Highbrow Magazine - shane smith https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/shane-smith en ‘Vice’ on HBO Takes Daredevil Journalism to Another Level https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2371-vice-hbo-takes-daredevil-journalism-another-level <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Media</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 04/24/2013 - 09:43</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumvice.jpg?itok=e8I9F3Iz"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumvice.jpg?itok=e8I9F3Iz" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> <strong><em>What’s it all about?</em></strong><em> Detached heads, child suicide bombers, militarized politicians, children carrying rocket launchers, and that’s only the first episode of this half-hour documentary series.  ‘Vice’ tackles international news by merging facts and culture shock to bring you as close as possible to becoming an eyewitness of the oddities that occur outside the Western world. These modern-day storytellers reveal many of the inequities that are masked by tradition, customs and society for the purpose of educating you. </em></p> <p>  </p> <p>  In 1994, Shane Smith co-founded the Montreal-based international culture magazine <em>Vice</em>, which he then moved to Brooklyn, New York, and expanded its reach through its YouTube channel, covering stories from the hunting of radioactive wild boars in the red forest of Chernobyl to exploring the sewers of Colombia that social “undesirables” used as a hideout from death squads on a mission to cleanse society.  For <em>Vice</em>, this marked a transition into political coverage around the world, which would “expose the absurdity of the modern condition."</p> <p>  </p> <p> At the screening at the HBO building in New York, correspondent Ryan “The Stone Cold Fox” Duffy toured a militia training camp in the Philippines that molds reckless, uneducated youth with a Superman “invincibility” syndrome into political assassins, giving it the highest homicide rate of any Asian country. Then, he flaunted his basketball skills in front of Kim Jung-un and Dennis Rodman in a friendly game between the Harlem Globetrotters and North Korean ball players (all of which occurred prior to the nuclear threats against South Korea).</p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2vice.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 338px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> <em>Vice</em> possesses a mixed-bag of stories loaded with thousands of news pitches that it receives daily from its 35 offices spread out across 18 countries, and which is reflected in the absurd, frightening and mind-bending situations the correspondents find themselves in.</p> <p>  </p> <p> So, for those who are expecting ongoing war zone coverage reminiscent of the Dan Rather golden days of journalism, which could become tiresome and fade interest, the burly and bearded Smith promised good storytelling, which although violent, is not sensationalistic, but true to the story.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/3vice.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> Indeed it may be overshadowed by award-winners like <em>60 minutes</em>, but the crew at Vice can certainly sit at the table with the news giants as they have marked their own trend aimed at changing the rules of <em>how</em> news is told.</p> <p>  </p> <p> For starters, they’re not primped TV personalities in suits, but sporty and youthful individuals with jazzy nicknames and an approachable demeanor that is not indicative of the ostensible fearlessness they show on camera during precarious situations, such as when risking kidnapping upon visiting a high-profile Taliban leader at his home in Pakistan and questioning his defense for using children to commit suicide bombings.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The personification of the ‘Vice’ bravado is correspondent Thomas “Baby Balls” Morton,  with glasses, a slim build and a non-intimidating height, has toughed it out in sketchy situations while traveling with human smugglers aiding North Korean defectors cross Thaliand into South Korea.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/4vice.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> “I just have a beer,” he quipped when asked how he mentally prepares himself before going into an assignment where he could be jailed, attacked or worse.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Amid dark humor and a casual, yet professional, attitude ‘Vice’ has created a formula that creates an engaging, serious tone that makes it almost impossible for you not to be shaken by an interview with a North Korean girl whose first encounter with an American was in a gritty safehouse, and whose evident malnutrition was the least of her worries because if authorities discovered that she had defected, her family would pay the price.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Yolian Cerquera is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vice</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vice-media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vice media</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vice-hbo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vice hbo</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hbo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">HBO</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/television" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">television</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/journalism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">journalism</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Media</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american media</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kim-jong-un" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">kim jong un</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/dennis-rodman" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">dennis rodman</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/afghanistan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Afghanistan</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraq" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraq</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/shane-smith" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shane smith</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/60-minutes" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">60 minutes</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yolian Cerquera </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Vice Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:43:51 +0000 tara 2741 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2371-vice-hbo-takes-daredevil-journalism-another-level#comments