The Guardian is to join up with Vice as part of a content partnership which will include reports that will air on its nightly news programme in the US and UK.
The deal, the first of its kind that Vice News has struck with another news organisation, will see a small team of Guardian journalists based at Vice’s offices in east London.
The Guardian will bring its news expertise to the partnership, and in turn will be able to access Vice’s video production skills with content distributed to its millennial-skewed global audience.
“This partnership provides a test case for the way forward in multi-platform exploitation of content,” said Shane Smith, co-founder and chief executive of Vice’s parent company, Vice Media. “And when that content is the foremost investigative news in the business it becomes even more imperative. Real, fact-based, trusted news has never been more important and this partnership, I am very excited to say, will provide just that.”
The partnership will include co-branded special reports that will air across Vice’s news offerings, which will include Guardian reporters presenting, including on Vice News Tonight.
Vice News Tonight is the media company’s nightly news programme with HBO, which airs in the US and on its Viceland channel in the UK.
It will also include content that will run on the weekly news magazine series Vice on HBO and Vice Specials, a documentary series that also airs on HBO.
“Guardian journalism has never been more relevant or in demand,” said Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief at Guardian News & Media, publisher of the Guardian and Observer. “This partnership recognises the Guardian and Vice as pioneers in digital news and underscores our commitment to using video to open up our journalism in new and interesting ways.”
The Guardian team will be led by Mustafa Khalili, multimedia news editor, who will work alongside Vice News producers and development executives to produce original content.
It is understood that the commercial terms of the deal will involve both flat-fee and revenue-share elements, although details were not provided.
David Pemsel, chief executive of Guardian Media Group, the parent company of the Guardian and Observer, said: “Partnering with Vice is testament to our strategy to innovate on a global scale to maximise both the revenue potential and impact of our journalism. We’re really excited about this opportunity to do just that whilst building further awareness of the Guardian brand both in the US and amongst valuable millennial audiences.”
In May, Vice raided the BBC to hire Neil Breakwell, Newsnight’s deputy editor, to head its UK news operation ahead of the launch of its Viceland UK TV channel on Sky.