The documentary has extensive footage of rallies praising Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as leader of the newly formed Islamic state and is a photogenic look at ISIS fighters frolicking with their children in the Euphrates River. There is lots of highly staged sizzle — armored personnel carriers do doughnuts in the sand and lots of sword-waving speeches are about the inevitability of the caliphate, an ever-expanding Muslim state that recognizes no borders.

Even so, “The Islamic State” is a win for Vice, but also a win for an audience hungry to understand why some of the world hates us so much. I should point out that my colleagues continue to do amazing work covering Syria and ISIS. That includes a deep look at everyday life under ISIS rule by Ben Hubbard and “an employee of The New York Times,” a byline reflecting the danger built into the assignment.

The riveting footage and remarkable access in “The Islamic State” provoked envy and wonder — those little dickens at Vice had done it again — and raised questions about the line between propaganda and news. Some asked what precisely Vice News did to gain entree into ISIS’s inner circle. So how did Vice get the get?

“We asked,” said Jason Mojica, editor in chief of Vice News. He stated categorically that no money had been paid and said that the restrictions under which Mr. Dairieh worked were there for all to see in the video. It was a choreographed media opportunity with one of the most dangerous, well-armed terrorist organizations in the world, one that he said was worth the risk and the effort.

“There are no guarantees in this line of work, but we are not cowboys. We don’t send inexperienced people into conflict zones,” Mr. Mojica said. “We did our best to minimize the risk and give our viewers the information they needed to make a judgment about what they were seeing.”

Mr. Mojica said that Vice News eschews the voice-of-God of a network correspondent and tries to bring the viewer in closer. “A lot of the way in which news has traditionally been presented was not necessarily of interest to young people,” he said. Vice, he said, was growing up as a news organization, partly because of the work it has been doing for its show on HBO. The series is headed for a third season and just won a Creative Arts Emmy for outstanding informational series or special.

From its start as a naughty and scabrous magazine in Montreal, Vice has always had international ambitions and says it currently has dozens of foreign bureaus and over 4,000 contributors. Other journalists working in conflict zones say that they have been amazed at the firepower Vice now brings to a story, with big crews and extensive equipment.