Games journalism has a problem with ethics - from a strictly journalistic point of view.
Personally I am subject to the the South African press code.
http://www.presscouncil.org.za/ContentPage?code=PRESSCODE
Obviously that isn't going to be that relevant to American media - so I am going to use the SPJ as the basis for what I want to talk about - and that is independence.
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
I think there is a definite issue at the moment with gaming journalism and independence.
For example in April, there was Ubisoft giving journalists Nexus tablets. Gerstmanngate was the most obvious example of favourable treatment to advertisers, and the whole deal WB wanted with Shadows of Mordor was clearly trying to buy positive coverage.
IGN's previews also tend to blur the lines between advertising and news.
And I think a lot of what we're seeing at the moment is the result of these ethics not being applied.
I include the socially toxic atmosphere for women and game developers in that - because too many big names aren't independent so it becomes a breeding ground for echo chambers and conspiracy theories.
You know what you know, but you can't entirely trust your news sources to not be bought, so when something conflicts with "what you know" - the instinct is to not say you're wrong, it is to discredit the source.
It is all false flags, lies to discredit the movement, just more bullshit. All of this makes gamers look like they're Alex Jones level crazy, but that kind of crazy comes from the feeling of not being able to trust sources.
And the sources are so easily discredited it isn't even funny. There is a social responsibility side to journalism, and part of that I think is building up the ability to trust the news vendors themselves.
There is a need for ethical journalism - that doesn't mean the same things that some people think it means, but it does mean a standard must be applied.
The Escapist has instituted its own standard, which good, but gaming media as a whole needs to seriously consider the impact of not applying these ethics.
Personally I am subject to the the South African press code.
http://www.presscouncil.org.za/ContentPage?code=PRESSCODE
Obviously that isn't going to be that relevant to American media - so I am going to use the SPJ as the basis for what I want to talk about - and that is independence.
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Games journalism is sort of its own field, with its own problems, but it is still journalism. The basics should still apply.
I think there is a definite issue at the moment with gaming journalism and independence.
For example in April, there was Ubisoft giving journalists Nexus tablets. Gerstmanngate was the most obvious example of favourable treatment to advertisers, and the whole deal WB wanted with Shadows of Mordor was clearly trying to buy positive coverage.
IGN's previews also tend to blur the lines between advertising and news.
And I think a lot of what we're seeing at the moment is the result of these ethics not being applied.
I include the socially toxic atmosphere for women and game developers in that - because too many big names aren't independent so it becomes a breeding ground for echo chambers and conspiracy theories.
You know what you know, but you can't entirely trust your news sources to not be bought, so when something conflicts with "what you know" - the instinct is to not say you're wrong, it is to discredit the source.
It is all false flags, lies to discredit the movement, just more bullshit. All of this makes gamers look like they're Alex Jones level crazy, but that kind of crazy comes from the feeling of not being able to trust sources.
And the sources are so easily discredited it isn't even funny. There is a social responsibility side to journalism, and part of that I think is building up the ability to trust the news vendors themselves.
There is a need for ethical journalism - that doesn't mean the same things that some people think it means, but it does mean a standard must be applied.
The Escapist has instituted its own standard, which good, but gaming media as a whole needs to seriously consider the impact of not applying these ethics.
