VICE News
Season 2019
Most of this years long form content was broadcast as part of "VICE" or "VICE News Tonight" series on HBO, and "VICE Investigates" on Hulu.
Where to Watch VICE News • Season 2019
50 Episodes
- Watch The Raid That Led To El Chapo's CaptureE1
Watch The Raid That Led To El Chapo's Capture Around 4 a.m. on February 17, 2014, DEA agents and Mexican marines launched an operation to capture Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. They had tracked El Chapo to a safe house in the city of Culiacán, and the raid began when the marines started hammering on his front door with a battering ram. - What Venezuelan Expats Think About The Country's Political CrisisE3
What Venezuelan Expats Think About The Country's Political Crisis More than 3.4 million people have fled Venezuela since 2014. Those who remain grapple with food and medicine shortages as President Nicolás Maduro refuses to give up his authoritarian regime and let humanitarian aid into the country. In January, Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaidó challenged Maduro and declared himself interim president, as Venezuela's constitution allows the head of National Assembly party to do. Once unknown, the 35-year-old has now gained the support of many Venezuelans and 65 foreign countries, including the U.S., Canada and U.K. He returned to Venezuela Monday after a trip abroad to rally support from the international community. Venezuelans expats, however, appear split on how Guaidó should use his role as interim president — and whether he should support U.S. involvement in the conflict. - I Was A Teenage TerroristE4
I Was A Teenage Terrorist Mohammed Khalid is one of the youngest people ever charged with aiding terrorists in the U.S. Now, he’s out of prison, and trying to prove he can be trusted. VICE News meets up with him after his release, and follows him to his first public appearance as a so-called “former.” - Trump's Policies Could Make This Nurse Undocumented After 20 Years In The U.S.E5
Trump's Policies Could Make This Nurse Undocumented After 20 Years In The U.S. Teanke Tarwai fled Liberia’s second civil war in the late 1990s and has lived in the Twin Cities metro area of Minnesota ever since, raising three children with her husband. But she — and nearly 4,000 other Liberian immigrants — could soon face a hard choice: leave before the end of the month or face the threat of deportation. That's why she's been knocking on doors in D.C. - People Are Hiring Private Police Squads in DetroitE6
People Are Hiring Private Police Squads in Detroit In 2013, the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy. As a result, budget and pay cuts have since pushed police officers toward better paying opportunities outside the city, and private security companies have rushed into the city. Now, private security is a booming industry in Detroit. The largest contractor has reported 25% year-over-year growth since the city’s bankruptcy. VICE News spoke to Dale Brown, an ex-army paratrooper, who began teaching his own brand of self-defense in the early '90s and started his own Detroit-based security company called Threat Management Center in 2000. Brown says his 60-person VIPER force has more than 5,000 private citizens as clients along with 100 businesses. Altogether, the company brings in about two million dollars a year. - How Debt Is Crushing Taxi Drivers' American DreamsE8
How Debt Is Crushing Taxi Drivers' American Dreams Thousands of cab drivers are on the brink of bankruptcy because of predatory lending. What is the emotional toll of having the worst debt in America — and knowing just how screwed you got by the city? - The War Over "Natural" Boner PillsE9
The War Over "Natural" Boner Pills With wild names like “Rhino 69,” “Black Mamba,” and “Mojo Nights,” so-called “natural” sexual enhancement supplements are a fixture behind the counters of bodegas, gas stations, corner stores, and delis across the country. They're also at the center of a nationwide legal battle being waged by a Texas supplements company called Outlaw Laboratory. - Gamers Have Had It with Being Scapegoated for Gun ViolenceE10
Gamers Have Had It with Being Scapegoated for Gun Violence VICE News spoke with members of the gaming community who are tired and frustrated with being the distraction for politicians who would rather focus on anything other than gun policy. - Americans Told Us How Their Lives Have Been Torn Apart By Gun ViolenceE12
Americans Told Us How Their Lives Have Been Torn Apart By Gun Violence As the U.S. was still reeling from back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, we started asking Americans from different generations and walks of life how gun violence in the country has impacted them personally. - Why This Bookseller Is Still Afraid To Return Home To Hong KongE14
Why This Bookseller Is Still Afraid To Return Home To Hong Kong Lam Wing-kee, a bookseller who specialized in selling books that were banned by the Chinese government, would have been a target of the extradition bill that sparked months of protests in Hong Kong. - Celebrities Will Say Almost Anything on Cameo For The Right PriceE18
Celebrities Will Say Almost Anything on Cameo For The Right Price It sounds like an episode of "Black Mirror": Celebrities recording videos saying almost anything asked of them, on-demand. But plenty of famous and not-so-famous names are doing it, for a price, as part of the talent roster of the Cameo app. - Why Roxane Gay Thinks ‘Red at the Bone’ Is Just Like The Movie ‘Speed’E19
Why Roxane Gay Thinks ‘Red at the Bone’ Is Just Like The Movie ‘Speed’ In the first meeting, Gay and friends discussed Colson Whitehead’s “The Nickel Boys,” one of the summer’s most widely read and acclaimed novels, about two boys at an abusive reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. For this episode, she picked the next, much-anticipated book by Jacqueline Woodson, “Red at the Bone.” This time, the “Bad Feminist” author is joined by Elizabeth Acevedo, author of the award-winning YA novel “The Poet X”; Morgan Jerkins, journalist and best-selling author of “This Will Be My Undoing”; and Josh Gondelman, comedian and writer for "Desus & Mero" and author of “Nice Try.” - GOP Activists Just Formed a Dark Money Group to Go to War With Big TechE20
GOP Activists Just Formed a Dark Money Group to Go to War With Big Tech When political opposites like Senator Josh Hawley and Bernie Sanders are both railing against the power of Big Tech, there may be real bipartisan momentum toward reining in the giants of the tech industry. Now, amid the calls for new regulations on privacy, antitrust issues, and alleged political bias, two experienced conservative operatives have formed an advocacy group to challenge Big Tech. - Trump’s Phone Call With Ukraine President Zelensky: A Staged ReadingE25
Trump’s Phone Call With Ukraine President Zelensky: A Staged Reading We couldn’t be in the room for President Trump’s history-making call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump tells us the call was “perfect” — so we decided to recreate it. - Inside Idlib: The Plight of Civilians in Syria’s Last Rebel StrongholdE28
Inside Idlib: The Plight of Civilians in Syria’s Last Rebel Stronghold Since late April, the Syrian regime and its Russian allies have launched near-daily airstrikes and shelling throughout the province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold left after 8 years of bitter civil war. While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claims he is targeting rebel terrorist groups, it’s clear that civilians like Mohammad are bearing the brunt of a relentless and indiscriminate bombing campaign. More than 700 civilians, including 300 children, have been killed since the latest offensive began. More than 400,000 more have been displaced in the same time frame, according to the United Nations, and the Syrian Civil Defense teams work round the clock to help struggling families move away from neighborhoods that are still being shelled. The fighting continues even as Russian, Turkish and Iranian leaders have agreed to multiple ceasefires to end the violence in Idlib Province. - Venezuela Is Losing Its War on Infectious DiseasesE29
Venezuela Is Losing Its War on Infectious Diseases Venezuela once had one of the best health systems on the continent. Now, after years of economic and political crisis, it’s barely able to contain the spread of infectious diseases that were previously controlled or completely eradicated. - Meet the Russians Nostalgic for StalinE30
Meet the Russians Nostalgic for Stalin VICE News meets Essence of Time, a pro-Kremlin, Stalinist group which is encouraging this startling historical revisionism, and visits the city which has controversially unveiled a brand new statue to the USSR's wartime leader. - Feral Hogs Are Tearing Up Texas, So Tourists Are Shooting Them from HelicoptersE33
Feral Hogs Are Tearing Up Texas, So Tourists Are Shooting Them from Helicopters “Legit question for rural Americans,” Twitter user William McNabb asked in August in response to a question about assault weapon use, “How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?”. The internet shortly exploded with feral hogs and the oddly specific invasion of 30 to 50 hogs became a viral internet meme. What started as a debate around one of America’s most polarizing topics — assault weapons — became many people’s introduction to a very different problem: Feral hogs are one of the most destructive invasive species in the U.S. And Texans, in particular, come face-to-face with a lot more than 30 to 50 feral hogs, but it's no laughing matter. That's why they're dealing with the crisis in a very Texas way, Helicopter Hunting. - Katie Hill Slams Republicans for Enabling Sexual PredatorsE35
Katie Hill Slams Republicans for Enabling Sexual Predators Voice steady and dressed head to toe in red, freshman Rep. Katie Hill took to the House floor to deliver her last speech, with a message for Republicans: Stop enabling accused sexual predators. - Why Chile Is Rising UpE36
Why Chile Is Rising Up Hundreds of thousands in Chile have taken to the streets to protest just about everything: low wages, the country’s rising cost of living, poor healthcare, and a widely criticized private pension system. In short: decades of inequality. The protests have been raging for weeks, and have gotten violent. At least 20 people have died, some at the hands of state forces and during looting. On Monday, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera reshuffled a third of his cabinet. But people continued to take to the streets. - Iran Marked 40 Years Since the Hostage Crisis With a Massive Anti-American RallyE37
Iran Marked 40 Years Since the Hostage Crisis With a Massive Anti-American Rally Suroosh Alvi went to Tehran during the anti-American protests marking 40 years since the hostage crisis. We were the only American team allowed on the ground. - Here’s Why You Should Still Care About the Torture Report — From The Guy Who Wrote ItE38
Here’s Why You Should Still Care About the Torture Report — From The Guy Who Wrote It It seems like a bad idea for a movie: A guy spends five years in the windowless basement room of a nondescript office building in Virginia reading through 6 million documents. He and his small team then write a 6,700-page report — with 38,000 footnotes and a table of contents that’s hundreds of pages long — based on what they learn. Only a handful of people ever bother to read the report, and it’s then basically locked away. The end. But it isn’t just any office building; it’s a CIA installation. The documents are classified CIA emails and cables. And the report seeks to uncover information about the agency’s post-9/11 “enhanced interrogation” program, a yearslong torture campaign in which more than 100 detainees were brutalized in secret blacksite prisons all over the world, and which remains a horrific stain on America’s reputation - Easter Bombings Have Sri Lankans Voting for an Alleged War CriminalE39
Easter Bombings Have Sri Lankans Voting for an Alleged War Criminal Sri Lankans are voting for a new president on Saturday, and in the wake of the worst terror attack of the year, one of their top priorities is national security. That’s propelled an alleged war-criminal to the front of the race. Many blame the current administration for dropping the ball on valuable intel that could have prevented a string of suicide blasts coordinated by a local Islamist group that killed 259 people in churches and hotels on Easter Sunday. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the leader of the opposition political party, has capitalized on that anger. Leveraging his background as a former defense secretary who ended a civil war, he’s found support through pitching himself as the guy who’ll make Sri Lanka safe again. - We Took a Bus Tour of Trump’s D.C. SwampE40
We Took a Bus Tour of Trump’s D.C. Swamp In Washington, D.C., Congress has hit impeachment mania. But leading up to the 2020 presidential election, two leftist groups want voters in swing states to know that President Trump’s Ukraine policy isn’t the only questionable part of his time in office. To convince them of that, they rented a bus. - Hong Kong Protesters Are Split: Vote In Elections Or Keep Waging War Against PoliceE41
Hong Kong Protesters Are Split: Vote In Elections Or Keep Waging War Against Police Hong Kong is going to the polls Sunday after weeks of increasingly violent protests that have seen police firing live rounds, a man set on fire by demonstrators, and days-long police sieges on hardline demonstrators trapped in universities. The local elections have taken on outsize importance. Freshman candidates like 23-year old Lee Ka Wai are hoping to tap into that energy on Sunday. Lee wants to take down the pro-China politicians who dominate the council. He's now running against New People's Party incumbent Kam Man Fung. But the elections are also revealing signs of fracturing in the movement — one hardline protester told us those running are "become an accomplice to the system." - The Young Black Farmers Defying A Legacy of DiscriminationE42
The Young Black Farmers Defying A Legacy of Discrimination Kendrick Ransome started out farming a few years ago with just a hoe, a rake, and a shovel. He could have used support getting his hog and vegetable business off the ground, but he was wary of asking institutions for help. “My big brother told me, ‘Stay away from loans,’” said Ransome. In 1925, most farmers in his rural hometown of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, were black. But now, the 26-year-old is an anomaly. - The Parents Going To War With Anti-Vaxxers On FacebookE43
The Parents Going To War With Anti-Vaxxers On Facebook Anti-vaxx activists have used Facebook and other social platforms for years to spread misinformation about the so-called “dangers” of life-saving vaccines. But a new brand of pro-vaccination parents aren’t taking this lying down. Around the country, they’re heading to Facebook to do battle with these ideas at their source, refuting myths and spreading scientific facts in online “echo chambers.” It’s not a fair fight. That’s because while most parents vaccinate their kids and move on, anti-vaxxers tend to be very vocal about their decision, and that plays out on Facebook. - Some Elderly People in Japan Are Going to Jail on PurposeE44
Some Elderly People in Japan Are Going to Jail on Purpose When one 69-year-old Japanese woman was in jail, part of her day consisted of helping clean up after fellow elderly prisoners who had wet the bed. Japan is aging rapidly, and it’s causing some strange side effects on society. More shoplifting is now committed by the elderly than by teenagers, and older people now make up 20% of all arrests. Though Japan is often thought of as a country that honors its elders, many people blame the rise in elderly crime on a lack of support for the aged. In fact, some experts believe that some elderly people are going to jail on purpose. We visited one elderly woman in her Tokyo apartment to ask what life has been like as an ex-con. - We Went on a Russian Army Propaganda Tour of SyriaE45
We Went on a Russian Army Propaganda Tour of Syria Just outside Damascus, foreign reporters on a press tour gathered around a handful of generals from not just the Syrian Arab Army, but the Russian military, too. The infamous Syrian-Russian special alliance on full display for the cameras was a bizarre scene to witness. But it’s nearly impossible for international journalists to get access to the part of Syria controlled by President Bashar al-Assad. The only way in is through a regime-sanctioned press tour orchestrated by Russian Ministry of Information — and reporters are agreeing to them in order to see what’s happening in the country. And it’s also a window into Russian propaganda on Syria. - Uncovering Secrets of Climate Change Deep Inside CavesE46
Uncovering Secrets of Climate Change Deep Inside Caves Shatter Cave’s entrance forces visitors to bow down to its geological wonders — or at least forces cavers to crawl through a concrete tunnel on their hands and knees. Once inside, where the walls sparkle and giant bacon strips of minerals hang overhead, it’s clear why novice cavers usually aren’t allowed in Shatter Cave: Not only is everything eerily beautiful here, it’s also very, very old. Shatter’s tight squeezes are no match for Gina Moseley, a paleoclimatologist at Austria’s University of Innsbruck who’s been caving since she was 12. Today she is hunting for 30,000-year-old crystals that formed when permafrost melted in the last Ice Age. - Climate Change Is Coming For WineE47
Climate Change Is Coming For Wine From sinking cities to species extinction, the effects of climate change are expected to be disastrous. And these shifting weather patterns will especially impact our food supply. One beloved crop, the grape, is already facing threats due to its extreme sensitivity. In turn, that threatens the grape's main byproduct: wine. In the vineyards of Napa during historic wildfires and the wine laboratories of Bordeaux, Gianna Toboni explores the dangers facing viticulture, and what they mean for agriculture everywhere. - How A Song About Impeachment Snuck Into Your Favorite Pop HitsE48
How A Song About Impeachment Snuck Into Your Favorite Pop Hits VICE News met up with Roy C in his old record store in Allendale, South Carolina, to find out how he feels about the legacy of his song, and how he’s hoping that Trump will provide an opportunity for a comeback. - The Fight To Stop Genital Surgeries on Intersex InfantsE49
The Fight To Stop Genital Surgeries on Intersex Infants Pidgeon Pagonis’ childhood memories include surgeries, hormone therapy, and repeated inspections of their genitals. When they turned 18 and got a copy of their medical records, they finally understood why. - The Plight of Fishermen Caught Up in India And Pakistan’s Devastating Border FightE50
The Plight of Fishermen Caught Up in India And Pakistan’s Devastating Border Fight For over 70 years, the border between Pakistan and India has remained one of the most disputed flashpoints in the world. That includes an unmarked maritime border in the Indian Ocean where hundreds of Indian and Pakistani fishermen are arrested each year by the two nuclear-armed nations, devastating coastal communities whose livelihoods depend entirely on fishing.