Fox News Brings Video Game Violence Debate To a New Low 421
Fox News took another shot at the video game violence debate earlier this week when they asked whether Bulletstorm, an upcoming M-rated shooter from Epic Games, is the worst game in the world. The article links violent games with an increase in rapes, and suggests there should be greater penalties for selling to minors. Gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun breaks down the problems with the article's sensationalist claims and highlights the disingenuous cherry-picking of quotes.
"Scott Steinberg, CEO of TechSavvy Global, and all-round industry guru, got in touch with me to show me the answers he submitted to Fox when they approached him for comment. The full answers are reproduced below, because what results is a fantastic interview on the subject of adult game content and regulation. Fox chose to use none of Steinberg’s comments in their final piece, opting instead for the more sensational claims of those with no expertise in the subject (neither of whom have found time to reply to our emails). But seeing these answers also provides further insight into how the mainstream media coverage of gaming stories works. Far from being a reporter ignorant of the subject and twisted by naive contributors, Fox correspondent John Brandon was equipped with a wealth of factual information and informed opinion before composing his frantic article."
Rubbish (Score:5, Informative)
Faux News (Score:1, Informative)
This is what you get for watching Faux News. Are you new to American news TV?
I'm not surprised (Score:3, Informative)
I found this one via the B3TA Newsletter. http://b3ta.com/newsletter/issue465/ [b3ta.com]
* HOW THE DAILY MAIL WORKS - Long, long blog entry, but interesting and quite damning. To put it bluntly, they make stories up. http://goo.gl/acMZq [goo.gl]
Re:Fox News Weasel Words (Score:5, Informative)
âoeThe increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games,â she said.
Emphasis mine. See? They never said rape has actually gone up,
STOP RIGHT THERE. "The increase in rapes" is what makes their statement actually say that rape has gone up. Simple English, yo. They are discussing a supposed increase in rape, therefore they have directly implied (this is a case of implication, NOT inference) that rapes have increased.
Re:Great! (Score:5, Informative)
I know you felt required to be "balanced" but that really is a false equivalency. Did you see the footage of the Fox News producer organizing the tea party rally for best visual effect? Do you know how many potential GOP presidential candidates Fox News directly funds by giving them jobs as "news" "analysts"? Do you remember the multiple times Fox had a story about a tea party rally and showed a different rally in order to make the attendance bigger? Fox News gave millions of dollars directly to the GOP and when an MSNBC host was found to have given a few thousand to a Democrat, he was suspended (and later sacked).
I could go on and on (and I usually do) but until you can show MSNBC engaged in that kind of activity, it's not fair to put them in the same category.
Re:Thirsty for a motherfuckin' firsty (Score:5, Informative)
The post also claims Fox is mainstream media. I don't believe that to be true at all. They may have a following, but mostly, they're redneck, science-denyin', anti-queer, don't-tax-me, Nazi-claimin' bags of big wind.
And now, I'll watch as my /. karma twitches.