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Games Journalism! Wainwright/Florence/Tomb Raider/Eurogamer/Libel Threats/Doritos

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lednerg said:
In the short term, the best we can hope for is that the consumers of game journalism become more discerning in what they read or watch. This should (and already has) lead to more and more people calling out the sites whenever they try to feed us a PR line without proper disclosure, or hire a gaming 'personality' to do a critic's job, and so on. Sure, "it's just video games", but it's also a multi-billion dollar industry that hires tens of thousands of people; it deserves accurate and fair coverage like any other entertainment medium.

If this hobby of ours is ever going to outgrow the stigma of the pasty-skinned basement dweller, then the people who cover it are going to have to step up and act like they're catering to more than just said mouth breathers. Many of them are not going to do this on their own; they'll need a push in the right direction. If that makes us the bad guys, then fine; we're the assholes who keep pushing them to do better. I'm sure we can live with that.
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exactly. Having "lessons learned" certainly doesn't mean becoming complacent (as readers or writers). I hope we readers continue to scrutinize writer behavior, and I hope writers learn to welcome that additional scrutiny and not act like defensive a-holes about it.

I don't expect games journalism to become serious, but I do expect game journalists to take their jobs seriously.
 
Edit: Oh snap, one year old video! Still fucking hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKDfYkg1Le4

iMXdZ97BVRfHJ.png


Around 1:04
 
With the New York-based Gawker servers finally back online, I assume we'll be getting Totilo's article soon.

I read Jalopnik too (a lot more than Kotaku actually), and I saw an interesting article there that makes you wonder if there's some systemic problem with new media all across the board, and their concept of journalistic integrity.

Motor Trend Journalist Also Taking Money To Be A Spokesperson For An Oil Company
You could also argue what Lang does isn't journalism, but infotainment, yet Lang asserts she's a journalist and mentioned journalistic integrity when I spoke with her.
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lednerg said:
In the short term, the best we can hope for is that the consumers of game journalism become more discerning in what they read or watch. This should (and already has) lead to more and more people calling out the sites whenever they try to feed us a PR line without proper disclosure, or hire a gaming 'personality' to do a critic's job, and so on. Sure, "it's just video games", but it's also a multi-billion dollar industry that hires tens of thousands of people; it deserves accurate and fair coverage like any other entertainment medium.

If this hobby of ours is ever going to outgrow the stigma of the pasty-skinned basement dweller, then the people who cover it are going to have to step up and act like they're catering to more than just said mouth breathers. Many of them are not going to do this on their own; they'll need a push in the right direction. If that makes us the bad guys, then fine; we're the assholes who keep pushing them to do better. I'm sure we can live with that.
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Well said. I agree completely.
 
HoosTrax said:
With the New York-based Gawker servers finally back online, I assume we'll be getting Totilo's article soon.

I read Jalopnik too (a lot more than Kotaku actually), and I saw an interesting article there that makes you wonder if there's some systemic problem with new media all across the board, and their concept of journalistic integrity.

Motor Trend Journalist Also Taking Money To Be A Spokesperson For An Oil Company
Click to expand...
As has been said, in covering a consumer industry, there will always be cases like this. The problem is that no one else in the industry seems to think it's worth covering.

According to many games writers who posted here and elsewhere, journalism itself isn't "newsworthy." What they don't seem to realize is that that's how you stay honest. Just because someone doesn't write for your outlet, that doesn't mean their unethical behavior doesn't also reflect on you. It makes everyone look bad.
 
Seda said:
Stephen Totilo has posted this in relation to everything.

http://kotaku.com/5957810/the-conte...e-gaming-press-and-why-theyre-sometimes-wrong

I don't want to blurb anything to avoid taking anything out of context.

And yes GAF is brought up a few times.
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That is perhaps the worst article out of all the defensive, goal-post moving articles trying to sweep this under the rug posted so far. It goes so much out of its way to mischaracterise everything that i don't know where to begin.

Let's start with this:

"I've done two mock reviews for Square-Enix," she told me in an e-mail this morning, "One [was] in late 2011 and [one in] early '12. Neither were for Tomb Raider or Hitman products." She said this seemed common. " Plenty of journalists do mock reviews and they are literally reviews that are used internally. They help publishers estimate how the game will review upon release. I've never gone on to review any products I've consulted on. As this is a normal practice among journalists far more experienced than I, I've never seen it as a conflict of interest. Myself, and many others, are currently questioning this practice."
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Multiple links proving she reviewed Squeenix games for consumers have been posted. But I guess you didn't need to mention that.
 
Not read the full thing but since they've been dragged through a lot I'll just post Wainwright's responses at the end first:

Which gets us to Lauren Wainwright…

"I've done two mock reviews for Square-Enix," she told me in an e-mail this morning, "One [was] in late 2011 and [one in] early '12. Neither were for Tomb Raider or Hitman products." She said this seemed common. " Plenty of journalists do mock reviews and they are literally reviews that are used internally. They help publishers estimate how the game will review upon release. I've never gone on to review any products I've consulted on. As this is a normal practice among journalists far more experienced than I, I've never seen it as a conflict of interest. Myself, and many others, are currently questioning this practice."

She has regrets about how things went down. "I regret deleting Square off of my journalistsed profile. This was done in panic and I regret it." She realizes now that all that Tomb Raider stuff on her Twitter page was problematic. "I'm not paid off to say nice things about Square's products. I am a fan of Tomb Raider and many of my followers are. I'm an excited and passionate gamer but I will reflect on how I post about Tomb Raider and other games publicly from now on." She shut down many of her social media accounts because her phone number and address were on them. She says she received "abuse that spiralled out of control."

Wainwright: "I suggested it was libel and that I'd seek advice and Eurogamer spoke to their lawyers who suggested they take it down. This was again a mistake on my behalf and I'm deeply sorry."
Wainwright wants to clarify some things. She said she "never entered the competition to win a PS3, which some outlets are suggesting. I already have one which I bought myself." And she's not on the take. "I must reiterate that I've never been paid off to write any positive content for anyone. I wouldn't be in this business if this was a normal practice."

But yes, she said, she did contact Eurogamer. She did complain, though she also regrets how far that went. "I've not spoken to any lawyers. Nor have I sought any legal advice during my short communication with Eurogamer. I suggested it was libel and that I'd seek advice and Eurogamer spoke to their lawyers who suggested they take it down. This was again a mistake on my behalf and I'm deeply sorry. The abuse started as soon as that article went up and you do and say stupid things when the Internet attacks you. I regret it. I really do."

Wainwright told me she'll keep her accounts locked down for a bit longer because she assumes her statements here will "incite more anger." She'd surely like to be done with that.

"Though it's been a messy time for all," she said, "[something] positive has come from this whole situation with many outlets looking into their ethics practises. I hope this makes us all a better press for the readers."
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Well responded and I think shes at least realised how serious the libel thing was. Still can't believe any 'writer' or any sort would seriously do that or use those terms. I can understand the need to respond to abuse/criticism but I can't help feel that contacting them directly with words like 'libel' are an attempt to cover things up - I just don't know how you get to that stage from a position of innocence, I can understand how the rest spiralled out of control and I think a lot of people are to blame for not intervening and stopping her. Few people were all too happy to stand back and either not involve themselves or gladly watch as she took all the hits.

Good she did respond and apologised - she needed to imo - and good that Stephen managed to get a response though. Will start reading the rest of the article soon as I get some of my work done. Looks like good stuff :)
 
She didn't enter the PS3 contest - she defended it because her employer, Intent Media, runs the GMAs where the competition was held.
 
Yup.

I knew she had to have threatened Eurogamer on her own.


No self respecting member of the press would have given her the go a head and any lawyer could tell it wasn't liable.
 
jschreier said:
I can't speak for "much of the US press," and I'm not sure whether you're press or PR or what, but I doubt you can either. What I can talk about are my personal experiences. And when Fahey describes a world where reporters and PR rub elbows all the time and go out for drinks on company credit cards, he describes a world that is totally foreign to me, and I know/regularly see most of the professional games press in New York.

So Fahey might have the best of intentions when he writes things like "There is a deep and fundamental lack of professional ethics in the games media," but he's judging that based on his personal experiences, which are rather irrelevant to those of us who don't go out and let PR people buy us drinks every weekend.
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I'm a member of the video game press. Been writing about games since the mid 90's and loving it.

I didn't read Fahey's article quite as darkly as you seem to have interpreted it, but yes there are plenty of times when PR hosts dinners after showing off games. Your initial reply gave the impression that you'd never seen such a thing happen.

I do agree that the specific instance of some thing happening is not good or bad. It's how the people in and around it deal with it, react to it and communicate it.

That said, over-the-top stuff has happened in the US as well. And it's not just a recent thing. Alex Pham reported in it for the Los Angeles Times a decade ago.

BTW, saw Stephen's piece on Kotaku today. Loved it. Very well written.
 
It´s a good article. Well worth the read.

I've done two mock reviews for Square-Enix," she told me in an e-mail this morning, "One [was] in late 2011 and [one in] early '12. Neither were for Tomb Raider or Hitman products."
Click to expand...

So, which games did she do the mock reviews for? Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Kingdom Hearts would be my guess.
 
Members of the press, I'd like to know: Are mock reviews common amongst the press? Let's rephrase the question a bit: Is it common that people who are in the press are also collecting paychecks from publishers?

Stephen, you contacted various people and could have disclosed if that's indeed common or made up by her to serve as a lame excuse.
 
"I've done two mock reviews for Square-Enix," she told me in an e-mail this morning, "One [was] in late 2011 and [one in] early '12. Neither were for Tomb Raider or Hitman products." She said this seemed common. "
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Stephen, I'm curious as to why you didn't follow up with additional questions on her glowing previews for Square products, like:

- this one for Tomb Raider and Hitman
- this one for Sleeping Dogs
- this one for Tomb Raider
- this one for Deus Ex
- this one for Parasite Eve
- this one for Dissidia 012
- or this one for Tactics Ogre?

Taken at face value, her statement seems innocuous enough. In context with everything else we know? Incredibly self-serving and deflecting from the real issue at hand.

If there's more to come, great. I look forward to reading it. If this is the extent of it, however, that's worrying.
 
so I guess that piece is probably the best we'll get from a major outlet on this topic. kind of a shame that totilo comes off so snarky and petulant with all the "ouch" comments but, well, gawker.
 
bishoptl said:
Stephen, I'm curious as to why you didn't follow up with additional questions on her glowing previews for Square products, like:

- this one for Tomb Raider and Hitman
- this one for Sleeping Dogs
- this one for Tomb Raider
- this one for Deus Ex
- this one for Parasite Eve
- this one for Dissidia 012
- or this one for Tactics Ogre?

Taken at face value, her statement seems innocuous enough. In context with everything else we know? Incredibly self-serving and deflecting from the real issue at hand.

If there's more to come, great. I look forward to reading it. If this is the extent of it, however, that's worrying.
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Heh. Good catch. Quite the list.
 
With how huge this thread is, should the kotaku article get it's own thread?


Gotta love how Gertsmann didn't want to write about it, but ended up having an article worth of quotes in this kotaku piece :P
 
Seda said:
Stephen Totilo has posted this in relation to everything.

http://kotaku.com/5957810/the-conte...e-gaming-press-and-why-theyre-sometimes-wrong
Click to expand...
Good piece.

I'd really like to see a follow-up article that goes a bit further into the "underworld" of the smaller sites, mock reviews, etc. Something along the lines of the Eurogamer piece on the Youtube video dude. If the big sites feel they're "immune" to a lot of the marketing and PR overtures, what about the sites and writers who aren't? No need to name names, but I feel confident in assuming many of the big names and big sites all began from humbler origins and are all too familiar with some of the less-than-savory practices in the press.

Anyhow, cool to see one of my comments cited. And in the proper context, no less. Nice.

chickdigger802 said:
Gotta love how Gertsmann didn't want to write about it, but ended up having an article worth of quotes in this kotaku piece :P
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Pretty much everything Gerstmann says in the Kotaku piece was something he said on the Bombcast last week. Almost verbatim.
 
alr1ght said:
http://www.abload.de/img/0205_7alpr.gif
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LMAO. This .gif... oh how it is relevant and awesome.

And Geoff kinda looks hot in it.

bishoptl said:
>>DenzelBOOM.gif<<
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I think it's more that he doesn't want to step on her toes/makes enemies than anything. But you're right, he should call her out on that bullshit line.
 
Nobody was accusing her of accepting fat Square Enix cheques in exchange for glowing reviews.

The point was that if you have that many relationships with a company, your integrity is called into question.
 
conman said:
Good piece.

I'd really like to see a follow-up article that goes a bit further into the "underworld" of the smaller sites, mock reviews, etc. Something along the lines of the Eurogamer piece on the Youtube video dude. If the big sites feel they're "immune" to a lot of the marketing and PR overtures, what about the sites and writers who aren't? No need to name names, but I feel confident in assuming many of the big names and big sites all began from humbler origins and are all too familiar with some of the less-than-savory practices in the press.

Anyhow, cool to see one of my comments cited. And in the proper context, no less. Nice.

Pretty much everything Gerstmann says in the Kotaku piece was something he said on the Bombcast last week. Almost verbatim.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw him tweeting about writing an essay to totilo days before the bombcast.

I bet that's probably why he was on top of it during the bombcast.
 
Seda said:
Stephen Totilo has posted this in relation to everything.

http://kotaku.com/5957810/the-conte...e-gaming-press-and-why-theyre-sometimes-wrong

I don't want to blurb anything to avoid taking anything out of context.

And yes GAF is brought up a few times.
Click to expand...

Its weird how the article sets up the issue by quoting sources and putting things into context, then halfway through it simply start avoid facing the statements said by different sources compared to reality, like Lauren making more than two review and previews on the timetable estalished by herself, the connection to Square Enix going deeper than she commented on, going as far as having pictures literally in bed with Square Enix executives, quoting IGN people when their own people published her reviews and even had journalists critizicing the attention this was getting.

Edit: Also, I searched for the whole article and I found nothing that argue the point how readers are sometimes wrong, obviously theres a couple of paranoid people out there that scream "corruption" at every point, but all the arguments against this line of thought seem to be responses by editors saying "we dont do that" or someone like profesional Assassins Creed 3 shill Mark Beer saying " just little sites do that". Even a person like Gerstmann who already stood his ground once, and Totilo (who if im not mistaked) went to Gamespot's offices to protest arent above of some healthy fact-checking, big publications are being put under the spotlight constantly and insidiously but their peers and their audience, this is what make them great which is why this quote..:

"Good ethics are, of course, not a perfect predictor of good journalism"
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..is bloody troubling.
 
bishoptl said:
Stephen, I'm curious as to why you didn't follow up with additional questions on her glowing previews for Square products, like:

- this one for Tomb Raider and Hitman
- this one for Sleeping Dogs
- this one for Tomb Raider
- this one for Deus Ex
- this one for Parasite Eve
- this one for Dissidia 012
- or this one for Tactics Ogre?

Taken at face value, her statement seems innocuous enough. In context with everything else we know? Incredibly self-serving and deflecting from the real issue at hand.

If there's more to come, great. I look forward to reading it. If this is the extent of it, however, that's worrying.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Totilo seemed like he was trying to get her to apologize without having to say much else. The piece was set up in a way to make you feel bad for Wainwright by constantly referring to the abuse that no-name rabble said to her on twitter.

It's also curious that the article made no mention of Kotaku's own flag incident.
 
JDSN said:
Its weird how the article sets up the issue by quoting sources and putting things into context, then halfway through it simply start avoid facing the statements said by different sources compared to reality, like Lauren making more than two review and previews on the timetable estalished by herself, the connection to Square Enix going deeper than she commented on, going as far as having pictures literally in bed with Square Enix executives, quoting IGN people when their own people published her reviews and had journalists critizicing the attention this was getting.
Click to expand...

Another example of GAF doing better game journalism than the guys who get paid.
 
JDSN said:
Its weird how the article sets up the issue by quoting sources and putting things into context, then halfway through it simply start avoid facing the statements said by different sources compared to reality, like Lauren making more than two review and previews on the timetable estalished by herself, the connection to Square Enix going deeper than she commented on, going as far as having pictures literally in bed with Square Enix executives, quoting IGN people when their own people published her reviews and had journalists critizicing the attention this was getting.
Click to expand...

That would take actual guts. It's easier to just wander around, skirting around the issues. Kotaku doesn't want to confront the issues. There was also no point in the essay that talked about "your writers" palling around with PR and industry people on Twitter while making jokes at the expense of your readers.
 
i though totilo's piece was good and much much better than i'd have expected after his first response. he didn't have to cover it in such an comprehensive way, he could have just ignored the criticisms instead of putting the key ideas front and center, and hey he put quality ahead of being timely which i nearly always approve of and kotaku could do with more of.

interesting to get wainwright on the record. she's basically the poster child for the troubling bond between press and pr and i am happy that suppressing legitimate speech through legal bs had this response to stop people from doing it but i do feel sad for her: i think she panicked in a few bad ways and she'll really really regret this in a year or so, sounds like she already does. hopefully she learns from it and is genuine about changing things but idk.
 
Gertsmann seems quite angry that we don't all just act like "adults" and accept that people are just doing what they can to make a living. But he wants to apply a higher standard to himself and his site than them. That in a way is quite a hypocritical and self-righteous position to take.

It's one thing not to want to get into an ugly slap fight but the instinct to close ranks and protect other people for doing things you find unacceptable yourself isn't always the best.

It's not frustrating to me that it is so hard for games media to convince people that they are separate from PR and that they are "clean." It just says to me that people are not as easy to lead around by the nose as either journalists or pr would hope. It's hopeful. It means that sources that are more in tune with what people who pay the industry enjoy than what the industry money promotes have a chance. Even if it burns journalists like the ones at RPS who think of themselves as "experts" who deserve respect when their opinions magically match 100% to the industry line and many of their readers disagree.
 
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