OSP: Teen Vogue & The Voice month in focus

OSP: Teen Vogue & The Voice month in focus

The Voice:

Police issue appeal to locate missing elderly man

This story is significant as it shows how the Voice are using their platform to help others and raise awareness of issues in society rather than just talk about celeb-gossip. 'Edwin suffers with dementia and may appear confused.' This shows how they've provided the relevant information about the man to help people identify him and make the search easier. 

Boots in row over security tags on afro hair products

This article is based on how Boots have put security tags on Afro hair products but didn't seem to do the same on other hair products for European hair products which were right next to them. This caused controversy as it seemed like Boots were stereotyping black people and seemed like discrimination towards them as the customer who took the video in the Wembley store had felt. 

The Stormzy effect continues: Voter registration increases 236% per cent

This article shows the positive impact a young black celebrity and influencer has had on the UK as a whole as voting is very important to the Country especially with the whole Brexit dilemma and it is therefore important for everyone to give their input and vote for what they think is right; especially young people as they are the future of the country. 

Priyanka Chopra Surprised Nick Jonas With a Dog for Their Anniversary

This story shows how Teen Vogue is more of a celebrity gossip magazine which is what keeps their target audience; teen girls engaged. This reinforces teen vogues initial mission statement of being a magazine solely for fashion and beauty and celebrities.

Online, Social and Participatory index

Online, Social and Participatory index

1) OSP: Clay Shirky - End of Audience blog tasks

2) OSP: Teen Vogue - background and textual analysis

3) OSP: Teen Vogue - audience and representation

4) Baseline Assessment learner response

5) OSP: Teen Vogue - industry and social media

6) OSP: Hall and Gilroy - media theory

7) OSP: The Voice - blog case study

8) OSP: The Voice and Teen Vogue news articles (minimum 4 from each)

The Voice: case study blog tasks

The Voice: case study blog tasks

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?

The Voice website has a bar at the top with a menu of things they have to offer and a search engine so that people can easily navigate around the page and find exactly what they're looking for. 

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

Teen Vogue's website seems to be a lot more up to date than the Voice in terms of design and it also looks like a more expensive and sophisticated page. This shows that the Voice has a lower budget compared to Teen Vogue. 

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?

They have different options such as sport, lifestyle, faith, news, opinions etc. which shows they have a lot to offer to their audience and provide them with a wide range of things to choose from including news to provide them with knowledge to entertainment and the 'opinions' section also gives people a platform to voice their ideas and opinions. 

4) Look at the news stories on The Voice homepage. Choose three stories and discuss how they have presented the news from an angle or perspective that reflects The Voice's role as a voice for black Britons.

On the Voice news stories section, they have different sorts of information to offer such as Keith Sweat and Montell Jordan announcing UK tour dates, to information on BME housing association CEO issues general election cohesion challenge and also other positive stories which would encourage others to do positive things e.g. 'Aunty Lydia on course to help Nigerian children'.

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.

Todorov's equilibrium can be applied to the Voice as they talk about the disequilibrium and then also the equilibrium or new equilibrium in most cases to keep audiences engaged and having them want to read on to find out what happens. 

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?

The sub-menu of the lifestyle section are fashion & beauty, food, health & well-being, relationships and travel. This suggests that the Voice readers are family centred and they offer a lot for their audience in terms of lifestyle in many different segments. 

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

Honourees aplenty at 2019 Black Magic Awards
Treasure Tress to celebrate fourth birthday with pop-up store
Black male grooming brand secures investment to support its growth

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

It differs from teen vogue as they're both aimed at two different age groups; the voice is for more mature audience. Their content id therefore different and the way the page is laid out is also different to be more appealing to their target audience. 

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

The sections and stories in the lifestyle section are trying to celebrate the positive things black people are doing which challenges stereotypes as the media attempts to create a bad image of black people a lot of times. 

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

'Black male grooming brand secures investment to support its growth'
'This black-owned swimming cap brand is the product you need'
'Naomi Campbell’s Fashion for Relief pop-up store to open in Westfield'

These articles show how they're a black focused magazine and also show how they're supportive towards the black community and are celebrating the positives rather than reinforcing stereotypes and bringing them down. 

Feature focus

1) 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?

The article reflects the Voice's ideologies as she talks about how she feels there wasn't enough importance given to the Grenfell tragedy as there were more black people affected from the incident and there would've been a lot more effort put in to resolve the issue if the victims of the fire were white. This could link to Gilroy's idea of diasporic identity; the idea that black people don't have a 'home' or sense of belonging anywhere.

2) Read/watch this Lifestyle feature about the Black Magic Awards. How do the article and video content reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice? What do you notice about the production values of the video interviews?

The setting in which the video was taken in reflects that it is very low budget. The article once again reflects the voice's idea of celebrating the work of black people and encouraging them. 

3) Read this feature about the Young, Gifted and Black Awards. What does this story suggest regarding how The Voice is trying to change the representation of black people in British media? 

The story is based on young black children who have done well in their education e.g. GCSEs and SATs and awarding them. This subverts stereotypes and on top of all it is motivational for them to keep striving for more and also motivational for other young black children to achieve lots and show the rest of the world that they're also strong academically to remove this negative stereotype of black people in society.

Audience

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

The target audience for the Voice are black British people; an Afro-carribean audience and more specifically, an older and more mature audience. Strugglers, mainstreamers and aspirers. 

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

An audience pleasure would be personal identity as audience would be able to relate to the stories or the people being featured in the articles. 

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

Their articles are based on black people; black celebrities and influencers e.g. Stormzy and Naomi Campbell and promote black owned businesses e.g. black owned dentist... This shows they have a niche market and the magazine is aimed at black people.

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's British born black audience would resonate to the political, historical and racist theme as they'd be able to relate as these are things they would've faced in real life as well and have always felt a sense of not belonging and being an outcast. 

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 Voice are a magazine made to be a platform for British born black people and they are successful in doing this as they use their platform to promote positive messages and celebrate the work of other black British people which would also encourage others to aim high. Their audience are therefore positioned to respond positively to the representations as the Voice are not reinforcing negative stereotypes or bringing anyone down. 

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

Gilroy's concept of double consciousness can be applied to the Voice. The launch of the Voice gave black British audience a media platform that they can relate to and enjoy reading rather than reading the magazines and articles aimed at a white British audience in which they negatively stereotype black people. 

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 gives a platform for black British people and an example of this would be when an article is featuring someone from Jamaica.

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

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.)

The voice doesn't feature people from any other ethnic backgrounds e.g. Asians or Europeans which is an interesting fact but also reflects their mission statement and initial purpose to be a platform for black people and the focus is on them as they are their only target audience. 

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 report shows that the values and ideologies of the Voice was to give a platform to the black Britons whose homes were in Britain but never felt a sense of belonging; diasporic identity. The article also talks about the changes the magazine's having to make to be aligned with the change in media with everything become more digital and technology based now.

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.

'The Weekly Gleaner' which is a publication for West Indians living in Britain; the publication covers both stories in the UK and in Jamaica.

4) How does the Voice website make money? What is your opinion of the 'asking for donations' approach that The Voice is now using?

They do advertisements on their websites which they'd get money from. 'Asking for donations' approach could potentially work as loyal customers who want the magazine to keep going would pay a contribution to the magazine and not forcing audiences' to pay would keep customer satisfaction and their reader numbers high as not everyone would be able to afford to pay for a 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 Voice website has fixed advertisements rather than using cookies which would show advertisement tailored for each individual reader based on their recent search history. 

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?

I believe there is an element of public service because the community is having a say because their opinions are being taken in to consideration using polls and questionnaires and gives general audience an opportunity to voice their ideas.

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

The Voice have interviews that they hold out themselves which is also available to watch on YouTube. 

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

The Voice is now able to reach out to more of their target audience and available on digital media makes it easier for audiences to share links around to friends or on social media meaning that even people they weren't originally targeting at are now aware of the Voice and could potentially read their articles. 

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?

Their Twitter page is a lot more about visuals rather than large amounts of text and they also have loads of clickbaits; plenty more than the Teen Vogue Twitter feed. 

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?

The Voice's YouTube videos seem to be very much on a budget with it being set in an ordinary room rather than somewhere that's been set up for an interview and the video and audio quality was also quite poor which shows that they were working on a budget.

Learner response: OSP assessment

Learner response: OSP assessment

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW - There is a lot of potential here in both answers - with some work on your exam technique, I think you could quickly move to C+ grades. You clearly know details of the CSPs and theories and now need to explore both sides of the argument. 

EBI - In Q1, you confuse elements of preferred and negotiated readings. Also, don't waste time describing theories - just deconstruct the text you are given. 

In Q2, you need to try and cover both sides of the debate and offer more in terms of theories and examples. Revise the OSP theorist and CSPs and look at the mark scheme for ideas here.  

2) Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify five specific aspects from Figure 1 (the Google Home advert) that you could have mentioned in your answer (e.g. selection of image, framing and focus, colour, text etc.)

- Links Google brand to vision of ideal family life – creative play with parent; coloured pencils, paint bottle and corner of child’s picture all reinforce creativity and colour.

- The repetition of the word ‘home’ may disturb audiences who see the advert as an example that nowhere is safe from multinational capitalist giants such as Google.

- Negotiated readings could include an acceptance of a warm picture of family life – plus the potential usefulness of the speaker – despite concerns over how the device uses data and the growing power of companies such as Google and Amazon.

- Google presenting its smart speaker as a ‘natural’ part of home life will be strongly rejected by audiences concerned with data, privacy and the power technology companies such as Google have in modern western societies.

- Google represented as unthreatening, safe and a natural part of middle-class family life.

3) Now use the mark scheme to identify three potential points that you could have made in your essay for Question 2 (Hesmondhalgh - narrow range of values and ideologies).

- The role of the cultural industries in society and the way media products can influence or impact on audiences.

- The ‘End of Audience’ that Clay Shirky writes of means that a wider, more diverse range of values and ideologies are now available to consumers. Teen Vogue illustrates this with a liberal agenda that promotes perspectives championed by digital feminists in the late 2000s (sometimes considered the fourth wave of feminism). Promoting Judith Butler’s view on gender as performance, Teen Vogue is positive on gender fluidity and an increasingly non- binary approach gender identity.

- The Voice should be successful due to the opportunities that are offered by digital media and the new media landscape in creating a platform for values and ideologies such as a strong black British voice. However, the poor construction of the website and social media presence (poorly worded polls, cluttered design, low-quality photography, lack of fresh content, poor video production values, weak sponsored content) means it is not the

powerful voice in British media it should be.

4) Use your exam response, the mark scheme and any other resources you wish to use to write a detailed essay plan for Question 2. Make sure you are planning at least five well-developed paragraphs in addition to an introduction and conclusion.

- Intro; talk about how a narrow range of ideas dominate cultural industries and talk a bit on industries. 
- Para 1; link it to teen vogue and use examples showing you know the CSP. 
- Para 2; link it to the voice and incorporate examples once again.
- Para 3; talk about similarities and differences both CSPs have. 
- Para 4; link it to other media theorists and their values and ideologies. 

5) Finally, identify three key areas you plan to revise from the OSP unit (CSP aspects or theories) having looked at your feedback from this assessment.

- Revise more theorists to link back to in answers

- Focus on exam techniques and how to answer questions 

- Do more research myself on the CSPs to have additional knowledge that I can include in my answers. 

Paul Gilroy - blog task

Paul Gilroy - blog task

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?

He argues that racial identities are historically constructed. 

2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?

He suggests that racism was historically constructed formed by things such as colonisation, slavery, nationalist philosophies and consumer capitalism. 

3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?

Ethnic absolutism is a line of thinking which sees humans are part of different ethnic compartments, with race as the basis of human differentiation. Gilroy is opposed to ethnic absolutism as it is counter to his argument that racism causes race.

4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?

5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?

"External and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation"; which related to the idea that Black Britons were often outsiders in society and felt like they didn't have a sense of belonging.

6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?

The negative effects include exclusion: being exposed to regressive ideologies and marginalisation. 

7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.

Diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity in many ways. They may use the media to read news and stay aware of what is happening in their home country and also to watch movies or series that originate from their home country e.g. Netflix series or movies as they offer foreign languages or ones set in different countries.

8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?

He suggests that there will always be diaspora because of the impact that slavery has had and we cannot go back to the time before slavery existed. 

9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?

Although they have citizenship and legally have rights, sometimes they may feel like this isn't being carried out and a sense of unfairness towards them. 

10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.

The film challenges negative stereotypes of black American women as they were working for one of the most respected jobs with high academic skills and especially in the time the film was set, you'd mostly only see a male as the breadwinner going to work hard in big fields which is another stereotype they challenged. 

Teen Vogue: Industry and social media

Teen Vogue: Industry and social media

Industry: Condé Nast

1) Research Teen Vogue publisher Condé Nast. What other magazines do they publish and how much money did they make last year?

 Allure, Architectural Digest, Ars Technica, Backchannel, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, GQ, Pitchfork, Self, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Wired.

2) What are Teen Vogue’s main sources of income?

Teen Vogue’s main source of income is through selling advertising space online – adverts that are targeted using browsing history. 

3) How are traditionally print-based products like Teen Vogue diversifying to create new income streams?

By going into online media as well and developing their own website rather than only making print editions and also speaking about issues that are becoming more popular in society and addressing concerns that teens in generation-x tend to have rather than just focusing on traditional genres. 

4) Why is sponsored content and ‘advertorial’ particularly important in media linked to the fashion industry?

Both editorial content and advertising is designed to create a strong desire in their audience for products featured.

5) Do you view Teen Vogue’s content as a form of public service media or is Condé Nast simply interested in clicks and profit?

Although Teen Vogue carry themselves out as a public service media and do a lot to raise awareness and talk about issues in society, at the end of the day Conde Nast is a large media conglomerate that's in it to make profit. 

Closure of print edition research

Read the following short articles to learn the background to Condé Nast's decision to close the print edition of Teen Vogue in 2016 and then answer the questions below:

BBC: Teen Vogue: How will going online-only affect readers?
New York Times: Condé Nast Ends Teen Vogue’s Print Run
Folio: Your Teen Vogue Hot Takes Are All Wrong

1) Why does the BBC suggest “Teen Vogue’s digital game is strong”?

Because they have six million Facebook likes, a huge following on Snapchat, three and a half million Twitter followers.

2) What does the BBC suggest is responsible for the Teen Vogue website’s success?

"They've got a fantastic product and content"

3) How did Teen Vogue justify the closure of the print magazine?

They justified it by saying they need to modernise and calibrate their content to stay in sync with their audience preference and how majority of people tend to consume the media nowadays.

4) In the BBC article, David Hepworth suggests there is a risk to going digital-only. What is it?

He says that there are so many websites out there that it's difficult to remain unique which is a risk as they may struggle to stand out from other publishers. 

5) How do online-only publications make money?

Advertisements online and receiving information from customers and then selling it to other businesses such as the interests you have, your email address etc. 

6) What does Sarah Penny suggest regarding audience consumption for print and digital – and how might it be changing for Generation-Z?

Generation Z have a much stronger relationship consuming online content in comparison to other generations. This reflects Teen Vogue's change to creating digital content as there target audience are more into digital media compared to print.

7) What does the New York Times say Conde Nast is known for?

They say that Conde Nast were well known for for their lavish and visually rich magazines which is why their closure came across as a shock.

8) The New York Times states that Conde Nast expects to bring in less revenue in 2017 than 2016… by how much?

$100 million less in revenue compared to 2016. 

9) The Folio article also looks at the switch from print to digital. Pick out a statistic that justifies the digital-only approach.

The views went from 2 million monthly visitors to nearly 9 million since May 2015. 

10) Finally, Folio also highlights some of the aspects we have studied elsewhere. Pick out two quotes from the article that link to our work on the Teen Vogue audience, representation or design.

''In one of my interviews, one of the questions was, how do you grow Teen Vogue from 2 million to 10 million a month?'

Social media analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Teen Vogue's social media presence:

1) Look at the Teen Vogue Twitter feed (you don’t need to sign up to Twitter to see it but may need to log-in at home). How many followers does Teen Vogue have?

Teen Vogue's Twitter page has 3.3 million followers.

2) Now look at the content. Classify the first 20 tweets you can see using the sections on the Teen Vogue website: News & Politics, Fashion, Entertainment, Beauty, Lifestyle, Wellness and Homecoming. What does the Twitter feed focus on most? Does this differ to the website?

On their Twitter page they have tweets on fashion, health & beauty, politics, entertainment, lifestyle and so on... which matches the things they cover on their Teen Vogue website as well. They focus a lot on health and well-being, taking care of your skin and others around you e.g. skincare tips, guides on how to make people feel better etc. 

3) How are the tweets and headlines written? Can you find examples of clickbait?

They have tweeted links of articles and made their caption 'snappy' and to match the headline of the link they've used. 

4) How does the Twitter feed use videos and images?

Videos and images make it more visually appealing which is what most audience are attracted by rather than large amounts of texts especially on digital media. 

5) Analyse the Teen Vogue Facebook page. How many ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ do they have?

5.9 million likes and 5.8 million followers.

6) Click on the Videos link on the left-hand menu. What type of content do the videos feature? Does this differ to the website or Twitter feed?

They have videos related to well-being; more specifically speaking the well-being of woman. They also have videos talking about news based stories. The difference is that their Twitter page had more links to click on and view (clickbait). 

7) Now look at the Events tab to explore past events. What are these events and what do they tell us about how audiences interact with the Teen Vogue brand?

8) Go to the Teen Vogue Instagram page. How many followers do they have on Instagram?

2.4 million followers

9) How does the Instagram feed differ from other social media channels?

It is mainly about visuals on Instagram and they have uploaded lots of pictures from events, celebrities etc. There is a lot less content on politics and activism on their Instagram compared to their website. 

10) What examples of digital convergence and synergy can you find on Teen Vogue social media including the Teen Vogue YouTube channel? (E.g. opportunities to engage with the brand across different platforms). 

They have the same slogan in all their biographies, they post content relating to the genres on their website. They post political content on all their media along with other things such as fashion and beauty.