http://scrubking.blog-city.com/videogame_journalism_at_its_worst.htm
Skewing a story about Jared Fogle to make it look like an anti-Nintendo slam? Man, I can't believe someone didn't do that beforehand.
My post: 4 PM, his was 5. SCANDALTON 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO*.
COME CLEAN DAN DORMER! YOU ARE THE HORRIBLE FUTURE OF GAMES JOURNALISM.
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The vidoegame journalism industry has a problem. Actually it has many problems, but the main problem it faces today is that it is not taken seriously - and with good reason. How can you take a publication seriously when it constantly insults its readers, patronizes them, and hypes up games one day only to trash them the next? This is an epidemic that infests pretty much all videogame publications, and we shouldn't be surprised since journalism, in general, has taken a turn for the biased and sensational.
Today I want to talk about 1up.com and a story they have posted about the Subway spokesman Jared Fogle ( The annoying guy in all the Subway commercials ). The Headline reads "Subway Spokesman's Six Inches of Nintendo Hate", and clearly indicates that Jared in some way, shape or form "hates" Nintendo. It also claims that Jared is blaming his weight gain and junk food habit on videogames. The problem comes in when you actually read the source of 1up's story which is actually an article about Jared speaking at a college nutrition class. While Jared does mention that he started getting fat at the same time he started playing videogames, neither Jared nor the article claim that Jared blames videogames, let alone Nintendo, for making him fat. In fact he says that the best birthday present of his life was a Nintendo. So where is the hate in all of this?
At best, we can only conclude, from the source, that Jared is saying that his desire to play videogames helped him get fat. So, why is Dan Dormer of 1up saying that Jared "hates" nintendo? Clearly that is not true from the source and is a tremendous leap from what Jared actually says. Once again I ask why? Could it be the need to spice things up on a slow news day? Could it be that Dan Dormer is simply incompetent at reading comprehension? Whatever the reason, it makes Dan Dormer look like anything but a journalist - which you will see that he is actually an intern at 1up according to him.
This story is even worse for 1up.com which actually allowed such a wholly inaccurate, and probably intentionally inflammatory story to run on their site. Maybe this story got through the cracks somehow, but I doubt it. This kind of sensational, hyped up reporting is evident in just about every videogame publication, and it needs to stop. Videogame publications need to start taking their profession seriously by distancing themselves from the juvenile, rebellious attitude they try to portray in order to look cool to their readers, and start providing objective, intelligent views on the issues. They can also start by NOT posting hype, and outright lies.
Skewing a story about Jared Fogle to make it look like an anti-Nintendo slam? Man, I can't believe someone didn't do that beforehand.
My post: 4 PM, his was 5. SCANDALTON 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO*.
COME CLEAN DAN DORMER! YOU ARE THE HORRIBLE FUTURE OF GAMES JOURNALISM.
dan dormer himself sent me that blog post
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not really