As a journalist, I struggle to remain objective in my news stories. I was raised in a household that let me express my opinions freely. I want people to hear what l think.
It's my job to suppress that urge.
But I'm getting mixed signals from the game journalism industry.
Here's a quote from a Game Informer article by Matthew Kato back in September. The story's about Steve Wiebe conquering Billy Mitchell's world-record score in "Donkey Kong":
"Of course, if Mitchell hadn't been such an a------ (too late), he would have kept on going when he reached 1,062,800 and then he wouldn't have lost his crown to Wiebe. But that's just Billy Mitchell being Billy Mitchell."
This statement would've been okay in a blog.
But opinions don't belong in the news.
If the industry wants to stop being a laughing stock to other journalists, it has to enforce a set of journalistic standards. And it starts with the writers.
Bonus points:
- Matthew Kato is a fine, passionate writer. It was just an example of a widespread problem, and I'm not holding a grudge against him.
- The industry can't even find a consistent name for what it is: game journalism, games journalism, gaming journalism, video game journalism. Just pick one already.
