Behind the Scenes: Gaming Journalism (Part 1)
By Shoe
1. No matter what you do or don’t do, you will get accused of being bought off at one or several points in your career.
2. If you can be bought off, you will get plenty of opportunities.
Those are two constant truths in gaming journalism.
You can have uncompromising integrity. You can follow every rule possible. You can keep your thoughts and actions completely transparent to the audience. But if you form an opinion, then someone somewhere is picturing you wearing an expensive, cash-lined moneyhat.
Problem is, a lot of people don’t have uncompromising integrity. And most people don’t follow every rule out there. And because of that, it makes it even easier for readers to make those accusations. Even me — I’ve been one of the most vocal people in the industry about having that integrity and following those rules, and I’m certainly not perfect.
For example, if I were a 100% pure journalist, I would never accept any free games or free meals from game companies. But I have. This isn’t an excuse (well, it sort of is), but I need to play as many games as possible to be a well-rounded critic. And it’s hard to ask for a separate check when you’re invited to a press event that has food buffets set out to feed everyone. So I’m not 100%, and this definitely leaves me open to criticism from my audience.
What I had to do, then, was stay within the boundaries set by my employers at Ziff Davis Media and additional ones set by myself. I didn’t accept gifts other than free games or cheap tchotchkes. I didn’t accept free flights or hotel rooms. I didn’t make deals for review scores. And once in a while, I’d pick up the tab when we’re with a game company on a business lunch or dinner (unless other journalists were present — hey, we’re not paying for our competitors’ meals!). Game companies generally find that weird…that we occasionally want to pay for their meals, but it makes us feel better…cleaner. It doesn’t put us at 100% but it matters. It also sets a certain tone, so these PR reps and game companies know where you’re coming from with regards to journalistic integrity.
So what about truth #2 above? That was what I orignally wanted to write about here, but I got slightly sidetracked, so I’ll save that for my next post in a day or two. I’ll show you guys some of the ugly shit that goes on in this business, and yeah…it gets ugly.