The Changing Face of Journalism: How We Will Meet the Challenge

[John Keefer]

The Changing Face of Journalism: How We Will Meet the Challenge

The video game press faces different battles than journalists of years ago. But trying to do things properly should never be an issue, even without GamerGate. Here's what The Escapist will do.

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[Agayek]

The Changing Face of Journalism: How We Will Meet the Challenge

The video game press faces different battles than journalists of years ago. But trying to do things properly should never be an issue, even without GamerGate. Here's what The Escapist will do.

Read Full Article

Nicely said, and a quite well put-together piece. Thank you for putting this together.

It's good to see continued evidence of the Escapist's commitment to honesty and integrity.

 

[BigTallGuy]

In all honesty, a lot of what you're saying in this piece is more applicable to journalism on a whole than just gaming journalism. John Oliver said it best when asked about the Correspondents dinner; "a room full of politicians and journalists laughing and paling around terrifies me"


If you would expand this piece out side of gaming journalism even more so, i would be very interested in what you have to say.

 

[mrbah]

It is very easy to agree with with most opinions in this article.
Thank you about your experiences in print and video game journalism, to be honest I have learned so much about why journalism is the way it is in the last month, I wonder why there haven't been articles about that industry.

 

[Lightknight]

Whoa, great article. This came out of nowhere for me and I was very pleased to see it indeed.

I'm glad you're in the mix at the Escapist.

FYI, I read the entire article with the mental voice of an old gumshoe movie narrator.

 

[John Keefer]

with respect to the subject matter of the piece i would also kinda like to hear any thoughts Mr Keefer might have on political and crime reporting if he felt so inclined as personally i feel these are the areas that hold the most dangerous gear change with respect to tone and responsibility.

I think I covered that in the paragraph on Fox, CNN, MSNBC and the like. It is incredibly hard to watch ANY news these days as you do not know what to believe. Local news tends to be better than network news, but having been raised on old school reporting and watching investigative pieces on TV, it is hard to stomach the stuff that passes for "journalism" today. I still trust newspapers, what little of them still exist, because the reporter still must get out into the community and do his legwork for a story, talk to sources and follow paper trails. Being an old fart makes me old school

 

[Glen Compton]

Wow!
Thank you for this article! I really like the idea of leading by example and i hope a lot of people will take inspiration from the way you approach and view journalism.

I feel like there are a lot of people who agree with you, but are either afraid to say so, or are sensitive because friends are being negatively effected by this focus on bias and ethics. I think some people are being harassed for fence-sitting, when they really don't want to trash talk their friends and judge them for their actions.

I would REALLY like to see more reactions and criticism to other journalists within the media, this might create a self improving atmosphere, rather then focus on sides. Criticism and competition would only improve the quality of writing, and allow for a broader spectrum of opinions other then agree/disagree.

 

[StriderShinryu]

One thing I would like to see addressed as it is something that The Escapist struggles at from time to time is headline selection. While it is stated in this article that personal opinion within the actual news posting is left to the final paragraph, I have often found that the chosen headlines are sometimes lacking in that measure of objectivity. I understand that the goal of a headline is to get a reader to read (or click, I suppose) the article in question but rather often I've found the headlines here to waver between misleading and outright "clickbait." An upstanding sense of ethics is something that should not be restricted to the content of the story itself.

 

[Greymanelor]

Very much enjoyed reading this. I admire your principles, Mr. Keefer, and wish more gaming journalists (or just journalists in general) more clearly shared them.

Thank you for giving us so many years of your life. As important as I feel this issue is, I still hope that knot in your stomach can unclench soon and we can all get back to doing what we love; be that gaming or journalism or both.

 

[John Keefer]

Criticism and competition would only improve the quality of writing, and allow for a broader spectrum of opinions other then agree/disagree.

I have some great friends ... yes, friends ... who I can REALLY disagree with, but still respect their opinion and where they are coming from. Again, it is a matter of rapport and knowing someone. Anonymity is killing civility, and a quest for truth.

 

[John Keefer]

One thing I would like to see addressed as it is something that The Escapist struggles at from time to time is headline selection. While it is stated in this article that personal opinion within the actual news posting is left to the final paragraph, I have often found that the chosen headlines are sometimes lacking in that measure of objectivity. I understand that the goal of a headline is to get a reader to read (or click, I suppose) the article in question but rather often I've found the headlines here to waver between misleading and outright "clickbait." An upstanding sense of ethics is something that should not be restricted to the content of the story itself.

The last headline I wrote was guilty of that (mea culpa). When I was in newspapers, the idea for headlines was to be clever, to draw the reader in. It wasn't meant to be clickbait, but a challenge to the copy editor to MAKE the reader want to read the work of the reporter, who did the legwork and made it worthwhile. I love being clever, and I love puns, and occasionally I get overzealous. We ARE working on that part of it too.

 

[Megafire]

I just said in a different thread that the Escapist has been a beacon of common decency in this mess, and here you go and prove my point, mister Keefer. Thank you!

This was a wonderful read, and your perspective was very interesting. I am definitely on board with seeing where this particular direction will take the Escapist and gaming journalism as a whole.

 

[Agayek]

Whilst it's an admirable article, to be sure, I am still left with a question. If The Escapist has run articles on questionable harassment, then why aren't we seeing articles about all of the harassment that's happening right now? Actually proven harassment, I mean, and not one anonymous donkey on Twitter.

At this point, I'd put money on both a) not wanting to add fuel to the fire, for either side, and b) not wanting to catch themselves on fire. The whole thing is incredibly volatile right now, and as such, I don't particularly blame anyone for trying to stay out of it.

It'd be nice if somebody did cover the abuse that's being thrown around in an even-handed and objective manner, but I can think of several reasons why people would want to avoid doing so, so I can't be upset about it.

 

[StriderShinryu]

One thing I would like to see addressed as it is something that The Escapist struggles at from time to time is headline selection. While it is stated in this article that personal opinion within the actual news posting is left to the final paragraph, I have often found that the chosen headlines are sometimes lacking in that measure of objectivity. I understand that the goal of a headline is to get a reader to read (or click, I suppose) the article in question but rather often I've found the headlines here to waver between misleading and outright "clickbait." An upstanding sense of ethics is something that should not be restricted to the content of the story itself.

The last headline I wrote was guilty of that (mea culpa). When I was in newspapers, the idea for headlines was to be clever, to draw the reader in. It wasn't meant to be clickbait, but a challenge to the copy editor to MAKE the reader want to read the work of the reporter, who did the legwork and made it worthwhile. I love being clever, and I love puns, and occasionally I get overzealous. We ARE working on that part of it too.

Oh, absolutely. Given some of the more notable contributors to the site, I think it's pretty fair to say that we, as readers, also enjoy clever humour, puns, etc. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying "more of that please!" My issue is more in cases where there doesn't seem to be any actual humour at all, be it attempted, implied or otherwise. I'm thinking about something like a headline stating "Game company X hates it's player base" and then within the article itself there's a direct quote from the company in question saying "Our players are our lifeblood but we don't agree with this one criticism they have." In any case, it's good to hear that headlines aren't going to be missing out on the news once-over.

 

[Mikeybb]

The Changing Face of Journalism: How We Will Meet the Challenge

The video game press faces different battles than journalists of years ago. But trying to do things properly should never be an issue, even without GamerGate. Here's what The Escapist will do.

Read Full Article

Very good read.

The message and declaration of intent are impressive, appreciated and hopefully inspirational to other outlets.
It was also nice to learn a little about you and your background.

Thank you.

 

[Myxam]

@John Keefer

I admire your stance. Though I'd prefer a condemnation of their actions (Sex is worth a lot more than a T-shirt I bet), I can't gripe at you not wanting to talk bad about your colleagues. However, if we do not hold the writers to an ethical standard -- we will see the Fifth Estate die a death just like Telecast News and the Paper Medium (which is surprisingly coming back where I live). I respect you sir, but I can not agree with you. Though I do pray that future journalists in this industry will have you and this declaration, as their Walter Cronkite.

 

[Davroth]

Whilst it's an admirable article, to be sure, I am still left with a question. If The Escapist has run articles on questionable harassment, then why aren't we seeing articles about all of the harassment that's happening right now? Actually proven harassment, I mean, and not one anonymous donkey on Twitter.

At this point, I'd put money on both a) not wanting to add fuel to the fire, for either side, and b) not wanting to catch themselves on fire. The whole thing is incredibly volatile right now, and as such, I don't particularly blame anyone for trying to stay out of it.

It'd be nice if somebody did cover the abuse that's being thrown around in an even-handed and objective manner, but I can think of several reasons why people would want to avoid doing so, so I can't be upset about it.

Ronack mirrors my thoughts on the matter.

I wouldn't say I'm upset. It's more like slight disappointment. But at this point, I'm happy for what I get in this whole fiasco.

 

[shirkbot]

with respect to the subject matter of the piece i would also kinda like to hear any thoughts Mr Keefer might have on political and crime reporting if he felt so inclined as personally i feel these are the areas that hold the most dangerous gear change with respect to tone and responsibility.

I think I covered that in the paragraph on Fox, CNN, MSNBC and the like. It is incredibly hard to watch ANY news these days as you do not know what to believe. Local news tends to be better than network news, but having been raised on old school reporting and watching investigative pieces on TV, it is hard to stomach the stuff that passes for "journalism" today. I still trust newspapers, what little of them still exist, because the reporter still must get out into the community and do his legwork for a story, talk to sources and follow paper trails. Being an old fart makes me old school

The only thing I know to believe with televised news in the US is that I'd be better off watching anything else. As you said yourself, The Daily Show and Colbert Report have supplanted the news, and that's just 1 hour 4 days a week. I don't know if you've seen it, but Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has been similar in style, but of a much more investigative nature.

OT: Keefer sounds like my father reminiscing on his days in business school where they taught the concept of "good corporate citizenship". It's almost funny that with all the new ways to communicate and find information, discovering the truth seems harder than ever. Thanks for the article good sir, and the hard work generally. Here's hoping we can all figure out how to get back on track sooner rather than later.