Explained

5/24/18. I like Vox's news coverage online, so obviously I had to check this new series out. Vox always tries to provide comprehensive all-sides coverage of the latest issues online. Vox continues its tradition by providing a balanced look at the biggest issues of today, in 18-minute segments, which isn't really long in today's world where anything more than 5 minutes is 4 minutes too long. I look forward to new episodes. You can at least develop a more well-rounded perspective on what's going on in the real world than just what's on your Facebook feed.

I really enjoy how the topics don't just run on. They are intriguing and straight to the point. You gain the understanding of the topic within 20 minutes or less, which makes it easy to keep your focus. Definitely excited to see how this show continues and developes!

Some episodes are really well researched and informative. There are some that make you want to understand the topic more and happily research it further. However, others are a very biased monologue with a very specific ideological narrative that doesn't give the 360 view that something that is explaining a topic should give.

In a word where tradionnals medias are more busy doing news about sex, scandals and violence and social medias are spreading biased opinions and hate propaganda, I think this serie comes handy. Regardless of your alignement on the political spectrum, it provides us with short introduction to interesting topics. So whatever you think of the opinions expressed in the documentary, if it's giving you an impulse you learn more about these topics and search for the facts, it's a win. So don't try to see this serie for more than what it is: a short introduction to interesting topics, some about social issues, meant to fit our ever narrowing attention span.

This show can be informative, and educational, but some episodes are clearly socially motivated and coercive. A documentary is made to educate, using scientific data and ethical, unbiased reporting. Some of these episodes however, rely on socially motivated testimony, anecdotal evidence, and pop-culture pseudoscience to convince the audience of one point of view or perspective. These episodes are much closer to a coercive essay or even propoganda, leading the audience to believe the opinion of the new-age narrative to be fact, rather than reporting on all perspectives and data leaving the conclusions to the audience. Be weary if you leave the show feeling convinced of something; documentaries should educate and inform an audience, using ethical reporting and unbiased opinions without presenting a conclusion so that the audience can reach conclusions or opinions of their own. A documentary or report should not, however, aim to convince an audience using coercive language, unethical reporting, and motivated testimony to support the conclusion drawn or thesis or presented to be true.