Vanguard is a television documentary series broadcast on the Current TV television network. Vanguard reported on such issues as the environment, drugs and the effects of globalization and conflict.
The focus of most Vanguard episodes is to explore and immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show’s correspondents conduct interviews with affected peoples and the regions involved usually being led by a guide and translator who facilitates access. Since Vanguard's subject matter often involved exposés about organized crime, drug trafficking and armed revolts, the correspondents can face significant danger because of their reporting due to unstable political or security situations.
Vanguard has received some of the media industry’s highest honors for journalism, including the 69th Annual Peabody Award, given for excellence in electronic media, and the 2010 Television Academy Honor, which recognizes "achievements in programming that present issues of concern to our society in a compelling, emotional and insightful way." Vanguard has also been awarded the 2009 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and the 2009 Livingston Award and was nominated four times for a news and documentary Emmy and for a sports Emmy®.
Episode 14 : Cage Fighting in the USA
December. 19,2011
Mariana van Zeller explores the fastest growing sport in America - Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). MMA is now a billion-dollar industry, watched by millions on national TV. But increasingly, amateurs are stepping onto the mat and drawing blood. Mariana meets male and female cage fighters to understand why they love this violent sport. And she spends time in a church run by "The Fight Pastor," who ministers a flock of young men who fight for Jesus.
Episode 13 : The 99 Percent
December. 12,2011
Christof Putzel moves into Zuccotti Park to explore the Occupy Wall Street movement from the inside. Produced by Brent and Craig Renaud.
Episode 12 : Two Americas
December. 05,2011
Vanguard's "Two Americas" takes a ground-level survey of the growing economic disparity in America, profiling a month in the lives of two families in very different income brackets.
Episode 11 : The War on Weed
November. 28,2011
Christof compares how US cities deal with weed. It’s high times in LA, while NYC cracks down on low-level pot offenses.
Episode 10 : Under the Knife Abroad
November. 14,2011
Americans increasingly seek medical care overseas, because they can’t afford it at home. Adam Yamaguchi investigates medical tourism.
Episode 9 : Islamophobia
November. 07,2011
Adam Yamaguchi examines the rise of Islamophobia across the US and UK, and a new, aggressive network of anti-Muslim alarmists.
Episode 8 : Arming the Mexican Cartels
October. 31,2011
Christof Putzel reports from Juarez, Mexico, where US guns are fueling deadly drug wars.
Episode 7 : Recovery High
August. 08,2011
Students attend a public high school outside Boston dedicated to serving drug-addicted teenagers.
Episode 6 : This (Illegal) American Life
August. 01,2011
Mariana van Zeller explores the personal stories of just some of the more than 2 million college students who are also illegal immigrants and facing uncertain futures as they prepare to graduate.
Episode 5 : Tiger Farms
July. 26,2011
Vanguard correspondent Adam Yamaguchi goes undercover to investigate China's lucrative black market for tigers and tiger parts, including the business of Asian zoos and breeding centers.
Episode 4 : City of God, Guns & Gangs
July. 20,2011
Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller investigates Brazil's bold new initiative to transform Rio de Janeiro's dangerous slums (called favelas) before the country hosts the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
Episode 3 : Sushi to the Slaughter
July. 12,2011
Adam Yamaguchi, a ravenous sushi consumer since childhood, examines the cost of the world's insatiable appetite for raw fish, namely the Bluefin tuna.
Episode 2 : Sex, Lies & Cigarettes
June. 28,2011
Vanguard correspondent Christof Putzel heads to Indonesia, where he exposes Big Tobacco's successful and deadly expansion into that country, and observes the stage being set for a David vs. Goliath battle, as a small, underfunded group of concerned advocates battle Big Tobacco and a government drunk on profits and denial.
Episode 1 : Gateway to Heroin
June. 20,2011
Correspondent Mariana van Zeller investigates how and why OxyContin has fueled a new heroin epidemic in and around Boston.
