Hi Jason,
You poised a very good question and undoubtedly will be receiving a myriad of different responses.
For me, the problem that exists regarding Online gaming news is the concern of biting the hand that feeds you.
Journalism is at its best when the reporter is free to present and explore the topic without concern of reprisal. News on gaming websites have more to do with company press releases than hard hitting journalism. A classic example is the news of closures and redundancies in the industry itself. Monolith, Surreal and Snowblind studios are another three where they have recently downsized their staff but the article that covered this gave only a press release for the company to show that Warner Bros. is still committed to gaming as a justification for their downsizing. WTF?
Journalism should be asking questions, not acting as a messenger and there lies the problem. Gaming magazines are more involved with the PR aspects of the industry than it is with news itself.
Professor Peter Cole, University of Sheffield (ex-editor of the Sunday correspondent, deputy editor and news editor of The Guardian, news review editor of the Sunday Times) states that “journalism is about telling people what they don’t know and making them want to know”.
It’s the “making them want to know” that is missing. The readers of the gaming news really don’t care about redundancies, they don’t care about finances behind developers or the issue that causes delays etc. What they care about is – when are the new games arriving and are they good?
When I read articles on the web or in magazines; its about cheats, achievements, reviews, xbox VS ps3 graphics comparisons and news feed. These articles don’t question, they just present and inflame.
To me good journalism must ask the awkward questions and question the answer. News should unearth and then explain and make accessible to the public what the authority (in this case company) has left confused, incomplete or abstract to the public.
Can you imagine what would happen to all the advertisements for gaming magazines if the editors, writers etc starting questioning the actions of EA, Activision etc?
Until gaming magazines are free of relying financially on the industry they critic, it will be hard for gaming journalism to change.
Autonomy and true freedom of speech can only be achieved if the consequences of reporting doesn’t directly affect the speaker or if the speaker is willing to face the response of those he critics on.
