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The Integrity of Game Journalists

Posted by Zonk on from the who-can-take-what? dept.

ScoobyScooby writes "An interesting story went live on Games.net yesterday in response to a 'letter from the editor' penned by Dan Hsu of EGM. In his letter he accuses a number of publications and publishers of being essentially buying coverage and vice versa. A Games.net editor responds with his own take on things and the resulting comments and discussion are worth investigating. Are veiled accusations about improprieties really helpful at bringing gaming journlism to a more respected level? Or, do such accusations hurt more than they help? The Blame Game: Where Do You Keep Your Integrity?" GameSetWatch has commentary.

5 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Is this a suprise? by sehryan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Really, did anyone not know that this sort of thing was going on? I mean, just look at the coverage of the three new consoles, and you can easily tell which "news" site is being paid by which manufacturer.

    --
    The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.
    1. Re:Is this a suprise? by chrismcdirty · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's sometimes harder to tell when rabid fanboyism is in place.

      --
      It's like sex, except I'm having it!
  2. What? by vertinox · · Score: 2, Insightful
    FTA:
    More importantly, when you begin questioning someone's journalistic integrity, does that make you any better than the person you're accusing? The answer: no.

    What? You mean, if we state that it appears that someone has a particular bias towards a certain product because we suspect they appear to be getting kick backs that we are no better than them?

    Even if we have proof?

    I would think that if had knowledge of such behavior that it would be in the best interest of everyone to know about this..
    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    1. Re:What? by easychord · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But if at that time you were an employee of Bioware it would have been harder to trust you. Maybe you were making things up to sell more copies of Baldurs Gate?

      Thats absurd of course, but one magazine editor trying to make his publication sound more honest than the competitors isn't always the best person to listen to. A lot of games reviews and opinions are slanted, but can you really trust anyone in the industry to tell you which ones to believe?

  3. Re:Payola by rtechie · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "It's no different from Payola and just as illegal."

    No it isn't, illegal that is. People don't seem to understand that payola laws are VERY narrow and ONLY cover record labels paying individual radio DJs and radio stations for airplay of specific songs. That is the ONLY thing that is illegal, and this law is widely violated by using "third parties". And by "widely violated" I mean virtually every single song you hear on commercial radio is the result of payola. The laws are really about going after DJs who essentially are screwing the STATIONS by playing a different "payola list" than what the labels paid the STATION for. Radio is such a wasteland that DJs are completely willing to get fired for kickbacks, hence payola.