Below is an email I sent off to the Journalistic Review Show on the Australian ABC called “Media Watch”,which airs at 9:20pm on Mondays. I wonder they will respond to my rant?
I write this particular email pondering the Journalistic Ethics of Aunty herself!
Are we to believe that it is ethically correct for a journalist to “parrot” stories that have not been factually checked?
Or are you into the same “filthy” Audience Retention Strategies that Commercial Stations use?
I speak of 7:30 show’s coverage of the #gamergate controversy recently. This was done on the 12th of November, 2014.
I would like to question whether there are *real* honest to goodness journalists on staff at the 7:30… ones that manage to put their ideological views aside, ones that will do the legwork and check both sides of the story?
The 7:30 Show has clearly breached several Journalistic Ethics Codes while covering this story.
Firstly, did any of the hacks at 7:30 bother to contact any US/Canadian Law Enforcement Agencies to *confirm*the veracity of the harassment Brianna Wu, Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkessian suffered?
I am pretty sure they didn’t.
Secondly, did any of the hacks at 7:30 bother to contact any US/Canadian Law Enforcement Agencies to *confirm* that the harassment Brianna Wu, Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkessian originated from people that identify with #gamergate?
I am certain that they didn’t.
Thirdly, did any hack at 7:30 want to speak to any of the Australian #gamergate identities about our side of the story?
They sure as hades DID NOT.
I think this is a real test of the ethical standard of journalism within the ABC. Is the ABC about the truth any more? You know, that horrible thing called “the truth”. That thing that some Journalists have a very, very hard time to find.
The 7:30 show should start telling the truth, and stop peddling some fake narrative that #gamergate is all about misogyny.
#gamergate is all about Journalistic Ethics. A large portion of the Gaming Community have become seriously estranged from the Gaming Journalistic community. We do not appreciate it when Gaming Journalists don’t recuse themselves from writing about friends, lovers and financial interests. We do not appreciate when Gaming Journalists openly blackmail game developers to change their content to fit their ideological sensitivities. We do not appreciate when 10+ media outlets coordinate and release “stories” to decry *all* gamers as horrible misogynists all within the space of five hours. We do not appreciate when Journalists advocate violence against a group of people. We don’t appreciate when journalists say that #gamergate is about excluding women from gaming and game development.
Look, you can completely ignore this email and confirm every nagging suspicion I’ve had about modern journalism is undeniably true.
Or you can prove that the ABC is a bastion of the truth, no matter how ugly, or how outside of the progressive narrative it is.
At least watch this YouTube from Australia’s most vocal #gamergate identity, Socks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWSLTxQEZXI
I will warn you that people are getting sick of Journalists. #gamergate should be a wake-up call to journalists from ALL media. Audiences can bring real consequences to media outlets.
We trust you to bring us the truth.
We don’t want you to force feed us ideological narratives.
Just the Truth, thanks.
from Jeff.