Vice Media and Immersion Journalism: A Textual

Analysis on Audience Appeal

Dissertation submitted
in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the

Degree of Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication

By

Vasisht Nagarkatti

18COM63010
Under the supervision of

Prof. Vidisha D'Souza

January 2020

Department of Communication

St Joseph’s College (Autonomous)

Address: PB 27094, 36 Lalbagh Road, Bangalore – 560027

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 Table of Contents

Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................. iii

Synopsis ............................................................................................................................. iv

Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................3

Introduction ......................................................................................................................3

1.1 Background.............................................................................................................4

1.2 Immersion and Gonzo Journalism ..........................................................................7

1.3 Vice Media .............................................................................................................9

1.4 Problem Statement................................................................................................11

1.5 Research Objectives .............................................................................................11

1.6 Significance ..........................................................................................................12

Chapter 2 ..........................................................................................................................13

Review of literature ........................................................................................................13

Chapter 3 ......................................................................................................................... 24

Methodology ..................................................................................................................24

3.1 Bill Nichols’ 6 Modes of Documentary ...............................................................26

3.2 Theory of Social Semiotics ..................................................................................28

3.3 Aristotle’s Modes of Persuasion ...........................................................................28

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Chapter 4 ......................................................................................................................... 31

Analysis ..........................................................................................................................31

4.1 Analysis of The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia ...................................................32

4.2 Analysis of Uganda’s Moonshine Epidemic ........................................................44

Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................................ 51

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................51

References ........................................................................................................................ 55

Annexure.......................................................................................................................... 57

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 CHAPTER I

Introduction

1.1 Background

The digitisation of media through technological innovation has significantly altered the

manner in which audiences consume media today. The smartphone is one such example,

an innovation that has enabled the consumption of media to become an increasingly

interactive experience, forcing increasingly profit-driven media organisations of the

modern day to rethink their methods and reconstruct their identity. Furthermore, this

process of invention and innovation is interminable, meaning that as the global reach and

capability of technology expands, so does the consumption of new media and the manner

in which we consume it. As a result, new media platforms that already have a gargantuan

reservoir of content will continue to proliferate, leaving audiences spoiled for choice. In

corollary, the hastening rate at which new media becomes obsolete, as a result of

technological advancement, means that what we consider new media today could become

outdated in as little as a month's time, hence necessitating for new media to become flexible

and iterative by bending conventions (Levine, 2011).

From a journalistic standpoint, innovation has become a driving force behind the success

of news media today, namely on the grounds of the quality of news content delivered, the

level of interactivity news content has to offer and the use of new methods of reporting that

suit modern digitised platforms (Pavlik, 2013). With conventional television being

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replaced by the nuances of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime among

various other mediums of media consumption today, it seems as though bygone is the age

of journalism wherein reportage simply tended to the kind of media that audiences wanted

to hear. The burgeoning question, rather, for news and media companies today is - How do

audiences want to consume their media? News is now available to consumers in all sorts

of formats in the modern day, from social media video snippets to SoundCloud podcasts

to hour-long comedic web television talk shows on Netflix, to name a few. The form factor

of news media seems to have no dearth in variety as customary forms have become

obsolete as they no longer satiate the needs of consumers of news and other media today,

especially for millennials and digital natives, who are born into the age of technology.

Therein arises the uncertainty of what we consider as journalism or news today. With the

heightening expectations that modern audiences often possess in terms of their media

consumption requirements as a result of both, technological advancement and societal

change among other factors, the once hegemonic bevy of news organisations that thrived

as the gatekeepers of democracy now face the jeopardy of being replaced by digital media

companies that publish viral clickbait content. With the advent of the internet, revenue

models of media organisations have altered significantly with the upheaval of online

advertising, favouring digital media companies that base their content largely on trivial

“viral journalism”, a form that helps them generate vast revenues based on the traffic they

receive on their viral content (Bazaco et al, 2019). In essence, viral clickbait has come to

be termed as journalism today as opposed to actual news that is meant to inform the

audience. In turn, this has resulted in plummeting revenues for newspapers, meaning that

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journalism continues to be on a steep decline, with experienced journalists being laid-off

and newspapers being repurposed into digital-first media companies in order to sustain

themselves as businesses. With entertainment replacing information, newspapers

businesses with falling revenues continue to be acquired and transitioned into clickbait-

centric digital media organisations, creating knowledge gaps and a lack of awareness

among audiences that prefer entertainment over news (Prior, 2005).

Simultaneously, while revisiting the conventional meaning of professional journalism,

with media having been governed by the tenets of journalistic objectivity, media reportage

over time has helped establish a normative set of fundamentals that govern professional

journalism through rules and conventions (Eide, 2011). The aforementioned changes in

media that technology has brought in has shaken the foundations of journalism, causing

journalism to stray from these rules and conventions. This has spawned a stream of new

forms of informative journalism with the changing needs of an evolving society. As

journalism has seen an appreciation in youth-centric discussions revolving around issues

pertinent toward the younger section of society (Farnham et al, 2012), especially with the

advent of the interactive medium that the internet is, Immersion Journalism and Vice

Media's take on it becomes an especially integral field of study as it encompasses the

changing demographics of media consumption, focusing on a more youth-centric approach

to journalism and the media's shift from more conventional methods to further appeal to

the interests of the changing needs of society. In order to elucidate on the same, it is key to

understand that young audiences not only want to be entertained by their consumption of

media, but rather also want to be informed simultaneously (Buckingham, 2000), meaning

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that in the clickbait era we live in, Vice Media with its years of work in the field of

immersion journalism, was perfectly equipped to thrive among the millennial audience

ever since its inception, it's content possessing the capability to hit two birds with one

stone, that is to entertain as well as to inform.

1.2 Immersion and Gonzo Journalism

Immersion journalism, as the name suggests, is a form of journalism wherein the reporter

immerses themselves within the scenario and context of the issue or matter at hand,

seemingly eliminating any sense of objectivity that the field of journalism tends to bring

with it. Objectivity in immersion journalism, or rather the lack of it, depends on various

factors, from the methodology of the reporter and their execution to various organisational

factors that influences it's operations. Immersion journalism essentially allows for the

reporter to see through the eyes and experience of their subject and the surrounding

environment along with all its elements, via the immersive experience that the reporter has

undergone in order to tell the story from the viewpoint of the subject. In the case of the

reader, immersion journalism offers an emotionally and imaginatively intensive experience

as it revolves around the viewpoint of the subject and their surroundings, thereby making

it a more engaging process for the reader.

Just like any other form of journalism, however, there are a plethora of ways in which

immersion journalism may be executed. Various media organisations may have different

iterations of immersion journalism, amalgamating other journalistic forms and practices

into the immersive reporting process depending on the organisation's views and values

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among other factors. Since immersion is a key proponent of this form of journalism, in its

traditional format, it is of absolute importance for a reporter to elicit the first-hand

emotional and intrinsic aspects of the subject while conveying the story without evoking a

sense of external objectivity. This journalistic form may be typically apt for sensitive issues

or topics that provoke the sentiments of the subject within the element of the issue.

Comparably, gonzo journalism is a journalistic form that is closely attributed to the field

of immersion journalism. Made popular by Hunter S. Thompson, his contribution towards

gonzo journalism, including its nomenclature, helped concretise the modern immersive

form that pulsated through Thompson's infamy. The gonzo style focuses on a raw and in-

your-face approach with self-satire and social critique as the driving force behind the

reporter’s storytelling (Bowe, 2012). Gonzo journalism pieces tend to be explicit in nature

and generally consists of profanity and a blatantly uncensored reportage of first-hand

events that may require the reporter to tread across illegal and/or potentially hazardous

routes to gain access to the coverage for the piece. Typical gonzo pieces are not confined

to, but may cover anything on the lines of gang violence, war, drugs, sex and other illicit

and explicit topics portrayed through the sentimental first-hand experience of the subject.

The lack of formality tied to gonzo reportage allows for aspects such as humour and

sarcasm to be woven into the storytelling, making it more appealing towards particular

audiences, especially the younger generations.

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1.3 Vice Media

Vice media, renowned for its immersion journalism, a concoction of gonzo journalism and

millennial catered consumerism, has paved the way for a modernised version of the

unconventional gonzo journalistic endeavour. Its unscrupulous deviation from the more

mainstream forms of normative journalism, that technology today has given rise to, is the

fulcrum that Vice's iteration of immersion journalism hinges upon. Vice's origins as a

magazine in Montreal, Canada stemmed from the provocative lacklustre of other English

magazines at the time, seeking to disrupt the normative media's formality by using a raw

and informal approach. Vice's topics primarily span across unpopular trends, art, music

and counterculture. Famed for its uncensored and provocative content on topics such as

violence, war, drugs and sex accompanied by explicit imagery, popular culture soon began

to embrace Vice's method. Rebellious younger generations have increasingly fed off this

controversial approach that saw Vice cover topics that mainstream media considered

extremely inappropriate. A form that was unsavoury to the fundamentals of media

reporting, Vice's immersion journalism can be considered a left leaning, libertarian

approach to gonzo journalism

Figuratively, audiences that deter from more conventional media channels and towards

Vice Media's content, tend to capitalise on Vice's ability to provide entertainingly

immersive, yet empirically sound heterodox content. This holds true considering it was

earlier pointed out that young people, in the context of media consumption, not only want

to be entertained but at the same time informed too (Buckingham, 2000). This brings us to

Vice's plinth, gonzo journalism, that foresaw, for Vice Media, the plausible market for such

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an unconventional media product that Vice would in turn become, catering towards the

more rebellious younger members of a socially organised society dictated by orthodox

media norms. At the same time, it is important to understand that the presentation of such

journalistic content would have to be altered in order to appeal to the millennial and digital

native audiences that includes creating content that uses the vocabulary and language of

millennials and digital natives. The use of profanity and slang as emotional words is native

for millennials and digital natives; abbreviations are increasingly used by digital natives,

while television, music, technology and other media determined the emotional words used

by different generations (Citera et al, 2016). This phenomenon is clearly reflected in Vice's

content, whose use of slang and profanity makes content more relatable for millennials and

digital natives, especially on an emotional level.

Vice Media's version of immersion journalism has received its fair share of criticism, as

professionals in the field of journalism have questioned whether Vice's content can be

deemed as actual journalism. There are others that consider immersion journalism and Vice

Media to be the paradigm shift of journalism intended for the modern day millennial

(Kalvø, 2015). The fact is that Vice Media has gone from being a free millennial-centric

magazine in Canada to becoming a US$ 5.7 billion valued media company in 2017,

consisting of various media arms including its news production house, magazine, TV

channel, film production house, a marketing agency and a record label among various other

media ventures. Its seven season HBO series is a crumb on the list of its content thus far,

spanning its television channel, Viceland, its various documentary series, its social media

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presence including YouTube specific segments and other content that is emblazoned with

the gonzo journalistic endeavour that is characteristic of Vice Media.

1.4 Problem Statement

With the journalism industry on a steep decline, the media's role as the gatekeeper of

democracy has been threatened by a changing society's needs as a result of vast

technological innovation in the field. As conventional methods of journalism have failed

to satiate the needs of modern audiences, media organisations have been forced to

restructure themselves in order to keep up with technology and the changing needs of

audiences. Immersion journalism has proven to be a successful approach in the case of

Vice Media, in the essence that it has made journalism more engaging by breaking away

from conventional journalistic norms, making journalism less formal and more

entertaining. With younger generations being born into such technology it is imperative

that they are the primary and most appealing audiences for media organisations to target.

When targeting such an audience, Vice Media has successfully addressed the key issue that

is the younger generation want to be entertained, however, they want to be informed at the

same time as well. On the other hand, media organisations in the modern day struggle to

arrive at a successful identity for their organisation to stay relevant.

1.5 Research Objectives

The principal objective of the study is to analyse Vice Media's successful use of immersion

journalism as a tool to entice viewers into fostering an emotional and imaginative

investment with their gonzo-style documentary series available to a worldwide audience

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on their YouTube channel. The study would entail the semiotic analysis of the two

episodes, The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia and Uganda's Moonshine Epidemic, from Vice

Media's YouTube channel, chosen on the basis of several factors including popularity,

relevance to immersion and gonzo journalism, and level of immersion of the reporter. This

would be done by applying Aristotle's modes of persuasion to the audience's appeal

towards this journalistic genre.

The ancillary objective of the study is to understand how immersion journalism has strayed

away from formal norms that journalism has always been associated with in order to make

it more appealing to younger generations.

1.6 Significance

The study will help in providing us with a better understanding about the changing

demographics of modern journalism and audiences. The deconstruction of Vice Media's

iteration of immersion journalism will serve as groundwork for delving into the audience

appeal factor that unconventional forms like immersion journalism have on offer. This will

be especially essential as age-old media organisations continue to restructure themselves

in order to remain appealing to modern audiences and immersion journalism could be a

conducive way for them to move forward with its ability to engage audiences and inform

them at the same time. The study will also record how by breaking away from conventional

journalistic norms, journalism today can become more appealing to modern audiences.

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 CHAPTER II

Review of Literature

As noted earlier, the changes ushered into the field of journalism with the advancement of

technology and other factors has given rise to new streams of journalism including

immersion journalism and gonzo journalism, targeting younger generations of the

audience.

Markus Prior's 2005 study juxtaposes the increasing amount of media choice and the

widening gap in political knowledge, pointing out that the political knowledge of modern

audiences is compromised by the wide variety of content available, especially

entertainment. According to Prior, people have to choose between news and entertainment,

with audiences primarily choosing the latter, thereby creating gaps in information and

resulting in poorly informed audiences. This phenomenon has only been multiplied with

the advancement of technology and the transformation in the way we consume media

today.

The widening gaps in political knowledge is a result of content preference, especially as a

result of the advent of the internet and social media, there is no dearth of choices for the

audience as forecasted by the study. With plummeting revenues, renowned newspapers are

forced into restructuring themselves as media first organisations, primarily focussing on

building their online presence in order to optimise online advertising revenue. This change

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in structure means that newspapers and magazines today have to cater to the audience's

choice and this in turn means that these restructured organisations tend to divert their focus

towards entertainment based content that can appease the audience rather than information

based content.

Henrik Bodker, in his attempt to analyse Vice Media's news coverage on their show Vice

News, contextualises their journalistic method as a hybrid among modern media. With

media today, being shaped by an advancing digital landscape, he says Vice Media have

skilfully integrated journalistic immersion into their content and broken away from

normative rules of journalism all while staying true to their origins, that is as a magazine

catering to a rebellious and youthful audience, covering topics on the lines of art, music,

violence, drugs, sex, war, etc. In doing so, he adds that they have based their focus on

sensibility rather than chasing a media form. More particularly, Vice have diversified

themselves into a variety of segments each catering to a very specific topic. For example

Vice has segmented music into their own branded record label called Noisey that has its

own separate aesthetic from that of other Vice segments while still remaining synonymous

with the overall Vice Media aesthetic. Similarly, they have created their own aesthetic for

their different segments, each of which have their own identity and branding.

The study also noted the fact that Vice Media has continued to adapt to the changing goals

being pursued across the world of modern media, combining residual, contemporary and

emerging impulses in a manner that makes them invulnerable to what he calls ‘digital

fragmentation’. Conclusively, he adds that Vice inherently possesses the trait of hybridity,

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highlighting the skilful manner in which they relay commentary while harnessing their

relationship with other publications in order to open up newer markets for themselves.

A study by Bazaco et al conceptualising clickbait, speaks about its coherent role in the

flourishing of viral journalism -- an increasingly common journalistic format adopted by

modern media organisations and further intensified by stern competitiveness among new

media channels. With netizens spoiled for choice as the amount of content available online

multiplies, news media organisations today are forced to fall in line with the viral

journalism trend. The study ascribes viral journalism to be the primary cause for the demise

of subscription-based print newspapers and more serious forms of journalism with new

media's growing dependency on online advertising revenue to sustain their profitability.

Bazaco et al state that “The sources of funding for digital media are, fundamentally, the

visits they receive in their websites, which determine the volume and cost of buying and

selling advertising. Given this circumstance, attracting readers to increase traffic to their

websites is transcendental for the survival of all media companies”. The study adds that

users today increasingly find news media websites and content through social media that

is ridden with clickbait and viral journalistic content while the more traditional method of

finding news content via search engines has been on the decline.

Bazaco et al define clickbait as “A phenomenon arising from the adaptation of the media

industry to the digital environment, is a strategy used by news media companies that affects

the quality of news through the use of banal and exaggerated stories that integrate

15
expressive resources that serve as bait on social networks. In its practice, not only popular

media participate, but also news media traditionally considered as serious”. Vice Media is

known to use clickbait on their social media channels, however, their content is less likely

to mislead audiences. Vice Media thereby harnesses the advantage of using clickbait for

the good of the audience by attracting netizens towards useful and informative knowledge

rather than misleading uninformative content that clickbait has gained a reputation of

notoriety for.

Lauren Feldman in her 2007 study pertaining to the changing dynamics of journalism

among young audiences, singled out Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,

pointing towards the fact that it was a great source of political knowledge for audiences,

especially the youth as most of them replaced traditional news media with late night talk

shows and shows like The Daily Show which happened to become a great source of

political information for the youth. She argues that shows like The Daily Show with Jon

Stewart diminished the previously rigid bifurcation existing between news and

entertainment that were upheld by the norms of traditional journalism.

Fast-forward to today and this phenomenon has become increasingly more apparent as Late

Night talk shows and other similar shows that entertain as well as inform, generally

involving the comedic dissipation of information and news, has gained traction among

younger audiences. Figures such as Trevor Noah, Hasan Minhaj and John Oliver have

become embodiments of such journalistic reform today as they bring to light the action

taking place on the political, economic and social frontiers while offering what can be

16
deemed as informal journalistic commentary through comedic discourse. These shows are

great at enlightening younger audiences by baiting them with the lure of entertainment.

Much of what Vice does in their journalistic endeavour can be contextualised to the

findings of Lauren Feldman's study as Vice similarly goes against the norms of formal

journalism and offers the lure of relatability to its millennial-centric audience in a manner

that is entertaining and raw. Vice Media allows its audience to immerse themselves or put

themselves in the shoes of the subject, the experience and the environment surrounding the

issue at hand, through the on-site immersion of the journalist who shares the millennial

state-of-mind with intended audience. Factors such as informality, context and the

vocabulary used are aligned with the millennial state-of-mind and prove to be attractive

sources of socio-political information for the youth. This makes Vice Media's iteration of

immersion journalism further dilute the bifurcation between news and entertainment.

John V. Pavlik in his 2013 study on the future of journalism says that innovation within

the field of journalism is a key factor to take into consideration, especially in the digital

age, both in the short term and the long term. With the world of journalism heralding the

gradual decay of more traditional forms such as the newspaper, combined with the

metamorphosis of journalism into a digitally-focused medium, Pavlik says that innovation

will drive the industry and determine the fate of media organisations today. Pavlik further

says that this journalistic innovation will be governed by 4 key factors that include

information and research, a focus on freedom of speech, dedication towards truth and

accuracy in reporting, and finally ethics.

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Pavlik, meanwhile, attributes the shutting down of hundreds of newspapers to the

advancement of technology and economic uncertainty, primarily financial problems

arising from falling advertising revenues. On the other hand technology enabled a new

stream of revenue for new media -- online advertising, that would eat into the more

traditional forms such as newspaper advertising, providing advertisers with a much greater

reach and the ability to curate and specifically target appropriate audiences. As a result

newspapers that failed to make early strides during the digital revolution have struggled to

stay afloat as new players swarmed and saturated the online advertising market.

Despite the rising revenues that online advertising had to offer, it wasn't enough to make

up for the drastic fall incurred across traditional revenue streams for newspapers.

Atop plummeting advertising revenues, subscription bases have condensed drastically. The

same trend can be observed across television news networks and terrestrial radio networks

as innovation and new media have washed away other traditional forms of media, with

millennial increasingly dictating the tempo of media popularity and advertising revenues.

A Pew Centre’s Project for Excellence in Journalism report titled “State of the News Media

2012” found that rise of smartphones significantly disrupted the subscription and revenue

of other traditional forms of media along with a changing dynamic of consumers based on

generation.

According to Pavlik “These patterns indicate that news media leaders have a unique

opportunity to re-engage with their communities and the citizens they serve, particularly

younger audiences and urban communities. Research shows these citizens continue to have

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 a large appetite for news. But they are increasingly turning to mobile devices and social

media, often in combination with traditional media, to access news, including political

information.” Vice Media, which started out as a freely distributed magazine for

millennials, have, as stated previously, hybridised according to the necessities of new

media and technological trends.

Pavlik interestingly adds that “Innovation in news media, including both the professional

journalists and citizen journalists who generate news content, lies along at least four

dimensions. These are:

(1) Creating, delivering and presenting quality news content,

(2) Engaging the public in an interactive news discourse

(3) Employing new methods of reporting optimized for the digital, networked age

(4) Developing new management and organizational strategies for a digital, networked and

mobile environment.”

Brian J. Bowe, in his 2012 paper on gonzo journalism, posits that this form of journalism

is structured, in the case of televised journalistic coverage, around the reporter, who serves

as the protagonist of the reportage, wherein they arbitrate the first-hand energetic reporting

of events that professes social critique and self-satire. He adds that gonzo journalism

reportage is iconoclastic and performative in nature, much of which is apparent in the two

documentaries under the purview of this study,

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The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia and Uganda's Moonshine Epidemic. The reportage in

these two documentaries align perfectly with Bowe's notion of gonzo journalism where

attributes such as iconoclasm, social critique and self-satire perfectly embody the

documentary coverage with the reporter serving as the documentary's protagonist, telling

the audience the story by putting himself in the shoes of the subject.

A 2012 paper by Shelly D. Farnham et al, studying youth centric media and citizen

journalism, found that younger audiences of media were more inclined towards

conversations pertaining to issues that mattered to them. At the same time, these younger

audiences showed greater appreciation towards meaningful discussion on such issues that

resonated with the youth. The findings of the Farnham et al study is seen to be apparent

across Vice Media's content, where millennial-centric issues and topics are given the most

importance.

According to Astrid Gynnlid's study on journalistic innovation and changing mind sets,

innovation in journalism is defined by societal issues being viewed, understood and

presented in a manner that synthesizes heterogeneous and cross-disciplinary knowledge,

experiences and insights. He adds that media organisations, their publishing visions and

business models are not necessarily the sole prerequisites for the progress of journalism.

Rather, he states that the advancement of journalism hinges on media organisations

harnessing and developing a mind-set that is innovation oriented, fundamentally seeking

to ideate journalistic skill and will for the betterment of society as a result of innovative

methods of journalism. Vice Media, in many ways, have embodied the trait of

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innovativeness, transforming over the years to suit the needs of society, especially the

younger members of its audience.

Jock Given in his 2016 study on “the end of television”, applicable to the demographics of

Australia and New Zealand, says that the culture of watching television content has

decayed with alterations in behaviour, ideas and enterprises, enabled by technological

advancement. He attributes its demise to the digitisation of analogue terrestrial television

into the modern form of online television content that is today made easily accessible

remotely through the World Wide Web and other inventions such as the smartphone. He

adds that Netflix is a prime example of how the aforementioned factors enabled the end of

television while in-turn serving the exact same form of it in an innovative and specific

manner.

Daniel Kalvø, in his study on Vice Media's immersion journalism talks about how it

challenges the norms, methods and ideals of mainstream journalism. He attributes the

economic demise of many newsrooms in the modern day to the advancement of modern

technology such as the internet that has enabled the genesis on new forms of journalism as

newspapers are being forced to become increasingly multimodal today. Kalvø says that

journalistic immersion isn't a novel concept as all reporters are inherently required to

undergo a varying degree of involvement with their subject and surrounding in order to

report the same.

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Kalvø explains that Vice Media's breaching of the norms of professional journalism and

their reliance on offering a very personalised reporting of events makes them increasingly

prone towards falling into the category of bad journalism. He therefore states that it is

integral that journalists subscribing to this form report in terms of degrees rather than in

terms of extremes in order to remain factually astute. He, however, adds that the immersion

allows this form of journalism to be the most empathetic, especially in terms of reporting

complexities of an issue which in-turn allow the report to uncover hidden meaning that

would otherwise not have been made apparent. This again, he says, has its own cons as the

reporter risks becoming increasingly myopic and seeing only through the lens of the subject

and not using a broader perspective in order to report on the issue accurately.

Kalvø therefore explains that a combination of mainstream journalism and immersion

journalism are required in order to see both sides of the coin, that is reporting about the

world as it is, in contrast to the world and why it is the way it is. He concludes by saying

that immersion journalism can play an important part in the future of journalism as it

garners the attention of young audiences towards socio-political enlightenment, enabling

them to bear witness through the immersion of the reporter and thereby better understand

the world they live in.

A 2016 psychological study on the generational differences in the usage of emotional

words by Maryalice Citera et al, talks about how different generations use different words

that appeal to them as emotional words and are specifically determined by the different

types of media they consume including, television, music and technology. The study found

22
that slang and profanity were commonly considered by millennials and digital natives to

be emotional words, namely words such as pissed, tight, hyped, nasty, fuck, excited.

Digital natives, on the other hand, increasingly used abbreviations such as OMG. This

phenomenon is clearly reflected across Vice's content and is a facet of gonzo journalism

that creates an emotional appeal for younger generations, from millennials to digital

natives. The study also found that different experiences across generations determine as to

how one regulates their emotions and how they express them. Hence Vice's form of

immersion journalism appeals to the emotions of its younger target audience, enabling vice

to successfully get the message through.

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 CHAPTER III

Methodology

This research paper entails the analysis of the two documentaries chosen for the purpose of

this study, namely Uganda's Moonshine Epidemic and The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia

that can be found on Vice Media's YouTube channel, made available for worldwide

viewing. The chosen documentaries seek to be a basis for Vice Media's successful approach

of soliciting younger millennial audiences towards its innovative form of immersion

journalism, especially in an age where other news media organisations continue to struggle.

The study uses purposive sampling to arrive at the two documentaries on the following

bases:

● The level of immersion journalism apparent across the length of the documentary,

that is, in a sense, the level of immersion the reporter exerts upon the reportage of

the subject and his interaction with its underlying environment, along with other

aspects that are inherent to immersion journalism such as self-satire and social

critique. Both the documentaries chosen for the purpose of this study comprise of

a solid backbone associated with immersion journalism and encapsulates this form

of journalism to an extent that it becomes very apparent to the point that its inherent

appeal towards millennials can be singled out and analysed.

● The popularity and reach of the documentary, in this case, the YouTube view count

on each documentary uploaded on YouTube. Vice Media's YouTube platform is

24
 apt for the purpose of this study due to its ability to tap into a worldwide audience

making it Vice Media's most accessible and viewed platform. This makes it the

perfect platform to serve as grounds for an analysis due to the coherency it shares

with the needs of the young millennial audiences of today with YouTube being an

extremely consequent online platform used by younger generations today in terms

of consuming content and obtaining journalistic information.

In order to analyse the two documentaries in a manner that is astute, appropriate theories

must be applied in its analysis, so as to arrive at a justified conclusion. For the purpose of

this study, we shall divide the perceptual framework of a documentary into two parts. The

first part would cater to the creator of the documentary, that is in the case of Vice Media

and immersion journalism largely subjugated to the reporter, who propels the story and

tells it from the perspective of his experience and from his eyes, as he sees it or empathises

with it. For the first part we will use Bill Nichols’ conceptual framework for documentary

modes in order to ascertain and categorically assimilate scenes into the six categories

present within the scope of his framework, based on the perspective of the creator. The

second part can be attributed to the perspective of the viewer and how they view and

understand the documentary. For the second part we shall use the theory of social semiotics

in order to gauge what is being conveyed to the viewer of the documentary through its texts

via signs and social cues bundled with it, bundled with Aristotle’s modes of persuasion in

order to understand the various audience appeals that persist throughout the two

documentaries. The study will ascribe value via personally generated ideas and

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interpretations garnered through the freedom of the essayistic form of meaning-making

when juxtaposed with the understanding of the aforementioned theoretical frameworks.

3.1 Bill Nichols’ 6 Modes of Documentary:

The Bill Nichols model breaks down documentaries into six sub-groups or modes that

determines how a filmmaker will go about conveying the truth in the creation of their

documentary. The categorical subdivisions include the following modes of documentary:

● The expository documentary mode, otherwise known as essay films, is a model

wherein the documentary some to educate and explain a particular topic or

phenomenon using cues such as interviews and illustrations to inform viewers. This

mode of documentary entails thorough research prior to its production.

● The participatory documentary mode, as described by Nichols, entails the recorded

encounter taking place between the filmmaker/reporter and the subject, actively

engaging all the elements of the subject and their surrounding environment. This

form exerts the collaboration between the filmmaker/reporter and the subject in

order for the film to accurately portray their issues and the truth with a sense of

immediacy which essentially creates a strong basis for social commentary to be

relayed. This form allows the audience to put themselves in the shoes of the subject

through the interaction between the filmmaker/reporter and the subject.

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 ● The observational documentary mode, is a documentary form that presents the

subject through an unfiltered lens, based solely on the ideals of truth, as it is.

Observational documentaries like the name suggests, simply observes the subject

and it's environment with no attached commentary or rhetoric, but rather allows the

audience to arrive at their own conclusions based on what they've observed. There

may be varying degree of how observational a documentary can be, with the utopian

level involving absolutely raw footage with no commentary, interviews or any other

elements that interfere with the observational aspect of the documentary.

● The poetic documentary mode emphasises on the subjectivity of the subject in the

film and the application of precise techniques that bring out a stand-out sense of

abstract and artistic value, adhering to a particular aesthetic that deems the work to

be of a certain poetic stylization. This can be accomplished through elements such

as composition, shots, effects and other editing, shooting and production

techniques.

● The reflexive documentary mode, according to Nichols, elicits the audience into

critically questioning the documentary's authenticity as a reflex of what they have

observed. This mode of documentary attempts to make the audience strive towards

the truth by engaging the audience into to doing so and actively seeking their

attention to detail.

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 ● The performative documentary mode is a form of documentary, similar to the

participatory mode, wherein the filmmaker/reporter themselves are involved in the

storytelling of the subject and it's environment, however, in the performative mode,

the filmmaker/reporter conveys the story on the basis of their own personal

inclinations, values and beliefs, essentially allowing the filmmaker/reporter to

construct subjective truths based on their own senses and perception.

3.2 The Theory of Social Semiotics:

The second theoretical framework used in the analysis of the two documentaries is the

theory of social semiotics, which essentially, is a branch of semiotics that will serve as the

basis for the close-reading of text from the perspective of the viewer of the documentary.

This form of semiotics will employ the socio-cultural aspect that surrounds the process of

deriving meaning out of signs embedded within the text of the documentary. The derived

meanings from these signs within the text are analysed by taking into consideration the

semiotic systems prevalent within the scope of all forms of human communication within

these texts. In the case of this study, social semiotics is used to determine as to how

members of the audience will view and comprehend the documentary in accordance with

social aspect of communication within the signs.

3.3 Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion:

For the purpose of this study, the analysis will be undertaken adhering to the format of an

essay. In attempting the same, we will be able to better explore the ins and outs of the topic

at hand and make necessary interpretations based on the arguments posed by the contents

28
of the essay. For this purpose, Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion would allow us to accurately

construct augments based on an emotional, logical and moral level. In Laurence Behrens’

book, Applying Rhetorical Theory to Film Criticism, he argues that films are inherently

part rhetorical and part dramatic constructs as they attempt to alter the manner in which we

think and feel, or in a broader sense, they attempt to convince the audience of its own truth

and value. As a result, films must be considered as arguments which would thereby make

it highly compatible with the application of Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion that is designed

to divisively understand rhetorical arguments through the categorical assimilation of the

different appeals used in the creation of the reported truth in the documentary.

The Vice documentaries chosen for the purpose of this study are inherently rhetoric in

nature, for the simple fact that the truth is reported through the immersion of the Vice

reporter and the interactions with the subject that ensues. The reported truth is thereby

relayed through the conviction of the Vice reporter whose immersion and reportage of

events is based off their own set of values, morals and beliefs that are presented in a manner

that is seamlessly palatable to Vice's target audience.

Furthermore, Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion divides arguments on the basis of three

rhetorical appeals. These include pathos or the emotional appeal, ethos or the moral appeal

and logos or the logical appeal. The three rhetorical appeals would therein enable us to

discern the audience appeal conferred by Vice in the two documentaries chosen for the

purpose of this study.

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In the case of the Vice documentaries, the Vice reporter would use pathos to engage the

audience by portraying or reporting the truth in a manner that would appeal to the audience

through an emotional connection. This would make it easier for the reporter to persuade

the audience of the portrayed truth in the documentary. Ethos on the other hand would elicit

the reporter to portray themselves, throughout the course of the documentary, in a manner

that would bring out their moral uprightness, thereby making it easier for the audience to

swallow the truth reported in the documentary as it comes from a source of rectitude. The

tertiary mode of persuasion, logos, is quite possibly the easiest mode of rhetoric appeal

where logical cues are used to put forth the reported truth to an audience. This would mean

that the Vice reporter would use statistics, historical data, graphs and other logical

comparisons in order to create the truth.

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 CHAPTER IV

Analysis

In the two documentaries chosen for the purpose of this study, there is a profound sense of

immersion that takes place in regards to the reporter, the subject and the surrounding

environment, the three interacting in an intrinsic manner that is conducive towards bringing

out the story as experienced from the perspective of both the subject and the inherent

experience of the reporter with whom the audience can relate to and whose shoes they can

put themselves in. The reportage in Vice Media's immersion journalism hinges on the

ability of its reporter, hailing from a socio-cultural background that is similar to that of

Vice's intended millennial audience. This may be the ability of the reporter to help

contextualise the story and the experience in a manner that can be easily comprehended by

the millennial audience. The ability of the reporter to carry out the story will determine

how engaged the audience would be and thereby how captivating Vice's content would

appear towards millennial audiences and others that seek to fall in line with the persona

Vice Media has designated for its target audience.

Throughout the two documentaries, the two reporters weave their own individual style into

the storytelling process and in turn become a part of the story itself. The ideas, values,

beliefs and other socio-cultural characteristics pertaining to the reporter will be manifested

within the reportage and the storytelling process, establishing how they would adhere to,

or rather, in the case of immersion journalism, deter from the norms of professional

journalism and its ethical conduct.

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For the analysis, each documentary would be broken down into its constituent structural

units, namely:

● Frames - Considered to be the smallest unit of a film, a frame is a still shot captured

at a particular instant in the timeline of a film.

● Shots - A shot is comprised of multiple frames. Modern films are generally recorded

at the rate of 24 frames per second (fps). Factors that can define a shot include

camera distance, camera angle, camera height, camera movement, camera

movement, frame and depth of field.

● Scenes - A scene is composed of multiple shots that are generally shot at the same

location or the same time. Scenes generally begin with a master shot that

encapsulates the entire landscape of the scene before transgressing to other

additional shots that will create the scene.

● Sequences - A sequence is a set of multiple scenes that form a distinct component

of the film and can be identified on the basis of location and/or time.

4.1 Analysis of The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia

Before we delve into the close-reading of text in the first documentary, we must understand

it's structural composition. The documentary spans a duration of 53 minutes and is

uploaded on Vice Media's primary YouTube channel, VICE, where it has garnered over

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21.5 million views. The documentary is piloted by the reporter, who in the case of this

documentary happens to be Shane Smith, the CEO, founder and one of the primary faces

of Vice Media. The premises for the documentary is the country of Liberia, that has a

treacherous past of having been ravaged by civil war for over 14 years by cannibalistic

warlords. Shane Smith carries out an on-the-ground reportage for the documentary across

the capital city of Monrovia, covering topics such as poverty, sanitation, prostitution, drug

addiction, cannibalistic warfare among other atrocities that ensue within the country.

Layered above Shane Smith's on-the-ground reportage is the commentary relayed by Smith

himself, this time from inside the premises of his Vice office in the United States. The

purpose of the commentary is to fill in the gaps present within the reportage, while

explaining the situation in hindsight, when need be. This is done in order to provide the

audience with a bigger picture of the situation on the ground and an enhanced level of

understanding.

The documentary follows an approach that amalgamates Vice Media's approach of

immersion journalism with a Hunter S. Thompson esque iteration of gonzo journalism,

where Smith and the Vice crew are constantly seen putting themselves in very dangerous

situations in order to fulfill the aspect of immersion in the reportage of the subject while

allowing the story to be told through the interactive process of seeing through the eyes of

the subject and the surrounding environment. The documentary strays away from the

formality, tenets and norms of professional journalism, and this seems to become an ethical

issue for Vice, especially in the reportage of sensitive topics that includes grave human

rights violations. Smith and the Vice crew, throughout the length of the documentary, are

33
seen scrambling towards safety when the situation gets awry, which of course happens

quite often over the course of the documentary. The vocabulary used and the

communication that takes place within the documentary is extremely characteristic of

Shane Smith and the Vice demeanor, a vernacular that best represents the millennial

generation where profanity and slang are commonly blurted out, wherever seemingly fit.

This as priorly mentioned offers an emotional appeal to the millennial and digital native

viewership.

The documentary begins with Shane Smith sitting in Vice's office in the United States,

explaining the situation in Liberia and the 14-year-long civil war that consists of gory

details accompanied by footage of the same. Smith begins by explaining the history of

Liberia and bringing into context the civil war, the warlords and the current situation where

the country may at any point break into another civil war. In doing so, Smith uses the appeal

of logic or logos where he uses historic data to convince the audience of the truth that his

argument is based off. Smith's introduction sequence lacks a sense of formality and the

norms of professional journalism, as gonzo journalism is meant to be, raising certain ethical

concerns throughout the course of the introductory sequence by casually brushing through

vile acts of human rights violation, where sensitivity towards the issue seems to be lacking.

This however is seen to be a viable approach for Shane Smith and Vice as it seems to appeal

to the millennial audience by making the story more relatable, engaging and entertaining

for them, with his very raw and in-your-face approach towards the issue. Shane's

introduction almost comes off as a though a close friend is explaining the situation in

Liberia to you, using words and language that resonates emotionally with the millennial

34
audience and thereby appealing to them in the form of pathos or the rhetorical appeal of

emotion.

For example the summary of Smith's introduction sequence ends with him saying “But this

is like a civil war on steroids. It's a post-apocalyptic Armageddon with child soldiers

smoking heroin, cross-dressing cannibals, systematic rape -- its total hell on earth”. By

comparing the seemingly dire situation in Liberia to post-apocalyptic Armageddon science

fiction and describing it as “total hell on earth”, Smith attempts to contextualise the severity

of the situation for a millennial audience by using words that come off as harshly

misappropriated, yet it efficiently encapsulates the scenario into a form that can easily be

comprehended by younger audiences who find emotional refuge in profanity. In fact, the

manner in which the issue is put forth by Smith brings to the table the element of empathy.

This is observed when he addresses the history of Liberia in a manner that swiftly gets the

point through to the millenial audience, further accompanied by footage that includes a

child soldier holding the heart of a Liberian general as he threatens to eat it, militants

threatening to eat his enemies raw, footage of the torture of the once president of Liberia,

Samuel Doe, with the graphic parts cut out and other gory footage that is just shy of being

classified as stomach-churning. This in-your-face footage layered under Smith's

commentary, that speaks to the millennial as a close friend would, opens the door for the

viewer to empathise with the appalling scenario in Liberia through the means of relatable

comprehension and emotional appeal or pathos.

35
Fast-forward to the sequence at the jail in Baboon Town, Monrovia, where a warlord,

nicknamed General Bin Laden, that Shane Smith is trying to interview is housed. After

getting tired of waiting at the Jail's reception to meet the warlord, Smith figures that he can

bribe the police to get General Bin Laden out of jail. Smith and the cameraman despite

being hounded by one of the officers for recording, continue to stealthily record with the

lens covered and proceed to bribe the same officer while the camera records the audio.

Smith on being asked by the officer “You pay some cash, you can get him out of here”

replies saying “Sure I can give him cash” followed by “Can we pay him and pay you a

fine and then take him?” to which the officer agrees and releases the. Smith and his

cameraman are soon seen scrambling away from the jail with General Bin Laden, saying

that they’re being followed by the police before suggesting that they change camera tapes

so the police don't find out. There is a sense of suspense and the perceived threat of them

getting caught that brings to the table the element of entertainment and immersion by

keeping the viewer guessing. Treading illegal paths is characteristic of gonzo journalism,

and Smith, in order to get General Bin Laden out of jail, is willing to bribe the police in a

sequence that would, in one way, theoretically diminish the moral appeal or pathos of Smith

as a reporter. However, early gonzo journalism and Vice's rendition of immersion

journalism are often cherished by audiences for its ever-so-subtle disregard for the law

when it comes to bringing out the truth of the matter. This is because the reporter breaking

the law in order to tell the story, was in itself, an act that proved the reporter’s dedication,

by choosing to forego their safety and put themselves in great risk to report on the issue,

thus inducing an audience appeal that resonates with the moral responsibility of reporting

on a critical issue without taking no for an answer. Such is the case with Vice's immersion

36
journalism where cultural factors pertaining to millennials create abnormalities that tend to

perplex the rigidity of theoretical frameworks and what certain people consider moral.

The next sequence that this study will analyse is the one where Shane Smith and the Vice

crew are taken by a local journalist called Nagbe to explore West Point, the worst slum in

Liberia, in order to show them a glimpse of the conditions that Liberians are forced to live

in and the lack of support from the UN and Liberian government. The sequence takes place

after Smith and the Vice crew scramble away after interviewing General Bin Laden, when

a gang of men that are not affiliated with the General come to hound them out. Smith and

the Vice crew soon run to their car, a common occurrence throughout the course of the

documentary, and find their way to Nagbe before heading to the West Bank slum. The

quick interviews, impending dangers, running to safety and driving from life threatening

situations adds a sense of tension, suspense and immediacy that make it seem as though

Smith is constantly on the run, almost like an action movie, where audiences tend to root

for the hero. This is bound to pique the interest of the millennial audience and keep them

on the edge of their seats, at the same time allowing them to assimilate key information

about the conditions in Liberia.

Upon entering West Point, Smith casually explains “West Point is the worst slum in

Liberia, which makes it one of the worst slums in West Africa, which makes it one of the

worst slums in the world”. By doing so, Smith is being very direct about the conditions of

West Point while also indirectly implying that Liberia is one of the worst places in the

world. His words come off harsh and insensitive, however the brilliance lies in his power

37
to communicate with the millennial state of mind, perfectly contextualising the scenario in

a manner that younger audiences can comprehend what is being conveyed by the subject,

in a form that is not only educational but also entertaining and enjoyable, almost as if a

friend was telling the viewer a story. Smith essentially embodies the spirit of Vice's target

millennial audience, allowing them to be able to empathise with Smith and walk in his

shoes. As the camera previews the surroundings through the windows of the car, Smith

adds “Now, when you first get there, the first thing you want to do is get the hell out. It's

open sewers everywhere, shit, piss, garbage, everything mixed in, and the stench is

overpowering”. The lack of sensitivity again serves as grounds for debate on Vice's ethics,

however, again it provides a great level of perspective to the viewer who can easily

comprehend how dismal the conditions are. When Smith says that the first thing you want

to do is get the hell out, it adds the element of immersion to the documentary. His choice

of words to describe the surroundings and the harshness that it comes with, creates an

immersive appeal where the audience can almost imaginatively smell the stench and sense

the difficulties faced by the people living in West Point.

The following scene has Smith going on to walk with Nagbe and the Vice crew through a

beach in West Point riddled with people defecating on it. To this view, “But I mean, one

of the first basic rule is don't shit where you eat” is what Smith has to say about the

sanitation in the country. From this it becomes clear that that the way Vice puts things into

context is almost extensively “American” or rather “American millennial” in its

mannerism, where American culture, attitude and beliefs are professed throughout the

course of the documentary which is why the lack of Shane Smith's sensitivity to the issue

38
becomes problematic when viewed from the perspective of an audience that is not

accustomed to or does not possess the American millennial idiosyncrasy. American

millennials inherit, from their cultural upbringings, a lack of sensitivity and humility

towards cultural differences and diversity (Ford, 2011). To the American millennial, the

“don't shit where you eat” rule is easily comprehensible, whereas to others, sanitation is a

systemic issue that cannot simply be beleaguered by the statement of such “rules”. Poor

sanitation is probably the last thing in the minds of Liberians where constant violation of

human rights and a lack of the most basic human needs means that “don't shit where you

eat” is definitely not “one of the first basic rule” for them, yet it is a conducive way of

explaining the scenario to American millennials. Most Vice content similarly preaches this

American millennial idiosyncrasy through the delivery of its content and Vice's audience

is generally accustomed to such blatant disregard for cultural diversity. This, in fact,

becomes a big selling point for Vice as it serves as an emotional appeal or pathos for those

that possess the American millennial idiosyncrasy, those that admire it and those that aspire

for it.

In a world where westernisation, or rather Americanisation of developing economies is the

norm, the audience's emotional appeal towards Vice will only have that much more

potential, as is seen with Vice's expansion into developing countries. Vice is known for

professing a, clear cut, almost rebellious, uncensored, far left leaning stance and have no

intention of hiding it. With this aggressive stance and the lure of American millennial

pathos, Vice have managed to fetch an enormous viewership base, primarily North

American, who tend to align themselves with Vice's inclinations and beliefs. As a result,

39
almost all Vice reporters are millennials with the far-left Vice agenda, embodying the spirit

of its millennial audience in their reportage through production that resonates with the

American millennial idiosyncrasy. Hence, let it be established within the context of this

study, that the American millennial idiosyncratic, that is inclusive of the parameters as

stated in prior, such as the use of slang and profanity as emotional words and the harsh and

insensitive approach towards the reporting of culturally diverse topics for the purpose of

context, is an emotional appeal for Vice's target audience or pathos. There has been

considerable evidence throughout this essayistic analysis that point towards this, where

recurring patterns have made the documentary more immersive and emotionally engaging

for audiences.

Fast-forward to Smith entering the brothel in West Point to report on the conditions of sex

workers in the area, during which he reiterates “This is the craziest, fucking scariest drive

ever down here” to imply how unsafe and dangerous the region is. As Smith walks into the

rooms housing the sex workers he keeps reiterating how horrid the condition of the place

is, using profanity and directness to elucidate the same. He says “This is the exemplification

of hell, really” as the locals keep waiting in line and moving around the area as the camera

captures them. As he enters one of the small rooms of the brothel he exclaims “I don't know

what happens in here, but I don't want to know” and “Wow. What the fuck goes on in here,

dude?”. From these statements by Smith is it easy to identify the recurring pattern of the

American millennial idiosyncrasy that exuberates a sense of pathos towards the millennial

audience, explaining the conditions of the brothel, where the audience can almost visualise

themselves walking through it, an immersive experience to say the least. They soon go on

40
to interview the sex workers who claim that the UN workers that are supposed to help in

the fight against human rights violations, are the ones having sex with small children and

beating up sex workers. The reportage despite being ethically problematic, accomplishes

the task of highlighting the dire condition of the country and the lack of UN and government

aid. It aptly contextualises the problems faced by Liberians and the breeding of grave

human rights violations at a time when the UN is pulling themselves out of the country, all

presented in a palatable form for Vice's intended audience. In one sense, Vice redeems

itself of the ethical atrocities committed in the reportage of this documentary by putting

forth an ideology that makes the audience take a stance against such critical issues,

especially in the case of this documentary, hounding the UN and the Liberian government,

and inserting into the minds of the audience, through Smith's American millennial sense of

empathizing or immersion as Vice would call it, that which is unjust and unfair to humanity

and that which must be curbed for a truly egalitarian world with no exploitation. For this

reason, the journalism that takes place within the context of this documentary can be seen

as ethical or not depending on which socio-cultural lenses you use to view the documentary

from, that is, it is very subjective and Vice is known to create it's content solely for the

viewership of its target audience that subscribe to the American millennial idiosyncrasy.

The sequence again ends with Smith and the Vice cameraman, with his wobbling camera,

running away from some men that are wreaking havoc within the brothel, towards their car

when Smith keeps saying to the camera “Nagbe said to us, you'd better get the hell out of

here” and “We're getting the fuck out of here”. This again brings to the documentary a

sense of tension and uncertainty, adding elements of entertainment to the documentary and

making it that much more immersive for the viewer. As Smith and the crew drive away

41
from the dangerous situation mustering up at the brothel, he tells the camera “That was

very fucking heavy!” before explaining “Whenever I get into weird situations, I'm just

trying to envision myself explaining it to my Dad” -- “So, Dad? Just to recap: worst slum

in the history, heroin, hookers, white, fat men…” and then goes on to mimic his father's

probable reaction -- “He'd probably say, You're a stupid little fucker… You deserve to die”.

Again, here we see the repertoire of Vice's use of the American millennial idiosyncrasy to

report on the issue for the audiences ease of assimilation.

They thereafter go to meet the next warlord, nicknamed Sergeant Butt Naked, who is

waiting at their hotel for an interview Vice has set up. On the way, Smith exclaims “And

to make things even freakier, as we're pulling out of West Point, Rambo texts miles and

says not only does Butt Naked want to do the interview, but that he's waiting at our hotel

for us” before laughing and sarcastically adding “Yeah, now we're going back to sanity, to

hang out with an ex-cannibal and multi-murderer, who's now staying at our hotel and

decided not to leave... Meanwhile he knows I have tons of money, and he's on the run

because people want to kill him”. He then adds, again in sarcasm “Should I just leave my

door open, General? Do you want to come in?”. Sarcasm and dark humour are great

vehicles that arouse the American millennial idiosyncrasy and thus serve as an all-

encompassing appeal for the viewer (Koltun, 2018). Smith even goes as far as insulting the

person he is going to interview, Sergeant Butt Naked, whose interviews and story dictates

the remaining minutes of the documentary till its end.

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Cut to the scene where General Butt Naked is taking Smith and the crew across a swamp

to his house that is also a church where he is now a pastor. Smith exclaims as he walks

through the swamp “Some worm is gonna go in my foot and I'm gonna get a filthy little

tumor… End my days just shitting out blood. This is what all fear stems from”. The lack of

sensitivity is again made very apparent and the severity of the conditions in Liberia is

brought out to the viewers in the form of dark humour. The rest of the documentary follows

in a similar fashion and there is a recurrence of the previously identified patterns right up

until the end of the documentary. Another instance of this is observed when General Butt

Naked offers the microphone to Smith at his church to say a few words following which

Smith's comments “I have to admit that when Joshua (General Butt Naked's real name)

handed me the mic, I had no idea what I was saying. At that point in the trip, I felt like I

was on acid”. A majority of the second half of the documentary, up until the end, is

primarily piloted by Joshua Blahyi (General Butt Naked) with only sporadic commentary

and interrogation from Smith himself. This might point towards Smith's lack of direction

in the storytelling in the second half of the documentary.

When we juxtapose Bill Nichols’ six modes of documentary to The Cannibal Generals of

Liberia, it becomes clear that, on the one hand, it adheres to the expository documentary

mode with the documentary's usage of interviews, illustrations and the immersion of the

journalist into the subject and the environment in order to educate and explain the matter

at hand. On the other hand is also adheres to an amalgamation of the participatory and

performative documentary modes. This is because, firstly, the documentary is the product

of the engagement between the reporter and the subject that accurately conveys the truth of

43
the matter making it participatory in nature. However, there arises a small number of

instances where Smith's personal values, beliefs, inclinations and subjectivity tend to

overpower the truth of the matter and create its own narrative, making it performative in

nature. For these reasons, the documentary and Vice's immersion journalism in itself find

themselves fluctuating between the spectrum that separates the participatory and

performative documentary modes.

4.2 Analysis of The Moonshine Epidemic in Uganda

As done for the previous documentary, we shall break-up and understand the structural

composition of the documentary before we attempt it's close-reading. The documentary is

35 minutes long and is uploaded on Vice Media's primary YouTube channel called VICE,

where it has garnered almost 14 million views till date. The documentary is piloted by

Thomas Morton, a Vice journalist whose approach is much more timid and less blatant that

the likes of Shane Smith, almost like two ends of a spectrum. For this reason the choice of

this documentary will allow us to analyse and compare both sides. The documentary just

like the previous one has the Morton's commentary layered over his on-the-ground

reporting. The premises for the documentary entail the ongoing epidemic of moonshine in

Uganda, the country with the highest per capita consumption of alcohol. As alcohol

consumption in Uganda continues to rise, an increasing number of bootlegged alcohol

made with industrial chemicals has created an epidemic where people in Uganda are going

blind and dying after consuming it. The documentary attempts to shed light on the Ugandan

epidemic by using Thomas Morton's on-the-ground reporting and immersion to tell the

story. Throughout the documentary Morton immerses himself, drinking local moonshine

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and indulging in local culture, cuisine and activities. Uganda, however, is much more laid

back than Liberia and doesn't offer the same level of tension, suspense and exposure to

dangerous and life threatening situations as the previously analysed documentary. Morton

is often mellow and respectful throughout the course of the documentary and uses a much

less amount of slang, profanity and directness than Shane Smith. The people in Uganda

appear to be much more friendly and accepting in the documentary as compared to the

previous one. A lot of the conversation between Morton and the subjects require a translator

as many of the individuals being interviewed do not speak English and this may in a way

imply that some of the meaning might get lost in translation and thereby hinder the process

of the reporter’s immersion. The documentary much like the previous one fails to adhere

to the formality and the norms of professional journalism. The use of humour, sarcasm and

a completely informal immersion of the journalist, who in this case goes around Uganda

drinking waragi in an attempt to understand their culture and the epidemic that affects

Uganda and package it in a manner that is appealing to the Vice's target millennial

audience.

The documentary begins with Morton's commentary, citing World Health Organisation

reports to explain the situation in Uganda and introducing the public to the epidemic,

providing historical context and statistical information that backs their claims. The historic

evidence and statistical data provide a logical appeal or logos where the audience

immediately accepts the validity of the reportage and begin to trust the reporter and what

he is putting out. The documentary begins with “In 2004, the World Health Organisation

released its global status report on alcohol and health, finding Uganda as the top contender

45
for the per capita alcohol consumption. Since 2011, three numbers have only increased.

Basically, making Uganda the drunkest place on earth”. They begin the documentary with

statistical data pertaining to the alcohol epidemic before coining Uganda as the drunkest

place on earth. This is a great way to build up the proposition of the documentary for

millennials by indicating that the country is on the extreme side of the popular topic of

alcohol using statistical data, thereby summing up the crux of the issue in a brief

introductory passage. To make things more interesting Morton adds “So when Vice heard

about Uganda's countrywide production of a type of moonshine called waragi, we were

interested. But after we discovered that people were going blind and dying from drinking

waragi cut with industrial chemicals, we knew that this was something we needed to taste

for ourselves”. The rebellious nature of this statement is cause enough to arouse the

American millennial idiosyncrasy and extend an emotional appeal towards the issue. The

introductory sequence then ends with the presentation of historic data pertaining to the

country's previous rulers and the stories of how they came to power.

As Morton, in liaison with a translator, interviews a woman that makes waragi, there

appears to be a disconnect between the two, Morton coming off as awkward or

uncomfortable in his attempt to properly express himself in the scene where he is tasting

the waragi. As he raises his hand to take the glass of waragi from the woman, he is forced

to retract it when she gives it to the translator who drinks it and only then passes it on to

Morton. His reactions throughout, seem delayed and he appears to be out of his comfort

zone, stuttering a few times. However, he is still able to provide commentary and ask some

crucial questions despite the hesitation. As he drinks the waragi his face appears to show

46
signs of discord in relation to him unconvincingly saying “That's great. Thank you. It's

even better (than the previous waragi he tasted)”. Although this could be attributed to the

general harsh taste of alcohol, Morton seems visibly unconvincing in his praise for the

waragi he just consumed.

The lack of English speaking subjects seem to add to Morton's unsettlement as he goes with

the youngsters of the village to gather food after a round of communal drinking that Morton

immerses himself into, speaking to various people at the gathering, none of whom

understand his English commentary. Morton exclaims “So, we're going to go get some food

for the party. I get the feeling this means we're going to get something that isn't yet food,

probably something we're going to have to watch die before it becomes food”. The one

thing that is common across both the Vice documentaries is that the reporter contextualises

the issue or the topic that appears foreign to the viewer, in a manner that is palatable to the

American millennial audience. This is again seen when the villagers come back with a goat

that they're going to kill, before which they kick it around and to some extent torture it, to

which Morton comments “This went from some sort of weird Breugel's village life scene

into some perverse take on the old Judaic scapegoat ritual”. As Morton holds a skewer

with goat meat, he says “This was in the goat about 20 minutes ago. Give it another 20

minutes it'll be inside me”. The use of humour to report the situation is appealing to Vice's

target audience as it provides the element of entertainment and this is a key feature of Vice's

immersion journalism, commonly observed across Vice's content. This Vice documentary

also happens to be haphazardly structured as it jumps between topics and issues, and moves

non-linearly. This, however, can be attributed to the immersion of the journalist where

47
decisions take place in real time before the camera and move according to the flow of the

events that take place, asking with where and how the reporter chooses to immerse

themselves.

In the next sequence, Morton travels to the city of Kampala where he visits one of the

waragi shops in the suburb of Kataza. In an introduction to the sequence Morton

sarcastically says “Curious about how moonshine worked in the rest of the country, we

visited Kataza a suburb of Kampala to explore a much larger and much prettier setup”.

The sarcasm lies in the words “much prettier setup”, which when visited by Morgan, he

says “All the kids came with us. That's cute and distressing because this looks like some

sort of creepy industrial slog yard filled with bubbling vats if half-buried booze”. Sarcasm

is a great vehicle to carry a story for the millennial audience as it is something that

millennials can relate to. Morton then goes on to discuss with the people making and selling

the waragi their reason for doing so, finding that it is a source of livelihood for many people

in the country who are able to fund their University education or their children's school fees

with the money earned from selling waragi. Morton then purchases some waragi from the

seller before drinking it with the locals, and this continues for most of the remaining part

of the documentary where Morton is passing around drinks with the locals while making

conversation that goes off-topic from the purpose of the documentary, Morton again

seemingly out of place and hesitant, stuttering in conversation.

All in all, the documentary seems to cover the issue only on a surface level, failing to go

deeper into the issue and highlight the systemic problems playing a role in the rise of the

48
waragi epidemic. The only sort of systemic, cultural and social commentary being

addressed and highlighted in some sort of academic detail, as one would expect from the

resolve of a documentary, are from the interview with Kabann Kabananukye, the university

professor assigned by the government to the commission designated to investigate the

epidemic. The interview is layered sporadically across the span of the documentary by

Vice's editors whenever the on-the-ground reportage seems to be lacking any direction or

resolve, which seems to be the case throughout the course of the dissertation. Although

there are arrays digging deeper into the issue with Morton's interviews with the waragi

brewers and off-topic conversations with the locals, Morton seems incessantly out of place

and fails to shake away his hesitancy to speak with the locals, who, essentially, are an

inherent part of the thread that the fabric of the waragi epidemic is woven with. It's almost

as though Vice made a mistake by sending Thomas Morton to report on the issue due to

his failure in getting his on-the-ground momentum running. This clearly points to the fact

that the reporter piloting the Vice documentary has a lot to do with how it pans out, in terms

of the level of immersion, the purposefulness of the documentary and the narrative. Vice's

immersion journalism is a mixed bag, where there is a spectral difference between the way

documentaries are produced, primarily depending upon the vigour and capabilities of the

reporter to dig deep into the issue in a rigorous manner that would be expected from a

journalistic documentary. The journalistic form in practice also tends to cause a certain lack

of direction sometimes with no importance given to the structural integrity of the

documentary, rather letting the narrative play out naturally yet within the confines of the

reporter’s idiosyncrasy. Uganda's Moonshine Epidemic, which has almost 14 million views

on YouTube, despite its lack of on-the-ground resolve, it still manages to appease the

49
audience through the manner in which it is packaged in, showing the audience a reporter

they can to some extent relate to, exploring the alcohol epidemic in Uganda, a country that

would make them experience severe cultural shock. To some extent, Morton's stuttering

and hesitancy, can even be said to enhance the level of the audience immersion, in that the

audience can envision themselves in the position of Morton and the cultural shock that

ensues with the surrounding environment.

When applying Nichols’ modes of documentary to Uganda's Moonshine Epidemic, it is

apparent that it subscribes to the expository documentary mode, attempting to convey the

truth through the usage of interviews, illustrations and the immersion of the journalist into

the subject and the environment in order to educate and explain the matter at hand. The

documentary is also participatory in nature for the fact that the story is told through the

participatory engagement between the reporter and the subjects, and in this case the

reporter’s immersion. Morton's lack of direction means that unlike the previous

documentary, this one is much less performative in nature although it cannot be completely

ruled out.

50
 CHAPTER V

Conclusion

In the analysis of the audience's appeal towards Vice Media's immersion journalism, in lieu

of its success among millennial and digital native audiences, done through the close-

reading of text embedded within the two documentaries chosen for this study, it becomes

apparent that Vice's journalistic format increasingly hinges on the reporters ability to

contextualise a complex issue and present it to Vice's target audience in a format that is

relatable to what this study has coined as the American millennial idiosyncrasy. Vice caters

its content solely towards a millennial and digital native audience that subscribes to the

American millennial idiosyncrasy -- an idiosyncrasy pertinent to the millennial generation

in America, cultivated through the various social, cultural and technological factors in the

region and aptly characterised by both the Vice reporters’ immersion and reportage in the

two documentaries chosen for the purpose of this study. This idiosyncrasy can be

characterised by, but is not limited to, the use of slang and profanity as emotional words

(Citera et al, 2016), a lack of sensitivity and humility towards cultural differences and

diversity (Ford et al, 2011), an appetite for dark and absurdist humour especially when it

comes to television and online content (Koltun, 2018), humour, in general, as positive

emotional response (Aittokallio, 2019), a lack of regard for the formal rules of professional

journalism, the need to be entertained as well as informed simultaneously (Buckingham,

2000) and other similar characteristics that are identified throughout the course of the two

documentaries.

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This journalistic form, as carried out by Vice, attempts to engage the millennial audience

emotionally through an immersive experience where they're almost able to envision

themselves in the situation of the subject due to the ability of the reporter to harness a sense

of millennial relatability that emerges during the process of immersion. Throughout the

course of the two documentaries analysed in this study, both reporters undergo immersion

and report about the subject issue in a manner that is appeasing and palatable to the target

millennial audience, adding elements of entertainment and humour, while going against the

formal tenets of professional journalism and presenting everything in a language that is

easy to the ear of the millennial audience. There, however, exists a lack of sensitivity

towards issues in some of Vice's documentaries that are based upon sensitive topics and

this seems to become problematic when viewed from the perspective of an audience that is

not accustomed to or does not possess the American millennial idiosyncrasy. At the same

time, this lack of sensitivity towards such issues work in Vice's favour as it appeals to the

millennial audience and draws them closer to the issue by helping them get a better

understanding of it.

When we juxtapose the analysis of both the documentaries chosen for the study, it becomes

apparent that the two are like opposite ends in a spectrum although they subscribe to the

same journalistic form, Vice's ideologies and the American millennial idiosyncrasy. Vice's

immersion journalism is a mixed bag, where there is a spectral difference between the way

documentaries are presented, primarily depending upon the vigour and capabilities of the

reporter to dig deep into the issue in a rigorous manner that would be expected from a

journalistic documentary. The journalistic form in practice also tends to cause a certain lack

52
of direction sometimes with no importance given to the structural integrity of the

documentary, rather letting the narrative play out naturally yet within the confines of the

reporter’s idiosyncrasy. For these reasons Vice's documentaries appear to explore the

subject issue only at a surface level depending on the capability of the reporter and their

level of immersion. This form of journalism, however, is cherished by millennials as it is a

relatable form of journalistic media that not only educates the audience but also entertains

them, all while being presented to them in a language that they are used to hearing, almost

as if a friend were speaking to them. To them is an emotionally engaging and interactive

form that is a breath of fresh air when compared to the vestiges of traditional journalism

that may come off as monotonous to them.

All in all, Vice is a success story for a reason and despite all its shortcomings, it manages

to pull together the spirit of journalism and repackage it with a fresh form that is appealing

to the younger generation of people. This is especially critical as newspapers around the

world continue to shutdown, journalism continues to oversee a steep decline and the

younger generation’s appetite for entertainment continues to grow incessantly, creating a

void that calls for more innovative forms of journalism. As new forms of journalism

continue to emerge, Vice's iteration of Immersion Journalism seems to be a great

proposition and its success story is not without a bevy of shortcomings. However, with a

slight bit of tinkering and tweaking, immersion journalism could be the right path to take

for declining newspaper as Vice seems to be the only eminent news media organisation to

be incorporating this form.

53
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 Annexure

1. The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia

Source: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuSS0iiFyo

Channel: VICE

Date Uploaded: June 13, 2012

View Count: ~ 21.5 Million

2. Uganda’s Moonshine Epidemic

Source: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL3UHF5SlEU

Channel: VICE

Date Uploaded: November 9, 2012

View Count: ~ 13.8 Million

57