The Black female voices Part 5. An overview of other Black Female YouTubers channels
Hi this is Fred from IVisible
For those who do not know my channel I encourage you to check my previous videos and most importantly my website by clicking on the link in the description box of this video.
This video is part of a series so if you want to start from the beginning of this series just click on part 1 in the video library of this channel.
It might be the last part of the series but not the last episode of the Channel IVisible, so don’t worry, you will hear from us again.
Let’s get started !
As it was challenging to cover all the YouTubers with a black female grass roots, the most difficult was to select the most interesting of them all in order to capture as much diversity as possible.
The purpose of the series was to raise awareness about a fundamental fact : black female YouTubers do actively participate to the many discussions brought online.
Perhaps the title should have been the black female voices of North America because most of the selected channels were based on the American continent.
But who knows, I may publish another series with a focus on other region of the globe. That may, hopefully help increase the degree of representation of marginalised groups.
So to stay on topic, we primarily examined what each YouTuber was able to convey in terms of image quality and the presentation capability to attract and retain an audience.
It was tempting to create a comparison chart and that would undervalued the efforts made by the YouTubers to create spaces that resonate with their subscribers.
To put things simply, I tried to extract the most positive features of each channel to demonstrate that black females are capable of providing entertaining media content.
So What are the learning outcome of this series :
Firstly we know that Black females are working hard toward being more vocal about their needs in terms of media content. All the channels reviewed, featured characteristics that promote self-care, black feminism, professionalism or research and so much more.
For example, Fab socialism did a video about how in her view the singer ” Rihanna” tried to capitalise on a skin care line by manipulating her fan’s base.
Fab Socialism implied that the products’ promotion offered by Rihanna’s line is too capitalistic and due to the fact that only a few people will have the privilege to become a billionaire, it is unethical for the singer to engage in altruism.
The topic was introduced with sources and a disclaimer as well as a statement informing the audience that her aim was not to bluntly criticising the singer.
Fab socialism also expressed her disbelieve regarding the singer promotional slogan which included the term diversity whilst having a relationship with a man who allegedly insulted black women publicly and disengaged from helping the less fortunate.
Another YouTuber Oh Stephco tried to defend her opinion about how the singer Beyoncé is “the greatest artist” of her generation and that people should stop criticising the artist.
The video was done in the mist of Beyoncé new promotional work.
It is important to point out the difference between the two by clearly examining the fact that one gave her opinion based on her feelings, for instance, Oh Stephco.
And the other one, Fab socialism, provided some type of references to her arguments.
Secondly, we know now that those channels’ owners found meanings in their work. I do not know how to measure this element though.
Nonetheless, many of those channels are expending, experimenting or simply having fun using media and creativity as a business model.
However, they are not professional journalists which makes this series an analysis of amateurism within the Black female YouTubers community in North America.
For example Wine n Chill with Stephanie, Lexus Exodus, Mahogany Pink, Real Talk with Yanie and Tee noir are all holding their judgement as the truth.
Some like Wine n Chill with Stephanie have a professional background related to her channel’s output which makes her an expert to some degree. However, she has no professional connection with the cases that she comments on. And that is totally fine!
To be clear, there is little others, by others I mean consumers, can do to improve the situation, but, to bear in mind that fake news and sensationalism is a huge problem within the media industry at large and consequently with amateurs.
According to Aaron Davis the profession of journalism sees a decline in “ethics standards and” an increased pressure to direct contents toward sensationalism (Davis, 2019).
He also explains, on page 83, that “non complex, cheap, human interest and celebrity stories, scandals and gossip, all have become” the new standard (Davis, 2019).
Davis’ book was published in 2019 but Richard Hofstadter in his 1955 version of the age of reform, tells us in the chapter 2 named history of conspiracy on page 71, that this type of phenomenon happens when populism is on the rise (Hofstadter, 2008).
He goes on to say that and I quote : certain type of popular movements of dissents offer special opportunities to agitators with paranoid tendencies (Hofstadter, 2008).
He is referring to conspiracist and on page 189 he adds that, within a 30 years period between 1870 and 1890, news papers created both “reportable” events and “muckraking” (Hofstadter, 2008).
Muckraking being, still according to Hofstadter, events that are not reportable by transforming those in such a way that they are cleverly generating emotional responses from the audience.
So the tendency to search for attention by exaggerating on minor subjects is not new in the media industry. This is the result of an ever evolving market landscape which brings along new opportunities and weaknesses.
Finally, rather than making an obvious conclusion I would like you to think about what can be done to give to each YouTuber, an opportunity to avoid the fake news and muckraking trap.
The danger is real and I hope to talk about it further, fairly soon.
That is all for me today, I hope you did enjoy this video and let me know what you think of the topic in the comment section.
Thanks for listening and see you in the next video!
Reference
– Hofstadter, R. (2008). The Age of Reform From Bryan to F.d.r. Paw Prints. p 70, 188, 189
– Davis, A. (2019). Political communication : a new introduction for crisis times. [online] Cambridge, Uk ; Medford, Ma: Polity Press. Available at: https://book.douban.com/subject/33443277/. p 83,84
– www.youtube.com. (n.d.). America Has A Beyonce Problem (And I’m Tired Of It). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILLO-_kC3_A [Accessed 12 Aug. 2022].
– www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Beyoncé, Kelis, Pharrell & The Sample | Music Industry Contracts Explained. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5TlLRBdepY&t=2381s [Accessed 10 Aug. 2022].
– www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Masculinity, Submission & a Black Woman’s Place. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl5_u7kE7Ks&t=1s [Accessed 10 Aug. 2022].
– www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Monyetta got the Last Laugh | Crystal Smith & Ne-Yo Separate Again. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaz7-Y3xKW8&t=194s [Accessed 10 Aug. 2022].
– www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Rihanna is the cash grab queen in the name of DiVeRsiTY. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww2ldEVBl50.
– www.youtube.com. (n.d.). THE PLIGHT OF THE PICKME. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeUKdQ7OWmM&t=8s [Accessed 10 Aug. 2022].
– www.youtube.com. (n.d.). THEY ARE DONE WITH US AND ARE MOVING OUTSIDE OF THE US! [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc2L1UVrt2w&t=807s [Accessed 10 Aug. 2022].