the voice
Social and cultural contexts - 40 Year of Black British Lives
Read this extract from The Voice: 40 Years of Black British Lives on rapper Swiss creating Black Pound Day (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access the document). Answer the following questions:
1) What is Black Pound Day?
The key aim of BPD is to encourage people—particularly Black people and their allies—to consciously spend money with Black‐owned businesses in the UK, on a specific day (and increasingly monthly) in order to build economic power and visibility within the Black community.
2) How did Black Pound Day utilise social media to generate coverage and support?
The campaign uses the hashtag #BlackPoundDay to drive awareness, encourage people to share their purchases and shout out Black‑owned businesses on social media.
3) How do events such as Black Pound Day and the Powerlist Black Excellence Awards link to wider social, cultural and economic contexts regarding power in British society?
Black Pound Day and the Powerlist Awards challenge inequalities by promoting economic power, visibility, and positive representation of Black British communities. They create new spaces for influence and leadership, shifting power in society and changing cultural narratives.
Audience
1) Who do you think is the target audience for the Voice website? Consider demographics and psychographics.
The Voice website primarily targets Black British individuals, especially adults aged 18-45, interested in news, culture, politics, and issues affecting the Black community in the UK. Psychographically, it appeals to socially conscious, culturally engaged, and community-focused readers.
2) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses & Gratifications).
The site provides informational pleasure (news, politics, history), personal identity (representation and affirmation of Black British identity), social interaction (community events, discussions), and entertainment (music, culture, lifestyle).
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3) Give examples of sections or content from the website that tells you this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.
News stories often highlight issues affecting Black communities, such as racism, education, and representation in politics or sport.
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?
Black people are oppressed in society and suffer from racism daily so the black targe audince would want to hear about this.
Representations
1) How is the audience positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website?
The Voice positions its audience to celebrate and take pride in Black culture and achievement. Its a counter to mainstream media’s negative stereotypes of Black people
2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying?
The Voice shows that Gilroy’s “double consciousness” doesn’t really apply.
It represents Black Britons as confident and unified, not torn between being Black and British.
The paper celebrates Black British identity as something positive and whole, challenging the idea of a split or conflicted identity.
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 Voice promotes a proud, confident Black British identity that blends African, Caribbean, and British culture.It shows Gilroy’s “liquidity of culture” through this cultural mix, and “unruly multiculturalism” by celebrating diversity while challenging racism and inequality.
4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of black Britons in the Voice?
Different audiences construct meaning in different ways — many see The Voice as empowering and inclusive, while others may negotiate or oppose its representations depending on their beliefs and experiences, seeing them as too political or divisive.
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.)
Gender, Often highlights strong Black women in leadership, media, and activism — challenging stereotypes and promoting empowerment and equality.
Age, Features younger voices and role models, showing youth as ambitious and creative, not rebellious or lazy.
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?
The Voice was founded to represent and empower Black Britons, challenge racism and stereotypes, and celebrate Black British identity.Its values are equality, community, pride, and self-determination.
issues raised in the article are still relevant today?
"The Voice was an absolutely necessary community institution in the 1980s. But it probably hasn't recognised how the community has changed. I speak at a lot of schools and churches and no one discusses the Voice any more."
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?
Through online advertising, sponsored content (advertorials), and subscriptions/single copy sales of its print version.
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?
It uses Google Ads and sponsored posts, which are cookie-based and personalised to each user.
This shows the website uses modern digital advertising and has a fairly advanced level of technology for targeted marketing.
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?
Both as it aims to serve the Black British community by informing and empowering them (public service),
but it also relies on advertising and sales to stay financially sustainable.
7) What examples of technological convergence can you find on the Voice website – e.g. video or audio content?
The site includes embedded videos, social media links, and share buttons, Facebook, X/Twitter, YouTube, Instagram.This shows integration of different media forms and platforms in one place.
8) How has the growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?
The internet allows The Voice to reach a global audience cheaply and instantly,
helping niche media like it to survive and grow online even as print declines.
9) Analyse The Voice’s Twitter feed. How does this contrast with other Twitter feeds you have studied (such as Taylor Swift)? Are there examples of ‘clickbait’ or does the Voice have a different feel?
The Voice’s feed focuses on news, community issues, and empowerment, not personal updates or celebrity image. It uses headlines and links, not clickbait so it feels serious and informative rather than promotional.
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