Vanguard | June 04, 2010 | 11 comments

Asking Questions Others Don't: Vanguard's Adam Yamaguchi on Investigative Journalism

Adam_Yamaguchi

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Vanguard executive producer and correspondent Adam Yamaguchi discusses the exhilarating, unpredictable nature of investigative journalism.

"If all the information that is out there was available to me right here at home, there'd be no sense in me going 12,000 miles around the world to stand in front of a building and report that," Adam says.

"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.

For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.
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    Current Video,   Best of TV US,   Vanguard,   Vanguard Weekly Special,   4 more
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  3. credits:
    Adam_Yamaguchi Correspondent, julian_robinson Editor, shana Producer
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11 comments // Asking Questions Others Don't: Vanguard's Adam Yamaguchi on Investigative Journalism // Video

  • ninetyseven
    • 0
      ninetyseven  

    • Here is a question Adam
      Where does the OPium come from that makes the Oxycodin ?
      Poppys ......and where are they grown...Here ? USA...Where?

    • 9 months ago
  • sydneyki
    • 0
      sydneyki  

    • I like Vangaurd, but I wouldn't necessarily call it journalism. It's not the content that is biased, it's the editing.
      What is all that sinister music playing in the background? It is totally unfair to manipulate people's emotions with that sort of thing.
      Also, the other day I watched 'From Russia with Hate', and towards the end, a video in which two immigrants are brutally slaughtered is discussed, and it is claimed that the murderers remain unidentified. Immediately after that, a shot of a Russian socialist is shown. It is like Vanguard is suggesting that the Russian guy is the one who did it.
      Now, while that may be the case, there is no proof whatsoever, and I find It completely offensive. And even though the suggestions is never made verbally, any reasonable person would agree that is the message being broadcast.
      It is disappointing to me that the series feels the need to dramatize everything with sound and editing techniques that are not true to their 'hardcore journalism' advertising.
      This is supposed to be journalism. Just because the tension created by such effects draws in more viewers doesn't mean it is right.

    • 1 year ago
  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  
    • sydneyki:

      http://Current.com

      I voted your comment up because you responded to the article's titled
      theme-asking the questions the others don't. Anyone can place a question
      mark at the end of a phrase including noun, verb, and object and call it
      a question. ( Someone who's judgement was clouded with emotion presumed
      their rhetoric was a question instead of a closed minded answer recently when
      they futiley adressed me. I didn't like having to point out their mind was being
      manipulated by emotion. That tends to embarass some, and make them feel
      humiliated at sounding foolish. But it wasn't intended as anything personal.
      I simply wanted to point out that the reason why I detest politics & religion is
      because both topics typicaly evoke more emotion than open minded thought. )
      To be intelligent means literaly to read between the lines and understand
      the nature of a question. Because the answer lies implied within that meaning.

      I like Current.com's Vanguard series because it fulfills the public need to know
      definition of Journalism. I detest the TV media that depends on Marshal McCluhan's observation that; " the media is the massage " instead of the message. It stems
      from the 1930s to 1960s radio plays designed as entertainment before the
      radio signal split into audio & visual, and became out and out mind control.
      If you don't read news, then you may never remember it because your brain
      isn't stimulated to exercise itself with enough thought to associate it into memory.

      TV uses people's minds like a bartender uses a shot glass to measure whiskey.
      Once the consumer empties it, it's preped for another fill, and emptied out as fast.
      My criticism is not with Current or Vanguard, but with the format. If it weren't
      deficient by its very nature, it wouldn't need a soundtrack to tell people's minds
      there's something sinister going on. My observation with TV's couch potatoes
      is that, to them, anything goes, because they have no sense of right and wrong.
      Meaning, it they're told that what they're viewing is right, then why question that ?
      (More rhetorical bullshit) They can't think for themselves anymore. So when they're
      told that something is wrong, they need that extra impetus to associate it into their
      memory that it's wrong. Sad. I blog Current's Vanguard as I do UTube et al, so
      that I can do research, and keep informed on whatthe future holds for humans
      in this world. I'm glad that Current and Vanguard are around, despite the observation.

    • 1 year ago
  • QuestionGeek
  • frank_runyeon
    • +1
      frank_runyeon  

    • The Vanguard team's work is really an inspiration and, more importantly, represents the hope that video journalism can become an accessible, engaging, honest, and straightforward means of getting the news.

      I'm with all of you in banking that a mix of authentic personalities, intelligent angles, and great stories will recreate the VJ market!

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
    • +2
      CalgarC  

    • i fucking love vanguard... i have seen every episode multiple times, participated in almost all the chats they used to have and even produced a trance song after it :D

      keep up the amazing work.

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
  • minglee
  • peteblanchard
  • bailey78
  • CalgarC

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