1. Obijiofor, L. 2014. Cultural bias in media reporting tutorial  

Do you think VICE will be successful where other news agencies have failed in

establishing a financially feasible international division?

It is in my opinion that VICE news will establish a successful international news

division. Despite the agency’s often questionable biases and arguable lack of

journalistic professionalism, its appeal to a unique and impressionable demographic

will allow it to sustainably produce revenue and expand its global presence.

Nearly 18 months ago, Rupert Murdoch tweeted that VICE is an “interesting

effort to interest millennials who don't read or watch established media. ” VICE’s

target demographic is a specific generation; according to their 2013 Media Kit, over

66% of the audience are under 30, spend 3+ hours each day on the internet, and have

over 500 Facebook friends. This is an audience living a digital, global life with wide,

international interests.

The content published through VICE news is heavily reflective of this

audience, adhering to the theory that, “news media in the cultures of the world reflect

the world view of the culture they write for.”1 On April 5th 2014 (a randomly selected

day), the front page of VICE news had stories from eight different countries, and the

topics covered ranged from war and political prisoners to animal rights and drug

epidemics. One of the articles for example, “The United States Moves One Step

Closer To Full Oligarchy” clearly appeals to a young audience frustrated with current

economic and political conservatism. As VICE founder Shane Smith says, “CNN was

made by the Gulf war. I think the economic crisis will prove to be our Gulf war. It is

making young people very angry and we want to be the voice of that anger."

However, there are pros and cons to producing content so heavily focused on a

single demographic. Targeting an audience like Gen Y is limitations in monetization.

The 2013 Media Kit states that the median individual income of VICE readers is

£24,414, which is significantly less than that of many other established news

agencies. It is worth noting however that while the current VICE audience is not

financially ideal, they are predominantly under 30 and therefore, their incomes are

likely to only increase in the future. Also, the integration of VICE news with its

regular VICE.com and YouTube channels means that hard-hitting news stories often

sit next to divisive articles like ‘This Danish Guy Has Legal Sex with His Dog’ that

might turn off many outside of their primary market.

1. Hamilton, J & Jenner, E. 2003. The New Foreign Correspondence. Foreign Affairs. 82-5. pp 131-183.

VICE has been able to partially mitigate the effects of the above cons. Their

HBO show allows them to showcase serious news without the chance of less hard-

hitting journalism clouding their respectability. Also, the uniqueness of their target

market has caught the attention of many high profile companies such as Intel and HP,

who have sough out a portal to popularity in an upcoming market.

Another significant positive of VICE’s editorial approach, in my opinion, is

that it softens some problems that would be much more detrimental to more

traditional news sources. VICE News has some clear issues with its professionalism

and editing. In a story about the Crimean ‘Tatar’ community, Tatar is misspelt

multiple times, and in a recent documentary about Sochi, subtitles were accidentally

left out when it was first launched. Questions can also be raised about the credibility

and objectivity of many of its writers. A recent piece on Australian asylum seeker,

that has clear political subjectivity, is written by Mitch Parker, though nowhere on

VICE or his Twitter is there any evidence of his expertise in regards to immigration

policy or politics.

For some news sources, these dismissals of traditional journalistic

expectations might be a death sentence. However, VICE gets away with it due to the

different expectations of its young audience, one that does not consume ‘established

media’. This can be linked to what Hamilton and Jenner call a ‘fading elitism’ in

foreign correspondence – a breaking down of traditional elite journalists being the

only ‘lens’ through which we see the world.1 This is also facilitated by the comments

section of VICE, where articles (and their faults) are often discussed creating a

vibrant, engaged community – a far cry from the didactic Fourth Estate of old.

VICE have targeted a vital and vulnerable market – those sick of the

traditional methods and editorial stance of established media. For this reason, I

believe that their new news division will be successful, so long as they continue to

effectively appeal to their unique audience base. That is, so long as an agency doesn’t

come along and do a better job at catching the attention of a generation with

notoriously short attention spans.