

• Young Voices – two “Best Magazine” awards from the Urban Music Awards  2010 and 2009
• BBI Media and Entertainment Award 2008
• Voice of Sports – Performance Award 2003 from Western Union
• BEEAM Awards for Organisation Achievements 2003
• Black Plus Awards 2002
• Britain’s Ethnic Minority Federation at the Bank of England, Partnership Awards 1999
• NLBA Enterprise Excellence Awards 1996
• BGA Gospel Awards – Best Media 1980s

Audience:

 

Statistics:

• The Voice, founded in 1982, is a British national African-Caribbean newspaper operating in the United Kingdom.
• The paper is based in London and was published every Thursday until 2019 when it became monthly.
• It is available in a paper version by subscription and also online.
• It is aimed at the British African-Caribbean community. 
• The only British national black newspaper operating in the United Kingdom.
• An early statistic claims that the paper circulation peeked at 55,000 in the early 1990s, with young woman being the main demographic.

Linked theories/Theorists:

• David Hesmondhalgh – Theory that companies were motivated by profit rather than a duty to public service. However, “The Voice” targeted such a niche audience that no one invested into it, this led to the founder “Val McCalla” to taking advantage of the social and political context at the time, to raise just enough to start his “risky adventure”.
• Clay Shirkys representation of new media can be seen here, with The Voice moving from weekly copies to monthly copies due to the rise of online media. Clay Shirky’s “Newspapers and Thinking he Unthinkable”  is a great summary of the threat the newspaper industry faced from online competition.
• Paul Lazarfeld theory of Two-step flow of communication and the use of opinion leaders within the media can be seen within the story “Lammy Backs report which finds over half of the UK’s Judges to act in a racially bias way” This displays the opinion leader “Lammy” who is a “Shadow secretary for the foreign state” of the UK government and a Member of parliament, this further links to Chomsky’s 5 filters of mass media 1. which is the ownership filter, in this case its the media leader (government) passing their information down to “Lammy” the opinion leader to spread to the public.

Representation:

• Newspapers, such as The Caribbean Times and West Africa, kept the diaspora up to date about news about the old countries. The Voice was different. It wanted to publish stories which were relevant to the second generation who were born and raised in Britain.
• This was the opposite to a newspaper like the sun where they made a front page depict the negative stereotypes of the black immigrant community within England

• The headline re-enforces the “sympathy” with the police officers within the riots.

Owned by Gleaner GV media group Ltd

It was a fearlessly campaigning newspaper with a voted leadership past.

It has a very tiny team, it’s leadership has shot up since it ended up on the AQA syllabus.

The Voice newspaper is “committed to celebrating black experience” and aims to deliver “positive change” by “informing the black community on important issues”. With its news stories, in-depth interviews, opinion pieces and investigations, The Voice remains “Britain’s most successful black newspaper”.

In the voice there are no published figures but it appears that they have a tiny forming of audience. This is not a product that its reaching its target demographic.

David Hesmondhalgh believed companies involved in cultural industries were motivated by profit rather than a duty to public service broadcasting. No one was going to invest in a newspaper which targeted a niche audience unless it was going to make money. However, the social and political context of the early 1980s offered the founder of The Voice, Val McCalla, an opportunity to raise the funds needed for such a risky venture.

The shift in the publishing from print media to digital formats has been dramatic. Clay Shirky’s “Newspapers and Thinking he Unthinkable”  is a great summary of the threat the newspaper industry faced from online competition, but you probably already know Teen Vogue is no longer available as a glossy magazine and Oh Comely sold its last copy in 2021. Inevitably, The Voice moved from weekly to monthly editions.

The publishers promote their content on various social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Most posts will direct you to the main website, but The Voice will also retweet and share posts from other institutions to increase the level of engagement with their primary audience.

Although this connection and level of interactivity is expected by digital natives, an older audience might still prefer the feel of print between their fingers.

The Voice will struggle to be heard by an audience who prefer the quick and easy comment culture of social media rather than long-form journalism.

Before the introduction of The Voice, the black press in Britain targeted first-generation immigrants. Newspapers, such as The Caribbean Times and West Africa, kept the diaspora up to date about news about the old countries. The Voice was different. It wanted to publish stories which were relevant to the second generation who were born and raised in Britain.

The Voice continues to construct a positive profile of the black community.

The homepage and category pages contain a collection of links to the news stories making the headlines. Inspired by social media feeds, such as the Instagram and Twitter interfaces, the use of cards is a very popular convention in website design. Each card includes a thumbnail signifying the key themes of the post, a category link, and a headline. These excerpts act as enigma codes which encourage the reader to find out more.

Media Language

The Voice uses codes and conventions to influence meaning. They value black people and like to make them feel superior and strong and independent. They bring racist issues and discrimination problems to the light to relate to their specific audience.

• They use images of mainly black people to get their views and values across and to attract their target audience. They also have quite a colourful site to show support for ‘coloured’ people and present it in a much more positive term. The images used are often not photoshopped and are natural which gives a real view of people which could better relate to their audience.

The Voice uses semiotics to create a narrative of constructing the world. By presenting content of mainly black people suggests that the world is becoming more diverse and it is not based on only white people in the media. Black signifies diversity. Colour signifies race and mainly black people. The title The Voice signifies the voice they give to black people.

The Voice presents its genre conventions of news website to present their news values. They use informative news but only on one feature to show what the media misses, black news.

They use the images of black people to construct a strong and independent of black people in the world and their growing success.

Media Representations

The choice of online product provides a wide range of representational issues. These include the representation of the target audience – black Britons – but also the selection and construction of news stories and their subjects. The analysis of representation will build on work done in the analysis of visual images and can be used to explore target audiences and ideological readings.

• The Voice constructs a Black British identity in The Voice and do not generalise them to only black nations.
• The media producers are encoding black news as black superiority for the audience to decode the importance of black lives and normalises them.
• By including various types of content whilst maintaining black people subverts the stereotype of black thugs and promotes black people in a more positive way.
• The stories presented show that black people are successful.

Media Industries

The Voice is a commercial media product but could also be seen as fulfilling a public service through its targeting of an ethnic minority audience. The website also demonstrates the way that news institutions have had to respond to new technology through The Voice’s bi-media presence and use of convergence.

• The Voice provides a case study for the specialised nature of media production, distribution and circulation within a regional and national context.
• The Voice doesn’t use multiple digital platforms yet it can be easily accessed on the internet through phones, computers or even ipads/tablets.

Media Audiences

The Voice provides an example of clearly targeted, primary audience through demographics of ethnicity, race and age which should encourage the study of issues of identity. Related to this would be a discussion of the changing relationship between producers and audiences – is there a need for media aimed at specialised audiences in the context of audience as producer? Shirky suggests that due to new technology everyone gets a say in the media and The Voice supports this as they attempt to give black people a voice in the world and get their specific audiences views across.

• The Voice’s specialised audience is black people, more specifically, black Britons.
• They successfully target them by producing content that they can relate to.
• They follow the cultural stereotypes yet go against all negative stereotypes that the media may have placed on black people. (Hall)
• The Voice produces quite unique and specific content which is very relatable to the audience and also gives them a voice.

Social, Political, Cultural and Economic Contexts

The Voice as an institution has historical and cultural significance in its origins as the UK’s first newspaper aimed specifically at a black British audience, dealing with relevant political and social issues. The website continues this function but is perhaps considered more mainstream and less political than in the past. The economic context can be explored through a consideration of the nature of the production and distribution and move to online content to reach a wider audience and attract advertisers.

Representation

UK’s first / favourite black newspaper

First published in 1981 – offered a new media source for those in the black community – much of the media at the time was racist / marketed towards white people.

Before the introduction of The Voice, the black press in Britain targeted first-generation immigrants. Newspapers, such as The Caribbean Times and West Africa, kept the diaspora up to date about news about the old countries. The Voice was different. It wanted to publish stories which were relevant to the second generation who were born and raised in Britain.

They were eager to create a countertype to the negative portrayals of black people often represented in the mainstream media. This was particularly important after the civil unrest across England in 1981.

Was there a riot in Brixton or was it an uprising against social and economic injustice?

The headline ‘To Think This is England’ reinforces the binary opposition between the civilised England and the savage Other. The audience are positioned to sympathise with the cowering police officers who are under attack. They are almost protecting the viewer from the violence and the side-turned and torched vehicle is a strong signifier of the destruction they are trying to prevent.

Media Language

The Voice uses codes and conventions to influence meaning. They value black people and like to make them feel superior and strong and independent. They bring racist issues and discrimination problems to the light to relate to their specific audience.
They use images of mainly black people to get their views and values across and to attract their target audience. They also have quite a colourful site to show support for ‘coloured’ people and present it in a much more positive term. The images used are often not photoshopped and are natural which gives a real view of people which could better relate to their audience.

Industry

David Hesmondhalgh believed companies involved in cultural industries were motivated by profit rather than a duty to public service broadcasting. No one was going to invest in a newspaper which targeted a niche audience unless it was going to make money. However, the social and political context of the early 1980s offered the founder of The Voice, Val McCalla, an opportunity to raise the funds needed for such a risky venture.

Barclays Bank was being heavily criticised for its investments in South Africa where racial segregation was institutionalised in a system known as apartheid. In a bit of impression management, the bank attempted to counteract the negative publicity by showing support for African-Caribbean causes.

McCalla secured £62,000 from Barclays with the backing of the Loan Guarantee Scheme which was part of a series of initiatives set up by Margaret Thatcher’s government to help unemployed people start their own business. The Voice enterprise was a success and the bank loan was paid off within five years.

The circulation of the paper peaked at 55,000 in the early 1990s with young women being a substantial majority of its weekly buyers.

Articles

Each article follows the template. First, breadcrumbs help the user understand where the story fits into the site’s permalink structure and enables you to navigate to the parent category pages. This element is followed by the dateline and a clickable by-line.