Vanguard

Over the course of the last few years I’ve lost pretty much all of my faith in the news media. Actually, it was all gone once Paris Hilton was all over CNN like anyone gave a shit. And that seems like a lifetime ago. Before that I had a lot of respect for the people that brought me news about the world, and told me about things I would not have otherwise known. Now it just seems like journalistic integrity is old fashioned, and news sources would rather take the easy way to a story. Which is basically just repeating whatever random thing they hear without checking sources or finding more information. It’s just easier and quicker to put everything out there and then retract info, only maybe not everyone gets the second memo and the original falsities still float around. Vanguard is an amazing show because the reporters really have a passion for delivering information. They go to far away places and often end up in dangerous situations in order to bring us knowledge, and especially to illuminate often ignored subjects.

Vanguard airs on Current TV, which is a relatively new channel that not every carrier provides. However, their content comes from their website, so pretty much every episode is available there. It was a feature that I took full advantage of after seeing Vanguard for the first time. I spent all my spare time in the next few days watching every episode I could find. Then there was an agonizing wait for the next season. Around the same time, two of the Vanguard team members were being held captive in North Korea, after their investigation of human trafficking went awry. Luckily, Laura Ling and Euna Lee found their way to a highly publicized release. Typical of the mainstream news sources, the story they were working on was largely passed over and they became the focus. And typical of Vanguard, they have repeatedly attempted to turn the focus back on the original story of North Koreans being brought into China.

Stories are typically about things no one else seems to want to talk about. The most recent episode was about the lack of public sanitation in a lot of the world, and how it spreads disease. The contributor, Adam Yamaguchi, comments on the Vanguard blog that the issue just isn’t sexy enough for celebrity support. There’s no Angelina Jolie of diarrhea. Good thing we have Adam, to somewhat fearlessly report on the problem. He covered the wide range of causes from poverty and overcrowding to differing cultural views and priorities. The second half of the episode focused on what some people are doing to improve water quality and recycle human waste. It seemed like a second part to the previous season’s episode about the lack of clean water worldwide, which was just as interesting and unsettling.

The episode before that was about the epidemic of rape on some Native American reservations. Mariana Van Zellar went to the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota to talk to various women and families who have been victimized. It was pretty hard to watch, and devastating when you realize the problem is being ignored. A lot of the stories are like that. While most end on a note of what’s being done about an issue, some are less optimistic than others. Last season Mariana covered vaguely legal pain medication dispensaries in Florida, and the spreading dependency on prescription drugs. After airing, the DEA raided more of the pain clinics. This week’s episode is fitting for the opening of the FIFA World Cup, about the shady trade of trafficking African boys to Europe for soccer recruitment.

Christof Putzel was the correspondent for the Emmy winning episode about Bhutan’s cultural shift as their emperor turns the nation toward democracy. Christof and Kaj Larsen both went to Somalia and Yemen to report on the dangerous journey for people fleeing war. And one of my favorite episodes was Kaj’s search for pirates in Malaysia. This season he’s investigating the effects of thousands of soldiers returning from war with PTSD in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Christof’s story this season is about home grown terrorists, which will probably be just as horrifying as when he went to hang out with neo-Nazis in Russia.

The stories explore multiple sides of each issue, and bring into account many causes and solutions. They’re often graphic, and definitely don’t shy away from showing details that might otherwise be overlooked. The contributors, producers, camera crew and other team members definitely give their all for each episode and it shows in the quality of the narrative. The subjects are international and local, and span a variety of subjects. It’s difficult to watch an episode without learning something about current events. There are so few news shows like this one; in a world full of Glenn Becks we need more Vanguards.