Nationality Canadian Role Journalist Occupation Journalist Spouse Tamyka Smith | Known for VICE co-founder Education Carleton University Name Shane Smith Movies Waves of Grace | |
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Born September 28, 1969 (age 54) ( 1969-09-28 ) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Alma mater Lisgar Collegiate InstituteCarleton University Net worth USD $400 million (2012) Children Martina Smith, Piper Smith Awards Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series Or Special Similar People Suroosh Alvi, Bill Maher, Gavin McInnes, Simon Ostrovsky, Kaj Larsen Profiles | ||
Vice s shane smith doesn t want to be called a journalist disrupt ny 2014
Shane Smith (born September 28, 1969) is a Canadian Emmy Award-winning journalist and media executive. He is the co-founder and CEO of the international media company VICE Media, operating an international network of digital channels, a television production studio, a record label, an in-house creative services agency, a book-publishing house, and a feature film division.
Contents
- Vice s shane smith doesn t want to be called a journalist disrupt ny 2014
- Early life and education
- Career
- Journalism
- Partnerships and investors
- Personal life
- Filmography
- Awards
- References
Early life and education
Shane Smith was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1969. He attended the Lisgar Collegiate Institute and later graduated from Carleton University with a degree in English literature and political science.
Before Vice, Smith went to university in Ottawa, played in local punk bands, and traveled Eastern Europe before moving to Montreal.
Career
Smith, along with co-founders Suroosh Alvi and Gavin McInnes (who left VICE in 2008), acquired the youth magazine Voice of Montreal in 1994 and changed its name to Vice. The magazine was originally funded by the Government of Canada as part of a welfare program. After being acquired in 1999 and moving to New York City, Smith and his co-founders bought VICE back, and moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2001. Initially publishing print articles based on offbeat alternative culture, VICE moved to creating news content and social criticism on multiple media platforms in 2006. Smith remains an owner of the company, and The New York Times has described Smith as "a cross between a punk rocker and Fortune 500 Executive".
In 2006, on the advice from the company’s creative director Spike Jonze, VICE Media began expanding into digital video. This led to a massive expansion of VICE into new channels, including a partnership with Intel in 2010 for The Creators Project, as well as deals with partners like Viacom, YouTube, and HBO, led by Smith.
In April 2013, VICE started a new series with HBO, "VICE", in which Smith and other VICE correspondents cover news stories from around the globe. The show's second season won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series or Special. The show was picked up for two more 14-episode seasons by HBO in May 2014, which will air in 2015 and 2016. Based on the success of the weekly show, in 2015 HBO and VICE announced an expanded deal which included a daily news show on HBO Now premiering in 2016, 32 VICE-produced specials over four years, and an expansion of the existing show from 14 to nearly 30 episodes a year. "VICE" started its 5th season of weekly broadcasts on HBO under the expanded episode deal on Friday, February 24, 2017.
2015 saw a slate of new deals for VICE, including partnerships with Verizon, Rogers Communications, Live Nation, Spotify and Snapchat, where VICE was a launch partner for Snapchat's “Discover” platform.
Journalism
As a journalist Smith has traveled to locations including North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia, and Greenland, initially for the 2006 online TV series VICE Guide to Travel. Smith has continued to serve as a correspondent for VICE, appearing in online content as well as the host of VICE’s HBO show and VICE Special Reports.
In 2015, Smith accompanied US President Barack Obama as part of the president's first historic visit to a federal prison, interviewing the President along with five non-violent drug offenders at El Reno Prison. He also conducted the first public interview with the Eagles of Death Metal following the 2015 terrorist shooting at their show at the Bataclan in Paris that left 89 dead.
On December 9, 2016, HBO broadcast "Vice Special Report: A House Divided", which explores the political dysfunction in the United States during the Obama presidency. The 75-minute program features Smith interviewing influential politicians including President Obama, former U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner, and former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to understand the development of excessive polarization and gridlock, culminating in the 2016 presidential election. It was nominated for an Emmy award.
Partnerships and investors
In June 2014, it was reported that Time Warner was negotiating to acquire a minority stake in VICE Media; among the company's plans were to give Vice Media control over the programming of HLN—a spin-off network of CNN which had recently struggled in its attempts to re-focus itself as a younger-skewing, social media-oriented news service. However, the deal fell through as the companies were unable to agree on a proper valuation, and VICE Media partnered with A&E Networks for a 10% minority stake in VICE Media for $250 million, keeping VICE Media independent. The following April, it was announced that A&E's channel H2 would be rebranded as VICELAND, a lifestyle channel aimed at millennials. On February 29, 2016, VICE Media officially launched VICELAND with investment support by Disney and A&E. Disney has since increased their stake in VICE Media through A&E with two $200 million investments — the first in November 2015, followed by the second a week later in December 2015 — for a roughly 10% stake to assist in funding programming and growth.
Smith, in interviews, has mentioned the possibility of VICE going public, saying in a 2015 interview: “There hasn’t been a media company like this to go public in 15 years…the markets would love it,” and he told CNBC in 2016, “It’s the best time in history to be a content creator.”
On June 22, 2016, VICE Media unveiled a large slate of international deals that, by the end of 2017, will make its programming available to audiences in over 50 new territories in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the Middle East and India. In total, VICE's programming will be available in over 80 territories, through partnerships with Times of India Group, SKY UK, Canal+ France, MOBY Group (Middle East), SBS (Australia), SKY New Zealand, MultiChannels Asia (Southeast Asia), Antenna Media (Europe), and more.
In 2015, Canadian Business placed him on "Canada's Richest People" , claiming his net worth to be at $1.27 billion.
Personal life
Smith currently resides in Santa Monica, California, with his wife, Tamyka, and his two daughters, Martina and Piper in a renovated mansion.
Filmography
Awards
Smith’s work on VICE’s HBO show won him an Emmy award in 2014, as well as a number of environmental awards for his work covering global warming in Greenland, Antarctica and beyond. He has also been honored with a Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication, an LA Press Club Award, and two Peabody awards for serving as executive producer of VICE News' documentaries "The Islamic State" and "Last Chance High".