Ben Katzen

Vice News is taking a new approach to coverage of global issues and conflicts. Their teams of over 100 reporters span the globe producing aggressive, on the ground, guerilla documentaries negating “balance and journalistic authority” and instead conveying a real sense of what’s happening on the ground. And young people are flocking to it in droves. 

  (Vice News)

Started in December of 2013, Vice Media pumped $50 million into the project to create a news platform “for young people everywhere.” Its goal is to “fill a void by mainstream media and news aggregation websites struggling to engage youth audiences and offer high-quality compelling digital programming.”

Vice is in fact reaching a younger crowd, with 41% of their audience between the 25 and 34, according to their media kit. 

Vice News’ flagship for distribution is their YouTube channel, which is now approaching its one-year anniversary, and has half a million subscribers and is the fastest growing news-based channel on YouTube. Their coverage of the crisis in Ukraine alone has been viewed over 20 million times. What really connects with audiences, according to Vice’s chief creative officer, “is taking the story beyond the length and depth of typical TV or newspaper stories.” Through YouTube, Vice is able to avoid the restrictions of prime-time television and dedicated entire “dispatches” to a single topic or conflict.

 In doing so, Vice News avoids the “Kindergartners playing soccer syndrome”, according to Vice CEO Shane Smith, where mainstream media bounces around to different topics without thoroughly reporting on one. 

 (Ceo.ca)

Vice News also receives monetary backing from their parent company Vice Media. After selling 5 percent equity of Vice to 21st Century Fox, Vice Media was valued at $1.4 billion “less than two weeks after The Washington Post had been sold to Jeff Bezos for a mere $250 million.” Vice Media, which was once a small Montreal based alternative magazine, also has a media deal with CNN and a half hour HBO show.  

However, the catch 22 of falling under the Vice family, is also falling under the Vice family. Vice magazine and their online documentary style, where Vice News also draws its platform, has been criticized for its “devil-may-care hipsterism” aesthetic and under-valuing journalistic integrity

In the documentary Page One: Inside The New York Times, Vice CEO Shane Smith takes a swipe at the Times’ coverage of surfing while Vice was covering cannibalism is Liberia. To which the “colorful” media reporter David Carr responded, “Just a sec, time out.  Before you ever went there, we’ve had reporters there reporting on genocide after genocide. Just because you put on a fucking safari helmet and looked at some poop doesn’t give you the right to insult what we do. So continue.” 

The altercation has become a microcosm for a cultural perception of Vice and its “alternative” reporting. Dan Rather dismissed Vice as “more Jackass than journalism”, and in a recent trainwreck of an AMA on Reddit, Shane Smith was ripped apart by fans for dodging tough questions and Vice’s overly-sensational coverage of major conflict areas in the Middle East.  

The Vice aesthetic has even inspired a parody Twitter account, @Vice_Is_Hip, which has almost 90k followers to date. 

Vice News has been able to dodge the same critique as its father company. In large part because of the hard-hitting reporting it’s dedicated to putting out. Vice Media's chief creative officer Eddy Moretti mentions he wants Vice News to become “part of the healthy news diet, the food pyramid of news,” where young people read the New York Times “and come to our site, or vice versa.” Even David Carr praised Vice News for it’s reporting in Ukraine and especially its coverage of ISIS in its “Islamic State” documentary series. 

  Carr admitted to sourcing Vice News for answers to the ISIS footage of the beheading of American journalist, James Foley.  Carr goes on to say "“The Islamic State” is a win for Vice, but also a win for an audience hungry to understand why some of the world hates us so much.”

Fans of Vice News have also praised Simon Ostrovsky on his coverage of Ukraine, in the Vice News documentary series “Russian Roulette”. With almost 70 episodes and hundreds of hours of content, as well as his own personal Twitter account, Ostrovsky and the Vice News team published groundbreaking coverage unparalleled to that of any mainstream media outlet.  

While on site in Slaviansk in late April, Ostrovsky was abducted by pro-Russian militiamen the day after attending a press conference with the mayor of Slaviansk. Released three days later, many came to Ostrovsky’s aid and praised him for his bravery in pursuit of the coverage. The abduction solidified the importance of Vice News’ coverage in the Ukraine and has since increased both its viewership and its importance as a member of the “media diet”, as Moretti referred to. 

Closer to home, riots in Ferguson, Missouri have erupted after police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed 16 year-old, Michael Brown. Vice News reporter Tim Pool set up of live stream of the riots via livestream.com.

Vice News dubbed the coverage ‘RAW FOOTAGE’ and was the center piece to the on-the-ground reporting done by Pool and other Vice News reporters.  Pool became the de facto “Leader of the People’s News” in Ferguson, for his reporting on police brutality, violations of the 1st amendment, and the stories of protestors. Pool also released content on Timcast, his personal lifestream station. 

 (Vice News)

Much in the way artists Ai Weiwei used social media to demonstrate the police brutality and abuse of power in China, Tim Pool also documented his own experience with police via his Twitter account.  

On August 18th, he tweeted a video of a Ferguson police officer ripping off his press badge, saying, “This doesn’t mean shit” [rips off badge].  According to Pool’s Twitter page, police officers are admitting to monitoring social media for “intel”, “Obvious, but interesting to hear them say it,” he tweeted.  

  A key factor in the spread of Pool’s coverage was the ever-present use of the hashtag “#Ferguson”, which was used on every tweet sent by Pool on the subject, including other citizens reporting on what they were experiencing. "#Ferguson" itself became its own social media news station, combining coverage from news outlets, as well as civilians on the ground. The universal access of Twitter presented the world with an ever-flowing, up to date entity of information void any one news agenda or frame. 

The hashtag also points to the immense support Pool received for his coverage, by both citizens and colleagues alike.  Charlie Phillips, aka @charliechar, tweeted “The reporting by @Timcast (Pool) in #Ferguson is so important, going to places others are too nervous to. @vicenews wins again.” Other journalists would link Pool’s coverage on Twitter as “breaking news” and instead of CNN alerts, audiences tuned into his Twitter account for the most up-to-date information. Media outlets such as Mother Jones, along with other freelance reporters, were linking directly to Pool’s content. 

Pool's approach with live streaming the events removed the perspective of reporting on Ferguson through a single article or video. The live streams brought the viewer into the coverage, and allowed audiences to arrive at their own conclusion instead of presenting one for them. 

   (Vice News)

Started in December of 2013, Vice Media pumped $50 million into the project to create a news platform “for young people everywhere.” Its goal is to “fill a void by mainstream media and news aggregation websites struggling to engage youth audiences and offer high-quality compelling digital programming.”

Vice is in fact reaching a younger crowd, with 41% of their audience between the 25 and 34, according to their media kit. 

Vice News’ flagship for distribution is their YouTube channel, which is now approaching its one-year anniversary, and has half a million subscribers and is the fastest growing news-based channel on YouTube. Their coverage of the crisis in Ukraine alone has been viewed over 20 million times. What really connects with audiences, according to Vice’s chief creative officer, “is taking the story beyond the length and depth of typical TV or newspaper stories.” Through YouTube, Vice is able to avoid the restrictions of prime-time television and dedicated entire “dispatches” to a single topic or conflict.

 In doing so, Vice News avoids the “Kindergartners playing soccer syndrome”, according to Vice CEO Shane Smith, where mainstream media bounces around to different topics without thoroughly reporting on one. 

 (Ceo.ca)

Vice News also receives monetary backing from their parent company Vice Media. After selling 5 percent equity of Vice to 21st Century Fox, Vice Media was valued at $1.4 billion “less than two weeks after The Washington Post had been sold to Jeff Bezos for a mere $250 million.” Vice Media, which was once a small Montreal based alternative magazine, also has a media deal with CNN and a half hour HBO show.  

However, the catch 22 of falling under the Vice family, is also falling under the Vice family. Vice magazine and their online documentary style, where Vice News also draws its platform, has been criticized for its “devil-may-care hipsterism” aesthetic and under-valuing journalistic integrity

In the documentary Page One: Inside The New York Times, Vice CEO Shane Smith takes a swipe at the Times’ coverage of surfing while Vice was covering cannibalism is Liberia. To which the “colorful” media reporter David Carr responded, “Just a sec, time out.  Before you ever went there, we’ve had reporters there reporting on genocide after genocide. Just because you put on a fucking safari helmet and looked at some poop doesn’t give you the right to insult what we do. So continue.” 

The altercation has become a microcosm for a cultural perception of Vice and its “alternative” reporting. Dan Rather dismissed Vice as “more Jackass than journalism”, and in a recent trainwreck of an AMA on Reddit, Shane Smith was ripped apart by fans for dodging tough questions and Vice’s overly-sensational coverage of major conflict areas in the Middle East.  

The Vice aesthetic has even inspired a parody Twitter account, @Vice_Is_Hip, which has almost 90k followers to date. 

Vice News has been able to dodge the same critique as its father company. In large part because of the hard-hitting reporting it’s dedicated to putting out. Vice Media’s chief creative officer Eddy Moretti mentions he wants Vice News to become “part of the healthy news diet, the food pyramid of news,” where young people read the New York Times “and come to our site, or vice versa.” Even David Carr praised Vice News for it’s reporting in Ukraine and especially its coverage of ISIS in its “Islamic State” documentary series. 

Carr admitted to sourcing Vice News for answers to the ISIS footage of the beheading of American journalist, James Foley.  Carr goes on to say ““The Islamic State” is a win for Vice, but also a win for an audience hungry to understand why some of the world hates us so much.”

Fans of Vice News have also praised Simon Ostrovsky on his coverage of Ukraine, in the Vice News documentary series “Russian Roulette”. With almost 70 episodes and hundreds of hours of content, as well as his own personal Twitter account, Ostrovsky and the Vice News team published groundbreaking coverage unparalleled to that of any mainstream media outlet.  

While on site in Slaviansk in late April, Ostrovsky was abducted by pro-Russian militiamen the day after attending a press conference with the mayor of Slaviansk. Released three days later, many came to Ostrovsky’s aid and praised him for his bravery in pursuit of the coverage. The abduction solidified the importance of Vice News’ coverage in the Ukraine and has since increased both its viewership and its importance as a member of the “media diet”, as Moretti referred to. 

Closer to home, riots in Ferguson, Missouri have erupted after police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed 16 year-old, Michael Brown. Vice News reporter Tim Pool set up of live stream of the riots via livestream.com.

Vice News dubbed the coverage ‘RAW FOOTAGE’ and was the center piece to the on-the-ground reporting done by Pool and other Vice News reporters.  Pool became the de facto “Leader of the People’s News” in Ferguson, for his reporting on police brutality, violations of the 1st amendment, and the stories of protestors. Pool also released content on Timcast, his personal lifestream station. 

 (Vice News)

Much in the way artists Ai Weiwei used social media to demonstrate the police brutality and abuse of power in China, Tim Pool also documented his own experience with police via his Twitter account.  

On August 18th, he tweeted a video of a Ferguson police officer ripping off his press badge, saying, “This doesn’t mean shit” [rips off badge].  According to Pool’s Twitter page, police officers are admitting to monitoring social media for “intel”, “Obvious, but interesting to hear them say it,” he tweeted.  

  A key factor in the spread of Pool’s coverage was the ever-present use of the hashtag “#Ferguson”, which was used on every tweet sent by Pool on the subject, including other citizens reporting on what they were experiencing. “#Ferguson” itself became its own social media news station, combining coverage from news outlets, as well as civilians on the ground. The universal access of Twitter presented the world with an ever-flowing, up to date entity of information void any one news agenda or frame. 

The hashtag also points to the immense support Pool received for his coverage, by both citizens and colleagues alike.  Charlie Phillips, aka @charliechar, tweeted “The reporting by @Timcast (Pool) in #Ferguson is so important, going to places others are too nervous to. @vicenews wins again.” Other journalists would link Pool’s coverage on Twitter as “breaking news” and instead of CNN alerts, audiences tuned into his Twitter account for the most up-to-date information. Media outlets such as Mother Jones, along with other freelance reporters, were linking directly to Pool’s content. 

Pool’s approach with live streaming the events removed the perspective of reporting on Ferguson through a single article or video. The live streams brought the viewer into the coverage, and allowed audiences to arrive at their own conclusion instead of presenting one for them. 

“Journalism is dead” is a lovely little phrase.  Implying that in someway the civic duty of reporting global events has somehow lost relevancy in the modern media landscape. Journalism can never die. Where there is any story, there is journalism. The hierarchy of traditional journalism is now under a re-definition phase, and now has to compete and co-exist with the online alternative media outlets. Vice News is both a representation, and a key player, in that paradigm shift of news media.  

Journalists may be motivated by their “civic duty” and their “cultural responsibility” to inform the world’s citizens, but it is also a paying job. For marquee traditional journalists, like former Washington Post columnist and WonkBlog editor Ezra Klein, the analog nature of traditional media outlets have stifled their creative endeavors, specifically in the online sphere of journalism (Byers 2014).

(Photo: NY Times)

In January of 2014, Klein made an offer to the Washington Post to expand his political blog, WonkBlog, including hiring full-time staffers, a full website overhaul, and estimated costs of more than $10 million. An already economically suffering Washington Post lacked the capital to support Klein’s proposal, and declined his offer, subsequently, Klein left the Post to join a relatively unknown media player, in Vox Media. I

n his short tenure at Vox, Klein launched Vox.com, an online-only news website with a mission statement of “understand the news”. Journalists have left major newspaper to start their own projects before. Nate Silver, “the star political statistician”, left the New York Times in 2008 to launch FiveThirtyEight, a “polling aggregation blog.”

Former Wall Street Journal columnists Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg created AllThingsD[igital], a new tech website with support from NBC Universal (Byers & Gold 2014). Brian Stelter, former Times media reporter, broke off to host Reliable Sources on CNN. Klein’s departure, however, marks the first of the so-called “rogue journalists” to help build an alternative media outlet that rivals those of the traditional realm.

With the help of another Washington Post alum, in Content Director Max Fisher, Vox.com has carved out a niche in digital media with interactive charts, maps, and news analysis.  

Vice News’s documentary series, “Russian Roulette”, was a groundbreaking broadcast journalism series, gaining unparalleled access inside Ukraine and became an instrumental source of information on the events in Ukraine.

In late April, series host and Vice News reporter Simon Ostrovsky was abducted by Pro-Russia militants following a press conference in Slaviansk. Released three days later, Ostrovsky returned to the U.S. and, in a Vice News exclusive, recounted the events of the days prior in a tell-all interview.

(Photo: Vice News)

The Pro-Russia separatists help a picture of Ostrovsky at all times, with instructions to “contain” him upon sight. The soilders admitted to following Vice News’s coverage, and viewed Ostrovsky as a “threat to the greater operation” (“Simon Ostrovsky Describes his Kindnapping”, 2014) Ostrovsky demanded to return the Ukraine and continue his coverage.

Both while on site in Ukraine, and after his return to the U.S., Ostrovsky was a key source for American broadcast outlets. “Russian Roulette” was Vice News’ introduction into the media landscape, and in a strange way, the abduction of Ostrovsky was also an indication of the impact of the coverage.  Ostrovsky was the first American journalist to be abducted by “pro-Russia militants”, and coverage of his abduction demonstrated the threat Vice News’ coverage was making to the militants. 

The power of Vice News’ coverage was its unique approach, documenting on the ground and giving audiences a visual reality for the crisis in Crimea.  In plain terms, Vice News’ coverage made the militants look bad, Vice also didn’t frame them as the antagonist, they are the antagonist, but Vice’s coverage was the most successful in expressing that concept to a wider audience. 

The abduction of Ostrovsky then raises questions on the impact other mainstream outlets were having on these militants.  Did the New York Times have weaker content because one of their reporters wasn’t abducted?  Not necessarily, it does, however, illustrate the power of Vice News’ method of coverage, which is unlike the process of mainstream media. 

These broadcast organizations are “in-studio” operations, and without field reporters to cover Ukraine on the ground. Jason Mojica, Vice News editor-in-chief, questioned the state of journalism when the idea of “reporting from location” was in someway unusual. As if Ostrovsky was a novelty source, where outlets can’t afford to send their own reporters to investigate stories. In a talk at New York University’s Arthur Carter Journalism Institute, Mojica sarcastically laid claim to the journalistic concept of sending a journalist to report on “a place where things are happening” (“What in the World”, Vimeo.com).

 On October 21st, 2014, the Pew Research Center released a study on “Political Polarization & Media Habits”, which “looks at the ways people get information about government and politics.” The study examined 38 news outlets, both liberal and conservative, in three different settings: the news media, social media, and how people talk about politics with friends and family (Gottfried, Kiley, Matsa, Mitchell, 2014). The study, however, did not include Vice (News) in the study. Vice’s snub from the study ultimately points to their positioning in the journalism industry. Still in its infantile stage, Vice News may still require growth in both capital and content to compete in the minds of journalism elite. Vice News still walks in the shadow of Vice Media, the parent corporation, and all the scrutiny and business that comes with it.

Vice News’s format of video documentary lends itself to accusations of biasses in their editing. Vice News has to make editing decisions and cut out content, that editing process is Vice News deciding what content is most important to the audience.

In terms of “Russian Roulette”, Ostrovsky becomes a character within the coverage; he becomes the face of the reporting and could jeopardize the “objectivity” of the reporting. The coverage them becomes what Simon Ostrovsky is seeing, and what Simon Ostrovsky deems important, and thereby could muddy the “sanctity” of unbiased reporting. Vice was also the originator of the documentary style Vice News implements in its reporting.

A cultural stigma of Vice’s documentaries is the tattooed, Brooklyn trust fund baby dropping acid at the Westminster Dog Show and calling that journalism. That is entertainment. In order to establish trust, Vice News has to prove their legitimacy and seriousness of their reporting. 

Vice Founder Shane Smith refutes the idea that the content of Vice is impacted by their business decisions, (A&E Networks, Vice also recently singed a deal with 20th Century Fox to launch Vice Films) and the integrity of Vice News is not impacted by its relationship to Vice.  

Simon Ostrovsky is a journalist. Before Vice News, Ostrovsky spent time at Al Jazeera English and BBC Newsnight (simonostrovsky.com). His credibility lies in his resume. Further, Vice News has collected a team of highly qualified journalists with a background in traditional journalism.  Alice Sperli, the former New York Times and Wall Street Journal contributor, and Medyan Dairieh, the host of the documentary “Islamic State”, are key contributors to Vice’s coverage.  

But its not just a “documentary”, Vice News’s content is storytelling. It is going into Ukraine and trying to make sense of a convoluted, and very important, global event. The coverage from Vice News establishes context to factual reporting from more traditional outlets.

According to Mojica, “we tell stories about people, not about issues,” which is exactly what their documentaries allow for. Amy O’Leary, New York Times Deputy International editor, and curator of the “What in the World” conference, explained the freedom Vice News was able to work with under the documentary platform.

The “Islamic State” documentary allowed an ISIS member to explain his story, on camera, for an entire two-minute unedited clip. At The New York Times, O’Leary explains how she would be forced to edit down the clip into the best fifteen seconds.

By publishing content via YouTube, Vice News is not restricted by the traditional boundaries of broadcast. They are limited only by their own editorial decisions. YouTube also allows Vice News to report on stories for as long as they feel they need to, without fear of cancellation or commercial time. The Pew Research study did, however, find that only 14% of participants had used YouTube as a news source in the last seven days (Gottfried, et al). Again, pointing to a plausible gap between Vice News and hardcore traditional journalism enthusiast.

As a compliment to quality of reporting by Vice News, they are able to report on one topic for an extended period of time, where most audiences would move, Vice News is able to retain their audiences. “Russian Roulette”, for example, has accumulated over 3 million views across 93 videos and 25 hours of content. 

Their extended popularity defies the “issue-attention cycle”, coined by economist Anthony Downs, which explains American public’s tendency to remain sharply focused on one issue, and slowly “fade from the center of public attention” (Downs 1972). According to Mojica, engagement is the key factor in audience retention for Vice News. The reporting is entertaining. Not entertainment, but enjoyable for audiences while still being informed. Engagement, Mojica said, is what’s drawing a young demographic towards Vice News. Mojica, interestingly, refuted the claim that Vice News is “aimed at millennials”, and Vice News will have to adjust their content as “millennials” grow older. 

While young people may be a demographic, with 41% of their audience between 25 and 34 and 84% of readers are over 21 in the U.S. (Vice Media Kit, 2014), the content itself is not created to cater specifically to young people. He goes on to explain traditional media as a utility, in the same way water comes out of the facet, “when you turn the TV on, a person is at a desk telling you the news.”

What in the World? from NYU Journalism on Vimeo.

What this says about audiences, specifically younger audiences, is that they have not been “corrupted” by the instant gratification of the Internet age, and are not opposed to more long-from types of journalism. What it does say, however, is that audiences are inclined to invest time into longer forms of journalism when it fits into their pre-set agenda of topics and stories worth the investment.

For media corporations, they have to then evaluate their responsibility to both cover important issues, and to consider the “broader political-economic pressure”, as political economist Robert McChesney puts it. He explains the declining demand for political news is the driving incentive for media companies to simply stop reporting on it (McChesney, The Political Economy of Media, p. 56). For journalists, it now puts them in a situation in which they are still held to the same journalistic ideals, but economic factors indicate readers crave engagement in conjunction with hard news. 

Louise Roug, global news editor for Mashable, illustrates the current climate of digital journalism as “not a zero sum game, its all boats rising.” Meaning, the “competition” between alternative outlets for stories only does a greater service to the reader.

Meaning, Vice News, as an alternative news outlet, is not working against the media establishment.  It is not a Jets versus Sharks type of scenario, and while the two compete economically, their audiences have the freedom to intertwine between the two. The New York Times reporting on “All the News That’s Fit to Print” in reality allows Vice News to tackle topics in the depth in which do. It becomes a constant flow between the two, the detail compliments facts, and the facts compliment the detail. Which, overall, improves the media experience for the audience.

Prior to the Internet, news itself was an oligarchical state, with information only trickling down major news organizations. The main focus of critique for this structure of news was on the “unequal relationships between the elite controlling the media (Herman and Chomsky 2002; McChesney 2008) and disempowered masses whose limited agency laid in their capacities to create alternate meaning out of messages imposed on them within the confine of their social and cultural positioning (Hall 1980).”

Currently, the rise of social media and low technology costs have become a catalyst in “challenging a dominant order and its associated ideologies and cultural values and practices” (Langlios 2014, p. 473). Twitter, specifically, has become a major news source across print, online, and broadcast journalism. The timeliness of Twitter has become imperative to the reporting that requires on-location, citizen-type reporting (Hadley & Moon, 2014).  In a news context, the growth of online, alternative media, and social media has democratized the news industry. The reader, the participant, is able to seek out their own news, their own information, and question their news as it is presented to them.

 For Vice News, its ultimate goal is to create a seamless flow of information between both traditional news and alternative medias. Where tradition thrives in the realm of “breaking news”, the accompanying media outlets provide proper context and analytics to fully inform the reader.

Within the collective of alternative media, each outlet provides a unique analysis and function that is meant to be read in conjunction with one-another. In order to better understand the world, as it happens, journalism and reporting is there to fully grasp its concepts and relevancy to the people. For the young generation of readers, they have fallen under the assumption that their generation does not care about the news.

A Chicago University study calculated the political “lean” of major national news outlets. The result of that study found that the New York Times, the exalted example of journalism integrity, lies just left of the political center, while the Wall Street Journal falls just right of center.

Other news organizations, such as Mother Jones and Fox News register farther to either side of the political spectrum, but other major national news media outlets, including Washington Post and National Public Radio, have developed a political bias of their own.

This corporate ideology directly correlates to the way in which news organizations frame, or present, their coverage on a topic. The rise of alternative news outlets, such as Vice News, Mashable, and Slate, have developed their own “framing” on similar issues, resulting in counter-reporting, and counter-discussion to the coverage of these national news outlets.

Vice News, in particular, uses their documentary-style reporting to deeply cover broad, complicated issues to provide an alternate source of context for media consumers.

Framing is a tool used by media and politicians to make salient points that would direct their readers to a desired frame of mind. 

 The theory derives from the work of sociologist Erving Goffman. Goffman described frames as “schematas of interpretation that allow individuals to locate, perceive, identify, and label issues, events and topics.

Media theorists have expanded upon Goffman’s original conception of the theory to explain how mass media “frames that information in such a way that can actually affect the way we think.”

Framing theory is often applied to news coverage of war, specifically during the Bush administration and the Iraq War. President Bush also used framing theory to maintain public support of the Invasion of Iraq. Gershkoff and Kushner (2005) found that Bush framed the US strategy for the Iraq War by “juxtaposing Iraq and 9/11”.

The support for the war often hinged upon their own perception of the link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. Porpora, Nikoleav, and Hagemann (2010) studied Washington Post articles from 2004 regarding the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq.

(Photo: Washington Post)

The study found that the Post had developed a counter-frame to that of the Bush administration, which claimed the cases of abuse in the prison were “a few bad apples” and not a systemic trend of US foreign policy. 

The Post ‘s reporting showed that the “bad apples” frame was suggested in less than 12% of the pieces, while “63 of them (26%) suggested higher responsibility for the incident.

 The most immediate frame of Vice News is that of a visual frame. Through their documentary style reporting, their broadcast coverage establishes identity to the story, an element of human nature that is often lost in the quest for objectivism in traditional print journalism.

Broadcast journalism also utilizes this medium in their coverage, however, for Vice News, their channel of communication is their own YouTube page. This page allows for an unlimited amount of content to flow to the consumer, completely free of charge. 

Editor in chief of Vice News, Jason Mojica, believes their visual storytelling approach provides a more interactive user experience, in contrast to print articles or mainstream broadcast journalism. In terms of framing, the sheer volume of coverage for an individual topic, including ISIS, Ukraine, or Mexico, allows for a deeper relationship to be established between audience and content.

Where broadcast journalism falls victim to commercials and the 24/7 news cycle, Vice News is able to dedicate thousands of hours of footage to cover a story. Schwalbe (2013) analyzed the visual coverage of Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report during the Iraq War, and found that all three news outlets visually framed the war from a US perspective.

With visual representations of American heroism, the news organizations neglected any visual documentation of enemy troops, women, children, the injured, or dead. By neglecting these tragedies of war, a more positive frame of the war can be developed, despite the frame not being developed from a comprehensive source.

Vice News’s documentary “The Islamic State” looked behind the gatekeeper of news organizations and was embedded in ISIS to document their activity first hand. The 42-minute documentary follows ISIS on the ground in their “capital” city of Raqqa, documenting the actions of ISIS and their interactions with the civilians of the area.

The documentary also gives members of ISIS an extended period of on-camera time to express their emotion towards the group, Islam, and the West. An opening scene in the documentary shows a young Syrian boy saying to the camera, “I’d like to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and kill with them because they kill infidels and apostates.” In comparison to Vice’s coverage, Entman (2010) found that:

The need to attract and maintain mass audiences drives television especially but print as well to simplified and dramatized expositions of many events, and encourages reporters and editors to play up stories that offer stereotyped novelty – new instances of culturally resonant symbols. These proper- ties afford audiences the pleasures of recognition and sense of understanding. They help to keep audiences coming back for more, or at least so journalists seem to believe.

Vice News’ “Islamic State” documentary is the antithesis of Entman’s description of the motivations behind these mainstream news outlets. “Islamic State” does not set out to “simplify” or “dramatize” what going on in the Middle East. The goal of the documentary is to establish a true understanding, or at least perspective, of what ISIS truly is and how ISIS is truly impacted the region. The existence of “Islamic State” aims at establishing a more concrete “frame” of the realities of the current standings in the Middle East.

Vice News applies this same approach to storytelling in its latest series, “Missing 43: Mexico’s Disappearing Students”, documenting the case of the missing college students in Guerrero, Mexico. 

With only one episode released as of the date of publication, Vice News uses the first episode to establish the back-story on the college students. The ten-minute video takes a unique approach to the students, analyzing the “Normal School” of which the students attended.

The school is known for its progressive curriculum as a teachers’ school, using Marxist theory with Mexican communist revolutionaries painted on the walls of the school. According to the video, the Normal school was often at intellectual odds with the Mexican government and the surrounding cartels, which could have been a motivating factor for the abduction of the students.

Mainstream news organizations make little note of this fact, with only a single New York Times article making note of the Marxist influence, but not keying in on its possible impact. As of November 21st, neither the Washington Post, New York Times, or CNN have coverage of the students on the homepage.

Vice News, however, launched their first episode of “Missing 43” and are live streaming groups of protestors who are converging on Mexico City to march against the country’s systemic corruption. Vice News does not have the capital as a news organization to compete with CNN, the Times, the Post in terms of “breaking news”.

With an emphasis on detail and storytelling, “Missing 43” uses this counter approach to help audiences fully grasp the story on the ground as it happens. “Missing 43” also does not work in opposition to mainstream coverage, it works in conjunction, to give a more diverse and detailed “frame” of the story.

Vice News is establishing a “counter frame” to those established by mainstream media in their reporting. Yet, the “counter frame” Vice provides is also not necessarily the frame of someone who watches Vice News. It is not a zero sum game between Vice News and other alternative media sites, and the greater mainstream media climate.

In some cases,Vice News may be the only source of news for an individual, which may aid in cultivating an individual’s frame. But the main goal of all news organizations is to help their readers better understand the story in which the media is reporting. 

These newer alternative media sites, including Vice News, aim to fill in gaps in the reporting done by the mainstream. With a greater scope of reporting done on global issues, the reader is informed on different issues, with information done for varying perspectives. In a macro sense, this new emerging paradigm shift in digital journalism is framing the audiences’ perspective. The selective medias in which an individual chooses will in turn shape their “frame of the world”, but that frame is much more effective when culminated through various sources, oppose to an individual news outlet.

              This idea of mutual exclusivity in the media was, and is, something being used to describe the modern method audiences are engaging in news media.

Louise Raug, foreign editor at Mashable, said news media is not a zero sum game, and that alternative news media work in conjunction with one another to report stories. And the collective of alternative media companies work with mainstream media to report on the same stories in a new and fresh way.

Shane Smith, co-founder of Vice, was quoted saying that the reporting done by Vice does not necessarily impact the reporting and integrity of Vice News, and vice versa. One is not necessarily a representation of the other, despite sharing a similar name.

This idea is a beautiful representation of how this paradigm shift in digital journalism is creating a more free and open environment for both content producers and consumers.

For consumers, the Internet has created this seamless flow of information for the user, a flow individual to that person, their own digital news fingerprint that allows them to curate news on this macro level between all sources of the news. As these alternative media companies grew, there was this natural pendulum-type reaction where some audiences then rejected the work of traditional media, in favor of the reporting done by alternative counterparts.

Buzz-phrases like “young people don’t care about the news” became commonplace as traditional media lost readership and more and more alternative news sites kept popping up. This whirlwind of factors that lead to this phenomenon then subsequently seemed to pit traditional and alternative media against each other, like a binary battle between light and dark.

As both traditional and alternative media progress, audiences are starting to realize the two are more similar than they are different. And the function of both works best when applied in tandem.  There is great reporting being done from every corner of the media landscape, and each outlet is producing that content in a way that different, and ultimately adds new value to the discussion on that topic.

As we saw from decrease in readership in traditional newspapers, audiences are both reading news differently, and seeking out news differently. But that is not exclusive just to newspapers, and other news sources are fighting that same battle in finding what audiences are really looking for in their news media.

5/16/13

  FOR IMMEADIATE RELEASE

  VIDEO SHARING BLOG TO LAUNCH TOMORROW

  At noon tomorrow afternoon, Eastern Standard Time, video-sharing blog Its Vlog Blog will officially launch.  The blog will focus on websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and other video-sharing websites and the video format on today’s Internet.  Its Vlog Blog can be found at itsvlogblog.tumblr.com/ 

Material on the blog will consist of editorials, analysis, interviews, as well as interesting or current daily videos found from across the landscape of the Internet.  Topics will range from Vine and video and its relationship to social media, and the demographics of both YouTube and Vimeo. 

Along with writings on video-sharing website, the blog will also incorporate movie reviews and other media reviews, including movie theatres and film equipment. The reviewed movies will be both mainstream and independent movies. 

Its Vlog Blog aims to inform its readers on the rapidly growing world of video-sharing websites.  Video is the fastest growing format, and believed to be format of the future.  With the growth in computers and camera technology, high quality video content is becoming more and more accessible to the masses, and so are communities for viewing such content. 

                                                 Photo Courtesy: Perez Hilton

When a television show has been on the air and in the hearts of America for 7 years, it is bound to have its lovers and its haters.  Entourage, created by Doug Ellin, has been the Sunday night staple of premium television from 2004 until its finale in 2011.  But after Vince and gang all flew away on the airplanes to end the series, fans were let down easy with the promise of an Entourage movie.  But that was back in 2011.

As the series came to a close, Ari had quit his job to focus on his marriage, until he was offered the dream job of studio head at Warner Bros., E and Sloan got back together, and Vince and the boys went off in a plane somewhere like they always do.  The film was planned to pick up six months later, and focus on Ari as he tries to balance his dream job with giving Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves) all the love he has promised.  Now three years later, still rumors of movie in the making, but still fans are left waiting for their baby to make it to the silver screen.  But, not all Entourage are still clamoring for a movie.  

In a recent Variety article, the "famed" Entourage movie has been countered with a Kickstarter campaign to stop creator Doug Ellin from making the movie.  This is no bluegrass movement, the Kickstarter campaign raised over $3 million over the course of two hours.  

Created by Entourage fan Grant Elliot, the campaign's goal is to salvage what is left of the disheveled show, what according to Elliot has dropped off considerably in the final two seasons.  The money raised in the campaign will be used to pay off Ellin's retirement, who Elliot believes will take the money due to his lack of artistic integrity. Also, the money will go towards the cast's health insurance, which is apparently the only reason they agreed to make the movie in the first place. 

Now, I never really believed there was ever going to be an Entourage movie.  But in the back of my mind I always wanted there to be one.  Just to suspend disbelief for just 90 minutes, if only 90 minutes.  In reality, I had always looked at movie adaptations of a television show as a way to let the fans down easy.  Giving the fans a false sense of hope to avoid the immediate wave of criticism of the series finale.  

You television junkies now all about that feeling, just a year before, broke your heart didn't it?  Yeah, me too.  Can Kiefer even run and whisper at the same time anymore? After the series finale of 24, its adoring fans were promised a follow up movie, just me, Jack Bauer, and an attack on the president.  Is that too much ask?  

At this point its like getting into an argument over a toy when you are six.  If you don't get it right away, you throw a fit.  But if you get it weeks later, all the fun and excitement is gone and you have moved on.  Did you really want it that badly all along? Probably not, but you are more angry that you didn't get it more so than not having it.  

Logistically speaking, would an Entourage or 24 movie even work?  The main theme predicated on 24 is the 24 episodes (each one being an hour in real time) that season takes place in.  The structure of the show is half the fun, when you take that away, you are just left with a decently clever action adventure movie.  How are they going to incorporate those really annoying beeps counting down the clocks?  Without the beeps, what is life?  

                                                    (Photo Courtesy: Boston.com)

At 28 years old, Carter Long, then operations manager, sat down in front of a piano and began a 66-minute improvisation for the score of a 1932   Russian silent film. 

  Head of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts film program Bo Smith was preparing for a double feature of Russian silent films when he realized that one of the films didn’t have a musical soundtrack.  Kiddingly, Long mentioned that he had once played piano, and in that dire moment, there was Carter Long in front of a piano.

  But that was 2009.  Carter Long has come along since then.  Bo Smith left the film program to head the Denver Film Society, and Carter Long was there to fill in his place.  As perhaps the youngest film curator in the country, Mr. Long now heads all daily film screenings as well as 10 annual film festivals. 

  A college student himself, while a few years removed, Long is striving to bring a younger audience to the museum’s film program.  With the museum directly across the street from two college campuses, Long still describes the film program as “under the radar” for college students.  But with a growing portion of independent films in the daily screening repertoire, the young audience is on the up and up.  Films like Tiny Furniture, directed by indie darling Lena Dunham, and Wrong, directed by Mr. Oizo (Quentin Dupieux) have done particularly well with the younger generation. 

  Born to film lovers, Long has been around various genres of film, from independent to foreign, as well as falling in love with the classics of Stanley Kubrick and Warner Herzog.  (It was also Stanley Kubrick month in February at the Museum).  His time at the University of New Hampshire and the University of Sussex (he earned a masters of critical theory of English Literature) allowed him to explore his own cinematic palate, venturing into Japanese and German films.  A fusion of his own personal favorites, the needs of the museum, and his new discovers is the blend he plans on continuing to bring to the museum’s film program. 

      You are kind of a hard man to find Mr. Long.

[laughs] What do you mean? 

  You have no personal contact information on the MFA website.  Just a phone number for the Contemporary Art department.  And you have no Twitter account either, and as a young person in film I thought that was a little odd.

I have never been one for social network.  I barely even use Facebook!

    There was a lot of media attention when you took over as curator back in 2009.  How has life been since? 

Busy.  The film department has grown tremendously since I started and I am trying to bring in as many new and artistic films as possible for our audience.  We actually just had our Samurai Cinema series this April which was something I have wanted to do since I started. 

  Was the shadow of Bo Smith looming at all when you took over?  Or even still around today?

Bo was great mentor and a great film curator and I owe a lot of what I know today to him.  But at this point I don’t really think there is a shadow anymore.  Its been three or four years since I started and I’m trying to make my own stamp on the museum. 

  What are the differences between you and him?

For me I really wanted to bring more of a younger college audience.  Boston is the Mecca of college towns and there are so many young and artistic people in this city. 

  Yeah, I actually tried to see Tiny Furniture earlier this year but couldn’t make it up.

That was a particularly successful film for us.  We ended up selling out the whole weekend.  

  Is there going to be another Stanley Kubrick month anytime soon?

I wish.  But we don’t really want to repeat something we did so recently.  As much as I love him.  But I do want to explore more Herzog in the near future, one of my favorites. 

  I watch Augirre in one of my film classes last semester.  Not a movie you want to watch at 9:30 in the morning. 

Most definitely.  A goodie, but a slow one.

    Would love to see it in theatres. With that being said, does the museum change the experience of watching a film?

Our theatre is just like a any other theatre you would go to.  But where I think the difference lies is a change perspective because it is in a museum.  At first I noticed people who haven’t been to the museum before are a little bit [pauses] more apprehensive. 

  Do you feel any added pressure to be highbrow or intellectual with the films you pick because it is a MFA? 

It certainly is not as simple as an audience! You do need to balance of everything though.  There is such a diverse demographic here you can’t have too much of one type of film.

      What makes you decide on any film?  Why does one make the cut and not the other?

A lot of it comes down the films we have previously shown.  I always want to keep people guessing and interested.  Also we try to have the films tie in with the special events that the museum is doing.  Like the Samurai Series.

    How important was Cinema 93 to you growing up?

How do you know about that!?!

  I do my research.

I see.  Cinema 93 was my local theatre and it became a ritual between me and my father.  He took me to see all the classics, but I remember when I was 15 I saw Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, and Pulp Fiction all that theatre and they are some of my favorite movies to date.   

  Did it shape your taste in film?

I definitely gave me an appreciation for all types of films.  They played independent, documentaries, as well as major movies.  As I got older it gave me an appreciation for the art of filmmaking and the ways people could use as expression.

  Is this the dream job?

"Hey you! You're ugly!"

"No guys keep going."

"Why are they shouting at me?" 

The rule of thirds is a tool to compose and balance photography, film, design, and paintings.  The rule states that a photograph should be balanced between the 9 parts by two horizontal lines and two vertical lines.  

The rule of thirds is also the most basic and well known technique in photography.  Like a rules, they are ment to be broken, and not all pictures or paintings are "wrong" if they do not apply to the rule of thirds.  

                           The intersecting lines are used to identity four crucial areas where important places of intrest should be placed when framing the shot.  

It is also scientifically proven that people view pictures more naturally if they are slightly off center, instead of in the center, where it would appear to be more awkward.  

The grid is also used to identity points of focus, seen in the image below:

                                                          But not every picture can be applied to the rule of thirds.  A very abstract picture or composition may not the subject or focus in the fram to apply the rule.  But the spirit of it may still used to help balance out the shot.  

In the modern sense of art, rules are meant to be broken.  This rule is no exception.  Art doesn't always have to be balanced and beautiful and perfect.  Sometimes their is also beauty in destruction.  The rule of thirds is also discarded for the sake of symmetry.  Photos demonstrating long vertical perpective often break the rule for the sake of balance, like the photo shown below.