Fact Checking Vice: A Fiction.
Vice Media brings reality TV ethics to the documentary format.
(Updated Jan 17th)
In 2005 Jon Stewart won The Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language. In his final episode closing remarks he called out media bullshit.
“…the more pernicious bullshit. Your premeditated, institutional bullshit, designed to obscure and distract. Designed by whom? The bullshitocracy.”
“Now the good news is this. Bullshitters have gotten pretty lazy. And their work is easily detected. And looking for it is kind of a pleasant way to pass the time. Like an ‘Eye Spy’ of bullshit.”
WATCH (American internet only) or READ the whole speech.
Orwell’s famous essay Politics and the English Language presents clearly “…the mental vices from which we now suffer”
…A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. [The use of language] becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. (Continue reading here)
Shane Smith claims to be making “gold standard” content with Vice on HBO. After fact-checking, I found fool’s gold.
Bullshitting is Easier
In contrast, trustworthy documentary organizations like PBS FRONTLINE publish Journalistic Guidelines designed to vaccinate against the vice of bullshit storytelling.
PBS FRONTLINE’s Journalistic Guidelines
Edit to Compress, Not Distort
In no area of documentary production (and other edited programs) is there greater reliance on the honesty of the individual producer than in editing.
It should be the objective of the editing process to collect and order all significant facts in a manner that fairly portrays the reality. Whether or not this objective has been achieved cannot be known simply from looking at the result. Thus, a producer might ask him/herself, would I be able to defend a particular cut if others had access to the original materials. (emphasis mine) — PBS FRONTLINE Journalistic Guidelines
Pants on Fire
Vice Guide to Travel began in 2006, when Vice met Spike Jonze. Vice co-founder Suroosh paraphrased the meeting: “…[Spike] was like: ‘you guys film your articles right?’ and we were like ‘yeah, of course we film our articles’ — of course we didn’t film our articles — and that planted the idea” (InternetWeek 2014)
Vice Guide to Travel lasted until 2012 when they transitioned to HBO. Their final episode was Vice Guide to Karachi.
Fact-checking the first 2 minutes of Vice Guide to Karachi.
“It’s true; we hear about violence in Pakistan all the time…” — Suroosh Alvi narration @ 52s
52 seconds in, over Suroush Alvi’s narration (“It’s true; we hear about violence in Pakistan all the time”), the image appears to be a drone strike. But the co-ordinates are from Iraq (32°49'29"N 44°28'19"E), two countries west of Pakistan. Also, defense contractors have gotten trendy using the font Helvetica, or Vice is BS.
“Whether you’re an American worried about the extremists, An Indian worried about the nukes” — Suroosh @ 1:09, 1:14
The “nuke” in the second image is made out of cardboard. But the shot is only 2 seconds and juxtaposed with a live mortar, making it likely the viewer won’t be able to tell a prop from reality.
In reaction to the false drone strike image, Samad aka:/u/chootranger (a Karachi local mentioned in part one) filled me in on other questionable stills from the first 2 minutes of VGtK. Vice is blocked in south-east Asia, but even without narration, he found the missile-prop image suspicious:
The missile says shaheen (eagle), I think it’s a ballistic missile made here in pakistan. I suspect these people aren’t even pakistani, they are kashmiris on the indian side, protesting india. It’s not uncommon for them to bring all kinds of props that are irritants to indian military. This is my opinion of who these folks might be.
“Basically, Pakistan is a powderkeg and Karachi is the detonator that could set it all off.” — Suroosh @1:19, 1:20
Powderkeg? This is a peaceful protest.
Samad:
“This is definitely NOT related to the US or anyone outside of the country. It’s a protest against the police. The main placard on the left says (no morals, no conscience, zulfiqar mirza). It is accusing a high ranking sindh official of complacency in a murder of an ethnic politician.
The appeal is obvious: sugary images are addictive. The best way to make the content honest is to mute VGtK and listen to Sound of Wonder! (2009), the album that provides most of the ‘Guide’s music.
Philippines: “Assassination Nation”?
Season 1, Episode 1, HBO on VICE. (April 5, 2013)
While critically-acclaimed fictional dramas like Six Feet Under and The Wire used the freedom granted by HBO to create powerful content, Vice takes great freedoms with journalism.
Shane Smith claims to be making “gold standard” content with Vice on HBO.
The problem with “Vice” isn’t its insistent aggrandizement but its excessive softheadedness. It’s journalism at the intersection of shallow and gullible… We get ride-alongs and interviews, though precious little information. The report from the Philippines contains one unsourced statistic about political killings but no discussion of the effects of poverty or the legacy of American colonization. — NYTimes (2013)
Fact-checking the first 30 seconds of Shane’s voice-over.
Shane’s intro statement is:
“Now, not a lot of people know that the Philippines actually borrowed our constitution when they were setting up their current political system. Which is great, except for the fact that American politics has become highly contentious and intensely partisan. But in the Philippines they’re taking this to a whole new level with more than 1,200 political assassinations in the last decade alone. The Philippines is one of the deadliest places on earth.”
“Now, not a lot of people know that the Philippines actually borrowed [the American] constitution when they were setting up their current political system.” — Shane @ 1m21s
Philippines didn’t borrow anything. They were colonized numerous times. Their constitution was a combination of many different colonizations and legal systems. The truth would be closer to “The Philipines is a hodgepodge of legal ideas, much like our own.”
“Which is great, except for the fact that american politics has become highly contentious and intensely partisan.” — Shane @ 1m28s
Smith is Canadian. Also, he claims Vice is non-political. My head hurts.
“But in the Philippines they are taking this to a whole new level with 1,200 political assassinations in the last decade alone” — Shane @ 1m31s
I found “1,200” on two sources OMGfacts.com (a “network partner”) and Wikipedia. Sort-of. Depending on how you do math and what constitutes a ‘political assassination’. The wiki’s citation led to an Asia Times where the actual number was 830. The Wikipedia contributor either added two numbers that shouldn’t be added or extrapolated 830 killings over 7 years to mean 1,200 over 10. The Asia Times (2007) article was citing Karapatan: The Alliance for the Advancements of People’s Rights and you can find the 2008 PDF here. The other possible source would be a 2010 NY Times article that mentions 1,200 activists have been killed since 2001.
If you’re being shown video of politicians in a government setting, how many of the 1,200 killings would you expect to be politicians? Karapatan lists none in 2008. The NYTimes article is writing about one. Now, this isn’t meant to devalue the 419 farmers with political ideologies but I want to recognize that if someone was misled in thinking 1,200 politicians were assassinated you might expect 50,000 political activists or left-leaning citizens to be killed. To do otherwise is inflammatory bullshit. Why? It doesn’t sound as impressive to say that “We sent our correspondent somewhere where few politicians are killed.”
Instead of properly contextualizing, Vice would rather denounce a whole country to make their correspondents seem more badass.
“The Philippines is one of the deadliest places on earth.” — Shane @ 1m35s
A World Bank study of ‘intentional homicides’ ranked it 59th out of 154. With #1 having 10 times as many homicides per capita than Philippines. Numerically Philippines is closer to 154th: Iceland. Fear-mongering bullshit hurts cultural perception, tourism and potentially the Filipino audience.
Note: While proof-reading this article someone suggested that I search “World’s friendliest countries”. Fact: Philipines is friendly. (#2 and #8)
Why fear-monger? A sensational, frightening story (that people buy into) creates more attention, views and money. Horror films have their place — and it’s far from journalism. Had Vice stayed within the confines of fact, they might have said something like “The Philippines is a dangerous place for left-wing political thinkers.” The danger is contextualized and your audience isn’t misinformed.
There are dangers for journalists reporting on politics in the Philippines. Much of the violence in the past 10 years comes from a 2009 massacre that included 32 journalists. One journalist who missed the convoy because of a forgotten laptop charger had this to say:
“Many journalists sacrificed their lives here, but this is my second life and I am ready to sacrifice it for the sake of press freedom, for the sake of democracy, for the sake of truth.” — Aquiles Zonio (BBC 2010)
The title “Assassination Nation” was used three times previous to Vice’s the Philippines article. (Christian Science Monitor 2011)(Socialistworker 2011)(Counterpunch 2012) all referencing America as the one instigating assassinations.
Avoiding Homework
According to Fortune Magazine, Vice hired its first set of fact checkers shortly before season 2 of their HBO series went to air.
13 Vice management were contacted for comment. One anonymous source said there is no fact-checking system or fact-checking rules at their office.
I’ve made the case of what Vice isn’t. In the next post I will talk about what Vice is.
Update January 9th, 2016: A former employee has communicated the following “what you’ve written so far seems consistent with what i saw in my brief time there — not for attribution: i transcribed more than one interview where the field producer directly instructed the subject to twist the truth for a more sensational storyline.”
You have reached the end of Part 2. Go back and read Part 1: Everyone is Laughing at VICE or Part 2: Fact Checking Vice: A Fiction.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DANIEL VOSHART has shot over 100 films including an hour of music video, five hours of documentary and six hours of fiction. M.Arch graduate, VR Researcher and Gonzo-daredevil-blogger.
ABOUT NOT VICE
not vice is a Medium publication. The fruit of the labour for a crowdfunded book — The Unofficial Guide to Vice Media. Everything in the book will be released on this site.
List of other fact-checks (WIP):
- REDDIT U/GUINNESS “blatantly false” crime statistics RE: Welcome to Chiraq.
- THE BAFFLER “I recently tried to parse a short video series on the Cambodian garment trade, but inaccuracies mingled so freely with false assumptions, leaps in logic, and inappropriate, sensationalistic footage of transwomen that a fact-check seemed futile.” RE: From Sex Worker to Seamstress: The High Cost of Cheap Clothes
- MEDIUM “Vice published numerous falsehoods to support a sensationally far-fetched portrayal of our community as modern-day colonists.” RE: Rich Millennials on Trains Won’t Save America
- BROADLY “Upon reviewing this article, Wangdue Tsering, Secretary of The Office of Tibet, London — the official representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the UK — said, “There was no date with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Moreover, it is clear the man in the photo is not His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”” RE: My Mom Went on a Date with The Dalai Lama but Couldn’t Hit It (changed to My Mom Claims She Went on a Date…)
- HEALTHLINE “A Vice special report “Killing Cancer” stated scientists may be “on the verge of curing cancer.” Cancer experts aren’t quite as optimistic.” RE: Killing Cancer
- REDDIT R/SATANISM Apparently Vice was rejected by the Church of Satan. “They reached out to the COS, we had some questions and laid out our terms, and they decided to go with some nobody who would be willing to give Vice a song and dance.” RE: The Truth Behind Modern Day Satanism (not The Onion)
