The Craft of the Graft

Joe Markert writes "Gamehelper.com's Mike 'Vansau' Thompson takes a look at integrity and graft in the world of gaming journalism in his recent article, appropriately titled: Integrity: The Craft of the Graft From the article, '...it's easy to play the card of honesty, objectivity, and moral nobility when you have the financial backing of a major publisher like Ziff Davis or IDG. Without that support, though, the thought of advertisers threatening to take their business elsewhere creates valid concern.'" A follow up to Dan Hsu's editorial about pay-for-play in game reviews.

Comments

But what is this guy saying?

[larsoncc]

This article is nothing but an editorial piece. Another desk jockey that isn't doing anyone any favors.

What "games journalism" needs is an expose'. What we need is a solid reporter with nothing to lose (and everything to gain). Someone to rat em all out, with solid proof.

People that are behaving in this manner need to be shamed out of the shadows.

What we need is a Woodward or a Bernstein. And not just for the games industry - we need solid product reviews as consumers. Journalism, even in product reviews, is a matter of the public trust. It's being whispered that we can't trust "someone". We need to know who.

If this ever actually happens, this is a saga that likely won't see an end-game inside the games press. It'll likely play out in the "real" news, with cascading results. As each scandal is covered, more will be unvieled.

And heck, it may even bring in some readers, which is what the game is all about in the first place.

That didn't use to be true,

[Cadallin]

I remember when CGW regularly gave negative reviews, and even reviews that were positive presented objective criticisms. Unfortunately, that's been years now.