It's finally out! "Die Vice Story – Gosse. Gonzo. Größenwahn" released this week on 11th December on German broadcaster ARD Kultur. A 3x 30" documentary series which takes a time trip back to the end of the 90's through the 2000's, as we follow the scandals and successes of the once billion-dollar-valued, youth media juggernaut that was Vice.
We had many challenges, including getting ex-employees to go on the record. As such there are topics I would have loved to have delved deeper into – toxic masculinity and the fall-out from #metoo, for one. But it wasn't to be. And then there was an incredibly tight turn-around of just under 6 months.
Despite all this, what the films manage to do is take you back to a time where it seemed anything was possible. Where journalism could still be fun, experimental, before the algorithms kicked in. And where for a while there was enough money being thrown around to pay for it all. Vice's style reflected that zeitgeist like no other media company. It was the perfect storm of video becoming accessible and the online world's expansion to make it watchable, by a global audience.
The films were further elevated by a raw and rollicking playlist of all our favorite indie-electronic hits from back then, by bands like The Klaxons, Justice and LCD Soundsystem.
Thanks go to the Gebrüder Beetz team and the commissioning editors at ARD Kultur. It certainly was a wild ride!
Here is the link to the series, viewable only in Germany for the moment:
https://www.ardkultur.de/genresprenger/doku-vice-story-journalismus-digital-popkultur-medienkultur-ardkultur-100
