How Vice became ‘a fricking clown show'

Lawd journotards talking about other journotards. What level of heck is this.

It didn't have to go like this. At a lecture in Scotland in 2016, Smith bragged that Time Warner tried to buy Vice, and so did Fox and Viacom. (He complained that these companies tried to give Vice haircuts in valuation and “tried to censor us, naughty.”) Disney entered discussions with Vice about acquiring the company for $3.4 billion, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ultimately, Vice remained independent.

ok they really are

Vice used to do some fricking awesome docs too. Sending some soyboy into a wartorn hellhole or a narco den. They did a full documentary on Barbeque, the cannibal warlord who took over Haiti last month, like 8-10 years ago (and it was very well done)

They hired a woman CEO and some others who were incompetent, yet they kept making money for years.

For television journ*lism, the Emmys are among the highest honors. The nominations proved Vice's problem had little to do with what it made; it was an issue of leadership.

Earlier, its Vice News show that cost around $400 million was cancelled in 2021.

Before the bankruptcy, Vice began to court Saudi money. This is anathema to journ*lists, since Saudi agents killed and dismembered Washington Post journ*list Jamal Khashoggi i

Even when I was going to agree with them, journos cannot help but make themselves disagreeable.

Several people told me Vice remained messy under Dixon. After laying off hundreds in February, executives held a virtual town hall meeting. They mistakenly invited a handful of recently laid-off workers, who blitzed them with thumbs-down emoji. The execs ended the meeting abruptly. “It's impossible to ignore the emojis,” Dixon said.

Wow. They're all so very brave.

Despite all the talent in the junior and middle ranks, Vice did not build out a robust business operation. But then, maybe that wasn't the point. One former Vice staffer called the company “an executive enrichment scheme.”

A common underlying tone is blaming the Fat Cats, even those who were bringing all the money in earlier. ZeroHedge can be a bit r-slurred about this too, so it's not surprising.

I did some freelance work at vice in Brooklyn, they paid shit and all put all their workers in a freezing concrete open office basement corporate hellscape. Then they had several above ground floors with a great view of the East river and Manhattan they left pretty empty for when “talent” like action Bronson or desus and mero came by to film whatever garbage they put on their channel. Also everyone who worked there was a pink hair cuck (except for me obviously). Surprised it ran for as long as it did.

>“Since at least 2021, Vice has not had a NetJets account,”

No wonder they went bankrupt. Imagine not being able to crank out clickbait slop from the well-appointed cabin of a Bombardier Global 6000. Couldn't be me.

It was a gonzo news organization about sending people to dangerous or remote places with a camera, and a private equity firm came in and turned it into a factory for thinkpieces about why dildos are good

Journo-on-journo fights are what the readers want!

Bergeson LLP's emails were headlined “Not for publication,” even though I had not consented to any communication being off the record

I'm guessing this is: 'Vice was cool! Everyone tried to commodify that cool, something that notoriously keeps things cool! Then the crazy spirit that people thought was cool ran into corporatism, the debauchery and resultant hangovers became unsustainable, and the new young people brought in to keep that spirit of cool alive didn't like the environment so destroyed it and blamed 'the man'.'

There's a great deal of truth to it, but they never really talk about the fact that journo millennials' idea of cool is dangerhair, wokescolding, and trying to get more money by getting their boss fired for bigotry and/or saying the word 's*x' near a 'female-presenting' employee.

I have no doubt the organisation was mismanaged, all the edgy media success stories are once real money enters the equation. But similarly, those same groups always are expected to try and broaden their audience into areas that will never like them, and in doing so hire people that destroy them from within as well.

Normies can't understand the thrill of pinning the capybara. Night spent chasing an over amphetamined Aevann around the bean bag forts. His squealing and gibbering, pouring sweat and on the verge of seizing. Dramatards build up an intoxicating, delirious state with "dude bussy lmbo" chantings at the sidelines, hitting the Aevann-toy with brooms if he tries to escape. Carp would be giggling and laughing as the waves of methamphetamine pleasure seem to harmonize with the droning r-slur verses. He runs through the bean bag maze skinny and malnourished, with his viagra powered peepee a divining rod for the capybara. Sweat gushing down his, face around his unfocused eyes he laughs and chortles until he gasps "Found you!”. The Codescapybara screeches defensively but Whorist Florist is upon him in seconds. His peepee thrusting blindly into his flank, leg, stomach and ribs unconcemed about anything but the motion. Eventually serendepity finds his mouth and the Cocktube Rodent is placated, suckling contently on the Carp's dehydrated peepee.

Snapshots:

https://www.theverge.com/24094310/vice-media-layoffs-bankruptcy-shane-smith:

• ghostarchive.org

• archive.org

• archive.ph (click to archive)