Vice debuts its nightly newscast on HBO
NEW YORK — Vice Media launched a daily newscast Monday designed to appeal to younger viewers with colorful graphics, a light musical soundtrack, no on-camera newsreader and reports on topics ranging from the second presidential debate to a strike by prison inmates in Alabama.
The debut of “Vice News Tonight” featured a correspondent in a nose ring who tied Hurricane Matthew to climate change.
Vice, an upstart media company known for its in-your-face international reporting, is looking to shake up television’s daily news diet. Its newscast is airing weeknights on HBO at 7:30 p.m. ET. That’s after the more traditional newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC, which have been on the air for decades and attract primarily an older audience.
From the start, “Vice News Tonight” quickly dispensed with the traditions of network newcasts. There was no modern-day anchor equivalent to Lester Holt or David Muir; only a woman narrator who was not seen or identified.