Sobredosis de TV: Home and Away

“Sobredosis de TV” is our occasional feature where we look at television shows regarding the Americas.
VICE was founded in 1994 as a culture and arts magazine in Canada, which would eventually turn into a media conglomerate that includes a film production company and a record label. But perhaps VICE is best known for producing hard-hitting and revealing documentaries on a myriad of subjects from secret North Korean labor camps to civil conflict in numerous countries. The newest episode of the “VICE on HBO” series that airs tonight at 11:00pm EST is no exception to this perception.

“Sweet Home Alabama” focuses on the aftermath of staunch anti-immigration laws passed in 2011 in the Cotton State. Under House Bill-56, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving local government benefits, obligates public schools to provide yearly tallies of the number of undocumented migrant children and permits police with “reasonable suspicion” to inquire about a person’s legal status.

Unsurprisingly, HB-56 became a lightning rod in the fractious debate over immigration in the U.S. Critics of the measure included Alabama’s Latino populace, small town police chiefs without sufficient resources to enforce the must-arrest provisions and groups that successfully convinced the federal court to invalidate some provisions. Some initial supporters of the law such as legislators who voted for its approval even backtracked with one admitting, “If you make a mistake, you should be man enough to admit it.”

In the following brief clip from “Sweet Home Alabama,” two backers of HB-56 give their rationale for the controversial measure. One of them is the sheriff of Albertville, a community that apparently became a ghost town after Latino residents fled in the wake of HB-56. Check it out below the page break:

Sobredosis de TV: Eye on Juarez

It is said that a picture captures a thousand words.  This could be the mantra of photojournalists who venture to some of the world's most dangerous places in order to capture the chaos and conflict through the camera's lens.

"Witness: Juarez" is the first of a four-part documentary series that airs tonight on HBO at 9:00 PM.  Tonight's episode focuses on the work of Eros Hoagland in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Since 1993, he has traveled the world to cover violence and unrest in countries like Colombia and Haiti.  Hoagland followed in the footsteps of his father, John, a veteran photojournalist who was killed while covering the aftermath of El Salvador's civil war. 

In a recent article in The Daily Beast, Hoagland describes that the war on drugs in Mexico is complex and includes varied individuals such as "dirty cops, masked outlaws, and corrupt politicians."  He also delves into what he feels is the goal behind the images he captures:

Pictures lie all the time. I don’t believe my lens conveys the ultimate truth. I know full well that my photos are only part of the truth, and it’s up to you to decide the rest. Cases certainly exist with a clear victim and a villain, but in my line of work, it’s as if everything is in a bag—you can shake it up and take your pick. I’m on the hunt for thematic images that give perspective on a particular place. Good pictures should make you curious. If I’ve made you curious, I’ve done my job.

Below is the trailer for the "Witness" series that will also include Hoagland reporting on the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. 

A recent study found that Ciudad Juarez is not the world's most dangerous city though its murder rate is still a very high 148 people per 100,000. Juarez has reportedly undergone a decline in violence over the past few months though it's yet to be seen if this represents a road to recovery or a temporary improvement.

Online Sources - mexidata.info, The Daily Beat, Time, Eros Hoagland Photography, HBO Documentaries

Video Source - YouTube via user HBO Docs