THE BLACK POPULAR PRESS

Abstract

This paper explores what ‘black popular’ might mean within the context of cultural diversity and representation in contemporary Britain using African Voice, a specialist newspaper directed at the African diasporas as a case study. The African Voice was established to redress the limited representation and visual invisibility of the African diasporas in the mainstream press. The paper examines how the newspaper embraces the worldview of its readers; how it contributes to the process and product of popular culture; how it resists blurring the public and private divide; and how it manifests readers’ views. An extended interview with the editor of African Voice provided qualitative data and the content of the newspaper was analysed to yield quantitative data.

Keywords:

• alternative media
• Black African diasporas
• popular press

The author would like to thank Mike Abiola, the editor of the African Voice , for the interview.