Summary
Over the years, VICE News has gained the trust and respect of a very important group of people — the people they are reporting on.
This has given them access to groups and individuals of various viewpoints who are willing to talk openly in a non-defensive way.
Their interviews aren’t filled with gotcha questions. Their manner is respectful regardless of who they are talking to.
This is the 2022 overview report offering a periodic check-in to see how the group is doing.
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Broad Diverse Access
Right-wing evangelical conservatives, armed militia groups, military dictators, as well as members of drug cartels and crime syndicates will open up and talk at length with VICE News reporters.
When documentary filming was needed for a visit by Barack Obama to inmates at a federal prison, one news agency was selected for the video recording: VICE News. It was the first time in history that a sitting president had made such a visit.
No. They are not going to spin stories in ways that favor your political party, or religion, or country, or worldview. No. They won’t be tailoring their reporting to appeal to advertisers, special interests, or big donors.
VICE News has a style of reporting similar to story telling. There is little, if any, commentary, hype, or spin. The interviewing approach helps people speak candidly and sincerely.
For the reasons described above, VICE News is able to provide reporting on stories that might not otherwise be covered at all. Because of the trust and respect they have earned, we are able to hear from all parties involved in a story.
At Risk of Extinction
It is very difficult for anybody to have views, causes, and goals they feel strongly about, to report in a non-biased way.
Storytelling and news reporting are powerful. It’s an opportunity to let one’s own personal views be conveyed, or give what one feels might be an advantage to those you agree with.
It takes a lot of maturity to provide balanced reporting. It requires focusing just beyond the horizon line of immediate short-term impacts, and looking to a world where unfiltered and unbiased news flows freely.
Every generation that comes along has a new perspective they want to share. They have an issue or cause they feel is most important. They believe their own perspective of that issue is the right one and only acceptable view. This is what we all fight. As reporters, or simply good listeners. We must seek to listen and understand.
Another threat to balanced news are the attacks from extremists on any issue. They view any opposition, or even balanced reporting, to be a threat.
Videos
Below are some recent examples of VICE News reporting. Titles and descriptions are those provided on YouTube. These are listed by date posted to YouTube. The actual air dates may have been earlier.
NOTE: The content below contains views and opinions that many people will be offended by including offensive language, political extremism, religious extremism, racist views, gun fanaticism, and wide-spread civil unrest.
American Terror: The Military’s Problem With Extremism In the Ranks (20 Oct 2022)
After the events of January 6, it became clear many of the key players in extremist groups who organized the attacks were either veterans or active-duty servicemen. Since then, the Pentagon has scrambled to try and address the present-day problem of extremism in the ranks, which stretches back to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War. But a politically divided Congress and a polarized nation, are getting in the way of finding a solution.
Indigenous Tribes Push Back Against Evangelical Missionaries (30 Sep 2022)
For decades, evangelical missionaries have come to Brazil’s Amazon in search of new Christians – but indigenous tribes are fighting back. VICE News went to the border of the Javari Valley to find out why it’s so hard to keep missionaries out – and why some tribes want them back in.
The Taliban’s Message to President Biden (5 Mar 2021)
On February 29, 2020, the United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban to end America’s longest war. The historic agreement was intended to create a pathway towards peace in Afghanistan, but one year later, violence in the country has reached an all-time high.
Unemployed Americans Are Smuggling Drugs to Survive the Pandemic (11 Feb 2021)
The Sinaloa cartel is enlisting unemployed Americans to move drugs over the border with Mexico. VICE News speaks with cartel members and smugglers adapting to pandemic conditions. [Note: This video was added to this article on 12 Feb 2021. The rest of this page was posted 13 Nov 2018.]
Inside Mexico’s Warring Cartels and the Millions of People They’ve Displaced (6 Mar 2020)
For decades, the Mexican government has struggled to figure out what to do about warring cartels. And that’s led to a massive and mostly ignored crisis: Entire towns are being displaced by violence, leaving ghost towns behind. The problem is so severe — and stubborn — that a recent study concluded that just between 2011 and 2017 as many as 8 million people were displaced within the country because of violence stemming from the constant battle for territory.
Libya’s Revolution Is in Ruins (26 Dec 2019)
Libya is in a state of chaos as rival governments compete for power, human smuggling runs rampant, and black markets thrive with everything from oil to hard currency. The international community is backing the Government of National Accord, which maintains a tenuous hold on the capital. But the government’s survival depends on warring militias, many of whom are paid to police the smuggling they themselves are involved in.
The Alt-Right One Year After Charlottesville (23 Dec 2019)
VICE’s Elle Reeve heads to China to investigate the rise of facial recognition technology — and what that means for all of us.
Watch the Coast Guard Capture Another Narco Sub With $69 Million in Cocaine (15 Nov 2019)
The Coast Guard intercepted a makeshift narco-submarine hauling a hell of a lot of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean. The Coast Guard said Thursday that its cutter ship the Harriet Lane seized some 5,000 pounds of the drug off the semi-submersible vessel manned by four suspected smugglers on October 23. A boarding team was able to take control of the narco-sub before the people onboard could use a system designed the sink the craft, the Coast Guard said.
The Alt-Right One Year After Charlottesville (10 Aug 2018)
In the summer of 2017, the alt right was an internet movement, and its rally in Charlottesville was intended to prove they could operate in the real world. It proved the opposite. The marchers had promised there would be more to come — but that’s not what happened. (10 Aug 2018)
Charlottesville: Race and Terror (14 Aug 2017)
On Saturday hundreds of white nationalists, alt-righters, and neo-Nazis traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to participate in the “Unite the Right” rally. By Saturday evening three people were dead – one protester, and two police officers – and many more injured. “VICE News Tonight” correspondent Elle Reeve went behind the scenes with white nationalist leaders, including Christopher Cantwell, Robert Ray, David Duke, and Matthew Heimbach — as well as counter-protesters. VICE News Tonight also spoke with residents of Charlottesville, members of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Charlottesville Police. From the neo-Nazi protests at Emancipation Park to Cantwell’s hideaway outside of Virginia, “VICE News Tonight” provides viewers with exclusive, up close and personal access inside the unrest. (14 Aug 2017) This video is only available for viewing on YouTube due to age restrictions. [View on YouTube]
Inside America’s Largest Right Wing Militia (18 Oct 2017)
In the backwoods of Georgia, a controversial, right-wing, “anti-terror” militia group gathers once a month to complete field training exercises under the command of Chris Hill—a.k.a Blood Agent. This militia group, called the Georgia III% Security Force, is part of the Three Percenter movement, which is inspired by the unfounded claim that only three percent of colonists fought against the British in the American Revolution. VICE joins Hill and the Georgia III% Security Force during one of their monthly gatherings to see how they prepare themselves to “defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic” and see what they’ll do to protect their guns. (18 Oct 2017)
Fixing the System: VICE on HBO Special Report (12 Dec 2016)
In July 2015, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. He invited VICE along to film the historic event for part of a documentary, Fixing the System, which investigated America’s broken criminal justice system. This special originally aired on HBO in September 2015. VICE and HBO are making it available in full now for one week, as part of our announcement of the new VICE Apprenticeship Program, a six-month program to hire and train formerly incarcerated people to work at VICE. (12 Dec 2016)
The KKK vs. the Crips vs. Memphis City Council (6 Jun 2013)
In Memphis’s Forrest Park, there’s a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most infamous and powerful racists in American history. Lately it’s been at the center of the city’s often shaky race relations. Watch as the KKK, the Memphis City Council, and the local gang members fight for what they each believe is right. (6 Jun 2013)
Russian Religious Leader Claims He is Jesus (16 May 2012)
Deep in Siberia’s Taiga forest is Vissarion, a cult leader who looks like Jesus and claims to be the voice of God. He’s known as “the Teacher” to his 4,000 followers, who initially seem surprisingly normal. Over time, however, their unflinching belief in UFOs and the Earth’s imminent demise made this group start to look more and more like some sort of strange cult. (16 May 2012)