Thomas Morton is a writer and television host. He was a contributing editor for ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

'' magazine who began working at

following a summer internship in 2004. After several years helping edit the print edition of the magazine, he became Vice.com's online editor. During his tenure at the magazine, Morton wrote first-hand accounts of infiltrating

religious cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This s ...

s, competitive binge-eating and living with a Dominican family for a week. He was also the first non-

Juggalo A juggalo (feminine juggalette, or juggala in Spanish) is a fan of the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse or any other hip hop group signed to Psychopathic Records. Juggalos have developed their own idioms, slang, and characteristics. Th ...

to attend and report on the

Gathering of the Juggalos The Gathering of the Juggalos (The Gathering or GOTJ) is an annual festival put on by Psychopathic Records, featuring performances by the entire label roster as well as numerous well-known musical groups and underground artists. It was founded by ...

. When Vice launched its online video channel

VBS.tv VBS.tv was an online television network owned by ''Vice Media'', and later absorbed into VICE.com. The network produced original, short-form, documentary-style video content under the auspice of VICE Films. Subject matter included humanitarian ...

in 2007, Morton began appearing as an on-air correspondent in numerous documentaries and video series, covering environmental catastrophes in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, the

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Gulf coast, and the

Brazilian Amazon Brazilian commonly refers to: * Something of, from or relating to Brazil * Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil * Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent Brazilian may also ...

. He also interviewed rapper and fellow

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...

. Morton has been a producer and correspondent for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's news magazine series ''

'' since 2013. According to his bio on HBO's website, he is a fan of English

jangle-pop Jangle pop is a subgenre of pop rock or college rock that emphasizes jangly guitars and 1960s-style pop melodies. The term originated from Bob Dylan's song "Mr. Tambourine Man", whose 1965 rendition by the Byrds became considered one of the g ...

in the style of groups like

Felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...

and

Biff Bang Pow! Biff Bang Pow! were an indie pop band from London, England, active between 1983 and 1991, centering on Creation Records boss Alan McGee. History Glaswegian Alan McGee had previously been in the band The Laughing Apple, who released three single ...

. From 2014 to 2015, Morton served as a field reporter and host for Noisey's music

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

Noisey Chiraq ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...

and Noisey Atlanta. In early 2016, ''

'' began broadcasting a new

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

channel,

VICELAND Viceland (stylized in all caps), and Vice TV in the United States, are brands used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, with two branded cable channels; the American version (rebra ...

. Thomas Morton hosted a long-form, pop anthropology

docuseries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

called '' Balls Deep'', which features in-depth investigative pieces focused on different American

subcultures A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

in each episode. Thomas Morton's investigative journalism serves as the inspiration for the Netflix series ''

Dark Tourist (TV series) ''Dark Tourist'' is a New Zealand documentary series about the phenomenon of dark tourism, presented by journalist David Farrier. The series, which was released by Netflix, has eight episodes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a second season was ...

''. On May 15th, 2020, Morton tweeted that he was laid off from Vice in 2019.

References

Living people American male journalists 1983 births {{US-journalist-1980s-stub