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.

Assassination Nation segment @1m27s and @1m31s

“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.