Yes. He literally did what they taught us in J-school not to do. By posting the IGN review, he's conflating it improperly. It's a kind of tactic guys like Fox News use. Talk about something objectionable, and post a picture of something not related so you can encourage the audience to draw connections. It's a huge problem in journalism, and an immediate flat that the person in question is full of crap.
Do I think Dan handled it well? NOPE. But I can at least understand why he's upset. His work is being called into question, and Joe's spreading misinformation about it.
Joe, on the flip side, had literally no reason to do what he did other than just capitalize on generic hate for IGN. One's performing scummy journalism, the other's upset about that. Dan absolutely should have reached out and said "hey, Joe, I have a problem with this."
I consider someone who's sloppy and too arrogant to apologize for his sloppiness way worse than someone who's been offended when their work's been called into question.
A) don't know the other guy in question, don't read IGN at all
B) actually care a great deal about good journalism, and am easily frustrated by people who mess up AND THEN DON'T OWN UP TO THAT (see: Polygon's reaction to SimCity. Joe's doing the same thing here)
C) Calling someone a whiny, angry child isn't the low-road when they're being a whiny, angry child. It's calling out bad behavior.
Preaching to the choir would be preaching to people who agree with me.