Hipster-imperial bible VICE did paid propaganda for Saudi Arabia

Hipster-imperial bible VICE did paid propaganda for Saudi Arabia

By Ben Norton

The Greyzone, October 21, 2018

Hipster media giant VICE worked with Saudi Arabia’s regime mouthpiece SRMG to create a video promoting tourism and a camel festival.

The hipster corporate media giant VICE did paid propaganda for Saudi Arabia, according to a British report on Saudi astroturf efforts.

Jim Waterson, the media editor for The Guardian, reported that VICE has worked with a soft-power arm of the Saudi royal family to generate public relations material for Saudi Arabia.

According to internal VICE sources contacted by The Guardian, the Brooklyn-based media company assembled a team to make pro-Saudi content in collaboration with the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), a regime mouthpiece that is closely linked to the royal family.

The SRMG board of directors is a revolving door of Saudi princes. SRMG also owns numerous major Saudi newspapers that function as unofficial state organs, including the highly influential Asharq Al-Awsat and Arab News.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman even personally met with VICE co-founder and billionaire Shane Smith, during his charm offensive in the United States in early 2018 — when the authoritarian de facto ruler likewise rubbed elbows with key figures from the US ruling class, including Oprah, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Thomas Friedman, and Jeffrey Goldberg.

Waterson noted that a video VICE published in March promoting the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival was produced in partnership with SRMG. This video has nearly 5 million views.

VICE acknowledges that it produces videos in partnership with Saudi royal mouthpiece SRMG

This revelation in The Guardian is part of a larger exposé on how the Saudi monarchy paid media outlets and public relations firms millions of dollars to spread propaganda to portray it in a positive light.

The popular British newspaper The Independent similarly has a deal with the Saudi Research and Marketing Group. And SRMG donates to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in return for assistance from the former UK prime minister.

Moreover, several major British newspapers, including The Guardian, have published paid advertisements portraying the brutally repressive Saudi crown prince as a reformer.

VICE’s American Regime Propaganda

In a two-part episode of Moderate Rebels, the podcast I co-host with The Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, we detailed how VICE transformed itself from a hipster bible into an echo chamber for US imperialism and the national security state.

VICE Media has received hundreds of millions of dollars of investment from some of the world’s largest corporate media conglomerates, including 21st Century Fox and Disney, and former top Obama administration official Alyssa Mastromonaco became Vice Media’s COO.

In recent years, VICE has relentlessly pushed for regime change in Syria, Libya, and other countries targeted by the US government. In addition to partnering with Saudi regime mouthpieces, VICE co-produced a hawkish documentary with Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, which brought together notorious neoconservatives and neoliberals to advance US foreign policy interests.

Another co-founder of VICE, Gavin McInnes, since leaving the company in disagreement with the other co-founders, has become a far-right demagogue and leader of the hate group the Proud Boys, which McInnes has proudly referred to as a “gang.”

The VICE co-founder has openly encouraged and incited violence against leftists and marginalized groups, stating, “We will kill you… We will assassinate you,” and “Fighting solves everything. We need more violence from the Trump people. Trump supporters: Choke a motherfucker. Choke a bitch. Choke a tranny. Get your fingers around the windpipe.”

Listen:

How Vice Media normalizes US empire under hipster guise

VICE's American regime propaganda: How 'A World in Disarray' glorifies US imperialism

Addendum by Radio Islam:

I should be noted that VICE Media rely on Jewish money from billionaire George Soros.

Please read the article "Vice Media Gets $250 Million in Debt Funding From George Soros, Other Investors" (Variety, May 3, 2019):

Vice Media, looking to revitalize its flagging business, has gotten a $250 million cash infusion from an investment consortium that includes billionaire George Soros.

The company’s new debt financing was led by 23 Capital, a financing firm focused exclusively on sports, music and entertainment sectors, with participation by Soros Fund Management, Fortress Investment Group and Monroe Capital, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal Friday.

“With this capital investment, Vice’s growth plans can be accelerated, allowing us to execute our new leadership’s strategic vision for the company,” a Vice rep said in a statement.

And the Zionist Murdoch clan has also its grips on VICE Media. The article "James Murdoch Buys a Stake in Vice Media" (The New York Times, October 10, 2019), reports:

Rupert Murdoch’s son is focusing his investments on media businesses that bear little resemblance to those in his father’s empire.

James Murdoch, the former chief executive of 21st Century Fox, has taken a small stake in Vice Media, the irreverent media brand focused on millennials and entertainment.

Mr. Murdoch, who already sits on Vice’s board, made the investment as part of Vice’s recent acquisition of Refinery29, a women’s lifestyle publisher, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the deal is meant to be private.

The investment, which was first reported by The Financial Times, is through Mr. Murdoch’s holding company, Lupa Systems. He formed Lupa after leaving 21st Century Fox, the media giant founded by his father, Rupert Murdoch. Last year, the family sold off the majority of Fox’s assets to the Walt Disney Company for more than $70 billion.

[...]

The Murdoch family has a history with Vice. Mr. Murdoch joined the board in 2013 as part of a $70 million investment Fox made that summer. Fox’s stake in Vice went to Disney as part of last year’s acquisition.

NYT columnist Thomas Friedman gets Twitter-skewered after defending his honeyed flattery of Saudi Arabia (VIDEO)
RT - Russia Today, 19 October, 2018. Long-time Jewish activist and Israel agent, Thomas Friedman, uses his chutzpah - i.e. shameless Jewish audacity - to support the Saudi régime, now that it is pro-Israel.

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