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Jason Schreier (Kotaku) wins 3 Kunkel Awards and drama appears

DryvBy

Member
I have no idea what a Kunkel award is but apparently it's upset some people. Jason Schreier won three awards for excellence in journalism (found here). The awards were given for the following stories:

-The Curious Case Of The 'EA Game Dev' Who Said He Received Death Threats
-The Collapse Of Visceral's Ambitious Star Wars Game
-IGN Staff Walk Out After Former Employee's Sexual Harassment Claims

While Jason himself said he wasn't very fond of the awards even calling them a "despicable joke", the thread on his Twitter is more drama than an hour of soaps during the weekday.

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There's a lot more if you just go through the thread. It's really popcorn worthy some of the conclusions people jump to over what seems like nothing outside of they don't agree with him getting the awards. I really don't even understand the drama. How does someone winning an award turn into drama? I thought maybe this was GG related but even Jason said these awards aren't associated with them.

PLEASE NOTE: Keep things civil. This is just to discuss the awards and the drama, not pour gasoline onto anything.
 

Shin

Banned
Never heard of the award, but 3 of them to a single person can't be taken seriously.
Then again what is gaming journalism these days.
I do find it amusing and loving the drama unfold on Twitter though so cheers for that.
 

Pejo

Member
I can't help but feel this is all an elaborate joke, from the awards to the twitter rage. I know it's probably not, but I choose to believe that other than people getting genuinely upset over something so silly.
 
Hmmm, only one of those articles should even be considered for an award, unless said years have been really bad for gaming journalism. He's good at his job compared to most other gaming journalist, but he's not really a great writer. I'd say most of his ability comes in his research and using it and the sources to explore rather high profile gaming-centric issues. That's not something that should be underestimated though.
So, I guess the metric for giving the awards and the competition are necessary to judge whether or not he should've won the 3 awards.

I think he's a bit slimy in his approach here. He should've instead confronted them to judge him winning the price by his works' merits, instead of trying to avoid conflict by making it about him. Or he could argue that maybe they emphasized some of the merits too much and they should get feedback on that. While I can understand wanting to de-escalate a conflict, I'd say it's something he does to cover himself. There's after all various things that's possible to pull out to problematize Schreier, if one is the obsessive type that wants to judge people for everything.

That said, one can't disagree with Schreier being one of the few who tend to front investigative journalism within the field of gaming journalism. He should've just pushed back instead of letting them widen the scope of what's being discussed. He shouldn't have tried to cover his back, but instead just say that there might be better displays of gaming journalism than his and that it would be best to front those and present reasons why. Instead of just going for "why did Schreier win this 3 times?".
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
I mean, it's either him or Patrick Klepek. Those are the only two I would consider to be actual journalists in the gaming world. I may even drop Patrick now seeing as recently he's decided to just lecture us all about the world.
 

bitbydeath

Member
I don't get it... probably don't want to either.

Stay strong Jason, these creepers just have nothing better to do.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Jason Schreier is about as ethical of a journalist as Patrick Klepek or Austin Walker. Highly biased and poorly written publications is all he is known for. The only thing I can say positively is that he knows how to do basic research on a topic (even if he spins that information into a very biased position), but that is be a pre req. for journalism in general so nothing particularly celebratory.

His attitude here is pathetic.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Jason Schreier is about as ethical of a journalist as Patrick Klepek or Austin Walker. Highly biased and poorly written publications is all he is known for. The only thing I can say positively is that he knows how to do basic research on a topic (even if he spins that information into a very biased position), but that is be a pre req. for journalism in general so nothing particularly celebratory.

His attitude here is pathetic.
Hey, his deep dive into Destiny was top notch stuff. AFAIK that was months of work.
 
Jason Schreier is about as ethical of a journalist as Patrick Klepek or Austin Walker. Highly biased and poorly written publications is all he is known for. The only thing I can say positively is that he knows how to do basic research on a topic (even if he spins that information into a very biased position), but that is be a pre req. for journalism in general so nothing particularly celebratory.

His attitude here is pathetic.
I would say he is known for having actual sources and talks about games before the announcments like AC every year as well as being probably the only gaming journalist these days that actually...does there job lol
 

Bryank75

Banned
Where are the awards for crap journalism? That needs to be a thing...

Also, behold the left eating itself onfront of your very eyes.
 

Petrae

Member
Gaming journalism and Twitter drama always seem to enjoy each other’s company. They don’t just write the stories— they ARE the story.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Hey, his deep dive into Destiny was top notch stuff. AFAIK that was months of work.
I would say he is known for having actual sources and talks about games before the announcments like AC every year as well as being probably the only gaming journalist these days that actually...does there job lol

An old saying that I learned long ago: Even a broken clock is right twice a day. That doesn't excuse the other 22 hours.

Also I would argue that there are indeed journalists that do their jobs without pushing political ideologies or their own biases. Gematsu and Siliconera are two great examples with very minimal (if any) articles that push aforementioned ideologies/biases.
 
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An old saying that I learned long ago: Even a broken clock is right twice a day. That doesn't excuse the other 22 hours.

Also I would argue that there are indeed journalists that do their jobs without pushing political ideologies or their own biases. Gematsu and Siliconera are two great examples with very minimal (if any) articles that push aforementioned ideologies/biases.
Not sure if that saying even works for something like this but you do you
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Somewhat ironic that Jason Schreier is being attacked by the same kind of people that his website has supported and promoted the agenda of for years. They always eat their own eventually. So ridiculous.
 

DilWSTS

Member
ugh a minory of GG people just love to stir drama. Of course its horrible but they pick apart words to make others feel less about themselves.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
He found out what happened to Visceral Games, he put together some lovey Final Fantasy articles, and he has his own book.

Next to Geoff Keighley who funded the VGA's with his own money; I don't see anything wrong with him winning a few awards. :)

That's until they hate a game that I found nothing wrong with. Haha ;)
 
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EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Jason was coming to me asking for special treatment re: publicity for his book on NeoGAF right before the October scandal hit. Kotaku's lead on their piece emailed me asking for comment with a bunch of tabloid-style leading questions and was clearly a hit piece from the start. Legitimate press did not act that way whatsoever. Lo and behold, smear piece. I emailed Jason about it asking him if this was his idea of professional journalism, especially since NeoGAF and Kotaku were on friendly terms up to that point, and he vouched for it and claimed it had no issues. He apparently stated publicly "he should have seen the warning signs sooner." Spineless coward and opportunist who should be ashamed of himself.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Jason was coming to me asking for special treatment re: publicity for his book on NeoGAF right before the October scandal hit. Kotaku's lead on their piece emailed me asking for comment with a bunch of tabloid-style leading questions and was clearly a hit piece from the start. Legitimate press did not act that way whatsoever. Lo and behold, smear piece. I emailed Jason about it asking him if this was his idea of professional journalism, especially since NeoGAF and Kotaku were on friendly terms up to that point, and he vouched for it and claimed it had no issues. He apparently stated publicly "he should have seen the warning signs sooner." Spineless coward and opportunist who should be ashamed of himself.

giphy.gif
 

OH-MyCar

Member
1 drop of "journalistic research" and schmoozing in a 16oz tumbler full of grenadine and 7up is still an enormous Shirley Temple.

Real journalists risk their lives for stories. Bloggers wouldn't cross the street if Kamitani art were graffitied on the other side.
 

MC Safety

Member
1 drop of "journalistic research" and schmoozing in a 16oz tumbler full of grenadine and 7up is still an enormous Shirley Temple.

Real journalists risk their lives for stories. Bloggers wouldn't cross the street if Kamitani art were graffitied on the other side.

Yeah, the great majority of journalists don't risk their lives for stories. You're romanticizing the profession.

I can say this with authority because I've written news, features, and entertainment stories for mass-market newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. Not once was my life remotely in jeopardy in the course of maybe five-plus years in the field.

My notes on the topic at hand:
1) Bill Kunkel founded some famous game magazines, but he wasn't really known as a reporter. I think the awards are more a tribute to his legacy than a nod toward his editorial skills. I'm not really sure if it matters at all, but it struck me as an odd choice.
2) My problem with Kotaku's reporting is its almost singular reliance on the anonymous quote. I understand the nature of the game industry makes citations difficult, but overuse of the anonymous quote is poor reporting at best, and leads to doubts about a piece's veracity.
 

Drac84

Member
This is very anecdotal, but I feel that the average person seems to be ignoring the manufactured outrage brigade more and more, and as a result they’ve increasingly started to turn on each other.

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RiccochetJ

Gold Member
In all honesty, why should we care?
I care because I think that Schreier is one of the few actual journalists in the industry. However, with EviLore EviLore 's statement, while I still think he does some awesome deep dives, it appears that he's a bit of an opportunist and panders to the crowd that used to run this place.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
RiccochetJ RiccochetJ I've been running this place for about 16 years and I'm still running it...aren't I? *checks for corporeal body* :D Yeah, while I don't pay much attention to games journalists, Jason seemed to do good work, friends and folks here say good things about his book, etc. He had been a gaffer regular for a long time. We had a rapport and he invited me to do an AMA on Kotaku some time ago (should be searchable in our archives) which was handled fairly well and protected from coordinated trolling attempts launched against it (phew, that internet...) by their AMA mods there. Kotaku used to be banned as a source on GAF for a long time, but I unbanned them when they seemed a little more legitimate, I personally cooled off our community on the Kotaku hate to give them a chance and not hate for hate's sake and established friendly relations proactively.

And then the above. I don't think I said anything on the boards at the time about this (couldn't realistically), but it was rather disappointing behavior that stood out as one of the most cowardly and duplicitous from a public name in the gaming scene at the time.

Happily shilling his book on Neogaf one day, a regular here for years, and asking me favors at the time ---> getting ahead of all the legitimate outlets (who actually took some kind of time to research and fact check and source properly at least) so Kotaku could run a trashy smear article first w/ Jason's "should have seen the warning signs sooner" a couple days later?

Kotaku's story was the first main press coverage and fueled the fire of the *intense* witch hunt undoubtedly. That witch hunt went after a bunch of people, and did harm all over on personal levels and no doubt damaged NeoGAF tremendously, setting the public narrative in place from that point. People were called at their jobs to try to get them fired, businesses were threatened, all sorts of harm spread around to anything seen as remotely associated with NeoGAF. Jason vouched for the piece though and claimed extensive fact-checking had been involved. He has some interesting standards if that's the case.

All things considered, I don't see a reputable, ethical, honest person there. That's sub-Daily Mail class work, while trying to retcon himself out of the picture on NeoGAF to get out of the way of his own team's hatchet job. Any awards for that, maybe?
 

Nosgotham

Junior Member
Jason Schreier is about as ethical of a journalist as Patrick Klepek or Austin Walker. Highly biased and poorly written publications is all he is known for. The only thing I can say positively is that he knows how to do basic research on a topic (even if he spins that information into a very biased position), but that is be a pre req. for journalism in general so nothing particularly celebratory.

His attitude here is pathetic.
Pretty much this.
 

DilWSTS

Member
RiccochetJ RiccochetJ I've been running this place for about 16 years and I'm still running it...aren't I? *checks for corporeal body* :D Yeah, while I don't pay much attention to games journalists, Jason seemed to do good work, friends and folks here say good things about his book, etc. He had been a gaffer regular for a long time. We had a rapport and he invited me to do an AMA on Kotaku some time ago (should be searchable in our archives) which was handled fairly well and protected from coordinated trolling attempts launched against it (phew, that internet...) by their AMA mods there. Kotaku used to be banned as a source on GAF for a long time, but I unbanned them when they seemed a little more legitimate, I personally cooled off our community on the Kotaku hate to give them a chance and not hate for hate's sake and established friendly relations proactively.

And then the above. I don't think I said anything on the boards at the time about this (couldn't realistically), but it was rather disappointing behavior that stood out as one of the most cowardly and duplicitous from a public name in the gaming scene at the time.

Happily shilling his book on Neogaf one day, a regular here for years, and asking me favors at the time ---> getting ahead of all the legitimate outlets (who actually took some kind of time to research and fact check and source properly at least) so Kotaku could run a trashy smear article first w/ Jason's "should have seen the warning signs sooner" a couple days later?

Kotaku's story was the first main press coverage and fueled the fire of the *intense* witch hunt undoubtedly. That witch hunt went after a bunch of people, and did harm all over on personal levels and no doubt damaged NeoGAF tremendously, setting the public narrative in place from that point. People were called at their jobs to try to get them fired, businesses were threatened, all sorts of harm spread around to anything seen as remotely associated with NeoGAF. Jason vouched for the piece though and claimed extensive fact-checking had been involved. He has some interesting standards if that's the case.

All things considered, I don't see a reputable, ethical, honest person there. That's sub-Daily Mail class work, while trying to retcon himself out of the picture on NeoGAF to get out of the way of his own team's hatchet job. Any awards for that, maybe?

Definitely appreciate you elaborating on this. Thanks
 

GenericUser

Member
It shows that the USA really are a first world country. Nobody in a 3rd world country would give a flying fuck about those things.
 
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Geki-D

Banned
I really don't even understand the drama. How does someone winning an award turn into drama?
He suggested he and Kotaku were "targets" of GG. Other people jump in and said "Oh yeah! But I/this group was a BIGGER target!". It's the very definition of oppression olympics. In those tweets they're literally arguing over who was the biggest target.

Jason Schreier is fighting with Zoe Quinn on Twitter?
The mention of GG is like the Bat signal for Zoe. She has to remind people of why she was ever a little bit relevant and how much of a poor victim she was. The biggest victim, in fact and she'll apparently fight you for that title.
 

Manus

Member
Nothing beats his tweets saying Kotaku employees are not bloggers but journalists. Yeah right the website is a joke.
 
The mention of GG is like the Bat signal for Zoe. She has to remind people of why she was ever a little bit relevant and how much of a poor victim she was. The biggest victim, in fact and she'll apparently fight you for that title.

That's fucking hilarious.

She just had to make this about herself. How convenient is it for this sociopath to look for reasons to get out of the gaming industry so she no longer has to feign work on her crowd funding scams.

She could probably sense that this Schreier guy doesn't have a backbone in his body.
 

DonF

Member
Nothing beats his tweets saying Kotaku employees are not bloggers but journalists. Yeah right the website is a joke.
I don't visit kotaku in years...it can't be that bad.
oh no
"Today, Katy Perry ate too many nuggets on japanese TV"
 

Dunki

Member
Jason is a good guy.

I don't know what those people tweeting him were on about.
I do not know he is.

Back then when people were arguing videogames make people sexist I argued with him as well and showed him the big long term study from Germany which showed the opposite. HE thnaked me and shortly after he wrote an videogames make sexist article without even mentioning this study at all. He reports everything that fits his ideology and he does not care if these are lies or not.

But in the end he is still one of the best games journalists out there but this does not mean much when everyone else is utterly shit.
 

WaterAstro

Member
A person has got to be high on his horse if they complain about an award they just won. Instead of causing so much stupid arguments, just make a statement by saying he'll turn down the awards.
 

Ridcully

Member
Jason is a good guy.

I don't know what those people tweeting him were on about.

The award exists to celebrate ethical journalism following the whole Gamergate business, created by a group of real journalists in response to the complaints they saw (to what extent these complaints made up what GG was about is a matter of contention, better to read the dedicated thread for that).

For such a group to celebrate a Kotaku article or three, and for Schreier to appear to be happy about it, is to create the appearance of finding common cause with supporters of the movement in the eyes of its alleged victims. The Twitter uproar could be genuine anger in line with that, or entirely affected as a means of applying pressure to Kotaku or else to draw in Solidarity (in the form of Patreon support or PayPal donations).

It's really just the latest chapter in an ongoing saga, and funny because Schreier's faux pass puts him in the crosshairs of people he helped mythologise.
 
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Kamina

Golden Boy
Is it just me or does this twitter thread read like satire?

A: “I dont care about reward, beacause its GG stuff and we were victims too”
B: “How dare you think you are a victim, only women are victims”
A: “Of course we are victims too”
C: “You ain’t no victim like me”
A: “Don’t forget we also had females affected”
C: “Don’t care, you ain’t no victim”
....
 
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