????Vice Media誕生時是一家獨立的雜志。如今，它已蛻變為數字媒體界離經叛道的強者。這家公司竟然如此叛逆，很大程度上是源于有一位性格豪放不羈的首席執行官，他給這家公司烙上了強烈的個人印記。外界認為，Vice Media對待新聞的方式“與其說是在做新聞，不如說是‘干傻事’”?？墒?，雖然這家公司報道的態度毫無掩飾、咄咄逼人，卻在全球越來越多渴望了解新鮮資訊的年輕觀眾里形成了共鳴。無論喜歡與否，Vice Media都在蒸蒸日上的新媒體領域脫穎而出，成為最高明的新媒體之一。這家公司正在借助YouTube發掘成功商機（《財富》最近發布的封面文章“YouTube怎樣改變一切”（How YouTube changes everything）就闡述了這個趨勢）。

????這次接受《財富》采訪時，史密斯無所不談，探討了Vice Media成功的關鍵因素，給傳統媒體的建議，并為本公司在朝鮮的大膽報道辯解。以下是編輯整理后這次對話的文字記錄。

????您將Vice稱為“街頭的時代華納”，這么說是什么意思？

????它只是代表著時代華納（《財富》的母公司）是一家經營雜志、電視、電影、音樂和圖書的綜合媒體集團。我們也是這樣的企業。我們是正在換崗的衛兵。我們的雜志、記錄、書籍、網絡視頻、電視節目和電影更傾向于Y一代，沒有那么注重嬰兒潮一代。

????所以說，“街頭”的意思是年輕一代？

????沒錯。

????Vice自稱全數字網絡，可你已經說過，你有其他一切渠道，包括在美國有線電視網HBO上播出的一檔節目。對Vice來說，電視和互聯網怎樣相得益彰？

????我們是全數字的，這個意思是說，數字是我們的焦點。我們首先會為互聯網創造產品。如果它們也上了電視和電影，那當然好。那只是有一種挖掘內容的探索，但我們首先會瞄準互聯網。

????YouTube或是其他許多互聯網渠道都盼望著在電視方面“畢業”，因為這個領域的廣告收入大得多。您現在是指Vice不屬于這種情況？

????有人想撤離數字平臺，因為理論上說，電視的利潤更豐厚，（感覺上）電視也是黃金標桿。

????我說過想做下一個ESPN、CNN和MTV的綜合體。聽了這話，人人都會說“他是個狂妄自大的瘋子”。可如果大家看看自己可以在YouTube上能做的事情，留意一下相關的數據，比如了解一下（面向游戲玩家的互聯網視頻網絡）Machinima一個月能達到35億的瀏覽量，就會覺得這不是下一個CNN，這得是十倍體量的新一代CNN。這才是讓我們興奮的地方。

????如果你想用電視作為自己品牌的營銷工具，或者用它創造部分利潤，因為你已經投資了數字領域，那當然好。我們在23個國家都有地面電視業務，但它并不是我們的核心業務。我們的核心是要擴大自身規模，增加我們的覆蓋面，以一種有意義的方法讓它帶來盈利?；ヂ摼W的商機能產生更大的利潤，相當于20年前有線電視的10倍。

????Born as an indie magazine, Vice Media has morphed into an irreverent digital media powerhouse, in large part, through the force of personality of its iconoclastic CEO-cum-on-air-personality, Shane Smith. Its approach to the news has been described as "More 'Jackass' than journalism." Yet, Vice's raw, in-your-face voice is resonating with an ever-growing global audience of young people hungry for something new. Like it or not, Vice has emerged as one of the savviest players in the burgeoning new media world that is finding success around YouTube (a trend that was the subject of a recent Fortune cover story, How YouTube changes everything).

????In a wide-ranging conversation with Fortune, Smith discussed the keys to Vice's success, offered advice to traditional media, and defended the North Korea stunt. This is an edited transcript of that conversation.

????You've called Vice the "Time Warner of the street." What do you mean?

????It simply means that Time Warner [Fortune's parent company] (TWX) is a media conglomerate that does magazines, TV, movies, music, books. And so are we. We are the changing of the guard. We have magazines and records and books and online video and TV shows and movies that are more for Gen Y than for baby boomers.

????So the "street" refers to the younger generation?

????Exactly.

????Vice describes itself as an all-digital network, yet as you have just said, you have all these other channels, including a show on HBO. What's the interplay between TV and online for Vice?

????We are all digital in the sense that that's our focus. We create things first for online. If they go to TV, if they go to film, fine. That's just another exploitation of that content, but we are online first.

????A lot of the other YouTube or online channels aspire to "graduate" to television because the ad dollars are still much bigger there. You're saying that's not the case for Vice?

????People want to migrate off of digital platforms because it is theoretically more lucrative, and there's also [a sense] that TV is the gold standard.

????I've said I want to be next ESPN, the next CNN and the next MTV rolled up into one. Well everybody says, "He's a megalomaniac lunatic." If you look at the numbers you can do on YouTube, if you look, for example at Machinima (an online video network for gamers) with 3.5 billion views a month, you wouldn't be the next CNN. You would be the next CNN 10x. That's what's exciting for us.

????If you want to use TV as a marketing tool for your brand, or it's a margin builder because you have already paid for it digitally, fine. We do terrestrial TV in 23 countries, but it's not core to our business. What's core to our business is increasing our scale, increasing our reach and monetizing that in a meaningful way. The opportunities online are 10x what cable offered 20 years ago.