Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

nymag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–78 of 78 posts

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#71

Post by workinthehead »

reaperducer wrote: post #15
mkirklions wrote: post #10

Wow did the writer get fired from Vice? I thought all of this was pretty normal for companies starting to grow. Yeah sales/marketing always is scummy, but its 2018, do you think FB says I'm an 'active user' despite me only going on it 1 time a month? You bet.

I thought all of this was pretty normal for companies starting to grow. No, it's not normal at all. It's normal for scam artists and Silicon Valley and used car salesmen. But no, it's now how real businesses start and grow. Henry Ford, JD Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Walt Disney didn't go around bragging about "doing blow on naked models." OK, maybe Rockefeller.

Nice "No true Scotsman" you got there.

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#72

Post by acct1771 »

gringoDan wrote: post #16

> When I asked Dominique Delport, the chief revenue officer, whether the company was profitable, he declined to say and suggested that dollar figures were the wrong way to think about Vice. “The company profit is to everybody who watches Vice, because they feel smarter,” he said. Investors should run away as quickly as possible. If that quote from the Chief Revenue Officer isn't a red flag, I don't know what is.

The mistake you're making is assuming people who control media outlets always care about money.

Money just retains control of the industry on the long-term.

It's all about the power, and influence.

Murdoch isn't invested in Vice for shits.

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#73

Post by anm89 »

staticelf wrote: post #11

Vice was once a company that made very interesting documentaries and pieces that no one else did. Today, they seem to be a gang of social justice warriors that is completely out of touch with reality. Too bad because I used to love Vice documentaries and now I can't stand them at all.

This is exactly how I feel.

I have no interest in what vice has become (except for the fact that a small fraction of their content is still very good) but it doesn't erase how good they used to be. Many of the documentaries from maybe 2009-2013 where exceptional. Yeah, it isn't journalism, but it isn't trying to be. Some of the narrators are pretentious but they presented content in a format that was frequently much more interesting and relatable than some stuffy, detached doc and they clearly went to the ends of the world and into some very dangerous and uncomfortable situations to get that footage.

I learned a lot about the world watching old Vice docs.

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#74

Post by creaghpatr »

com2kid wrote: post #52
froasty wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the crux of relying upon transgression for value--it ages rapidly and if it obtains mainstream success, dies on the spot. You can see it happen with authors, musicians, writers, essentially any creative output. In terms of popular media, the early seasons of South Park and the Simpsons look absolutely saccharine compared to where culture's Overton Window is today. "Don't have a cow, man!" is positively benign.

> In terms of popular media, the early seasons of South Park and the Simpsons look absolutely saccharine compared to where culture's Overton Window is today. "Don't have a cow, man!" is positively benign. I'd argue that South Park actually matured and toned things down on one hand, and amped things up on the other. Their early episodes relied heavily on shock value. The later seasons are more nuanced, and rely less o…

I agree about South Park, they pivoted to be a compliment rather than a counter to current times

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#75

Post by uncletaco »

partiallypro wrote: post #63
sgtmas2006 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love what VICE was ~2005-2010. VICE and what it has become today (see: VICELAND) is... nothing what it used to be. I love their documentary style from the 2010 range. The NK documentaries on YouTube were my favorite. They've turned into like you said a buzzfeed-tier garbage.

Really? Because their dispatches from Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, etc are all pretty great. Isobel Yeung, Hind Hassan, Michael C. Moynihan, Simon Ostrovsky, are all pretty solid. There are some corespondents and hosts that are horribly bad, but Vice has some huge talent....which makes BuzzFeed News (not to be confused with BuzzFeed) look like NowThis. Vice (not Vice News) is horrible though, Vice News is the jewel of that…

Isobel, Hind, and Antonia are the best reporters they have and their coverage of the Charlottesville rally was pretty jaw dropping.

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#76

Post by Angostura »

Dirlewanger wrote: post #3

Being one of the few pre-Internet media companies to still be around in some form today, their story is pretty fascinating. It clearly hasn't worked out for the better though. Vice on HBO, while covering a massive breadth of topics, suffer from their presentation; their nasally-voiced mid 20s employees they send on documentaries are mostly boredom-inducing, and their various online news outlets are Buzzfeed-tier clic…

> Being one of the few pre-Internet media companies to still be around in some form today

Err, what?

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#77

Post by satsuma »

jjaredsimpson wrote: post #45
1337biz wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Previously they were curiosity driven on unique documentary topics, now they just become an endless left wing guilt channel. Your examples illustrate this really well. I remember the days when Vice let people freely decide what to think about child soldiers, drug smugglers or donkey lovers. Today their one-sided ideological perspective makes it just cringeworthy to watch.

In what ways do the left and right differ in view of child soldiers et al?

not necessarily child soldiers but i've noticed a tonal shift from "this is something that's happening, here are the facts, we sent a guy in with a camera to check it out" to "this is happening! you should feel horrible about it! if you don't, you're a monster!"

Re: Vice Media: A Company Built on a Bluff

#78

Post by pllbnk »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #41
gringoDan wrote: post #16

> When I asked Dominique Delport, the chief revenue officer, whether the company was profitable, he declined to say and suggested that dollar figures were the wrong way to think about Vice. “The company profit is to everybody who watches Vice, because they feel smarter,” he said. Investors should run away as quickly as possible. If that quote from the Chief Revenue Officer isn't a red flag, I don't know what is.

It took Twitter 10 years to turn a profit: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/02/08/twitter-... To suggest that an investor can't earn a profit by putting cash into a business with a burn rate is as sophomoric as believing you can run a business on investor money without ever turning a profit.

The economy is at its height now, so it's not that surprising. We don't know if Twitter survives the next low.
Post reply on HN