Don’t believe everything you read • Hacker News Board

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#11

Post by halvsjur » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 6:27 PM UTC

arn wrote: post #5

fwiw, his list of "major sites" that got fooled is rather misleading and sketchy in its own way: "yahoo" - syndicated content "cnet" - (UK) cnet.co.uk's crave blog "gizmodo" - (UK) gizmodo.co.uk not saying that you couldn't fool major sites, but this is a misrepresentative. You say "Gizmodo' without qualification, people expect you mean Gizmodo.com -- Not Gizmodo.co.uk. But hey, anything for a headline/clicks/press,…

If you willingly put your name on something, you have editorial responsibility.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#12

Post by eumenides1 » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 6:29 PM UTC

mpclark wrote: post #2

You get what you pay for. When a site's only revenue source is ads paying a couple of bucks per thousand impressions, this is the inevitable result.

Actually I don't believe that's the case.

I believe that the video game journalism industry selects those that break stories fastest and quality is an afterthought or by-product. The difference is very slight, but I honestly don't think if people were suddenly paying for it, the quality of the stories would suddenly rise.

Nothing wrong with it, but as the tumblr account proves, bad actors can wreck havoc.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#13

Post by msy » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 6:36 PM UTC

Every time I hear someone say that democracy won't suffer as professional news orgs fold and that bloggers will fill the void I think of stories like this.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#14

Post by gwright » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 6:40 PM UTC

> The games industry is the only one I can think of that will quite happily publish guesswork as news.

Ha. Ha. Assessing the credibility of news sources is far from a solved problem. It doesn't matter if it is breaking news, business news (in any industry), public policy news, finance news, etc.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#15

Post by frendiversity » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 6:42 PM UTC

Pfft. Any game site worth their salt would have negotiated the embargo period on releasing the "news" before providing this free advertising in exchange for those addicted fanboy clicks.

Real journalism is the advertising industry now. "Real" journalism (old-fashioned "journalistic integrity") is a good way to get squeezed out and blacklisted from the industry.

Keep in mind this isn't "real" news or journalism, it is treated as entertainment and there is no integrity assumed, there are justifications in place for this stuff.

Also, there have always been press hacks and tabloids. Most popular internet "news" is far more tabloid than newspaper.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#16

Post by mpclark » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 6:44 PM UTC

eumenides1 wrote: post #12

mpclark wrote: post #2

You get what you pay for. When a site's only revenue source is ads paying a couple of bucks per thousand impressions, this is the inevitable result.

Actually I don't believe that's the case. I believe that the video game journalism industry selects those that break stories fastest and quality is an afterthought or by-product. The difference is very slight, but I honestly don't think if people were suddenly paying for it, the quality of the stories would suddenly rise. Nothing wrong with it, but as the tumblr account proves, bad actors can wreck havoc.

Well, if another revenue stream was, say, high-ticket industry research or conferences, then a site operating in that arena would suddenly find that it needs to be very credible and maintain a reputation for accuracy and professional reporting practices. They would need to swing from serving spotty teenagers to serving trade visitors with money to spend. I would expect this to immediately reflect in the quality of their news coverage.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#17

Post by taylorbuley » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 6:53 PM UTC

kordless wrote: post #4

In summary, author blames gaming sites for lack of journalistic integrity at the same time he fails to notice he is a liar and a snark. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Much of the facts found while reporting are veiled in personal interest and sometimes fibs.

Part of our job is understanding and accounting for that.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#18

Post by potatolicious » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 7:01 PM UTC

gwright wrote: post #14

> The games industry is the only one I can think of that will quite happily publish guesswork as news. Ha. Ha. Assessing the credibility of news sources is far from a solved problem. It doesn't matter if it is breaking news, business news (in any industry), public policy news, finance news, etc.

This is also why journalism is an actual field of study, not just a word to make oneself sound important. Assessing the credibility of sources is one of many very hard problems legitimate journalists face, and as a whole we have some obligations and expectations in place to ensure due diligence is followed.

Which isn't perfect, but certainly a good foil for situations like this.

I miss real journalism.

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#19

Post by jcbrand » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 7:03 PM UTC

msy wrote: post #13

Every time I hear someone say that democracy won't suffer as professional news orgs fold and that bloggers will fill the void I think of stories like this.

You mean the same professional news orgs that publish 14 stories on Pussy Riot's plight but only a brief bit of wire copy from AP concerning Bradley Manning's first week of testimony? http://t.co/dCsfOEsf

Re: Don’t believe everything you read

#20

Post by te_platt » Wed, Jan 23, 2013, 7:05 PM UTC

How many of you laughed at how credulous news sites are before verifying that this blog post was accurate? Finding a reliable news source is hard, and not just in the games industry. Even here on Hacker News I usually read a headline, wonder if it's true, check the comments for contrarian views, then read the article.