'Integrity' starts with 'I'

Resistance: Fall of Man makes me mad.

Today, it's different though. Today, it's over an article posted on CNN.com written by the gaming geniuses over at the associated press, regarding the Church of England, electronics giant Sony, granny panties, and some very large knots. The best part about the CNN version? How it differs, ever-so-slightly from the BBC version.

"...a virtual shootout between rival gunmen..."
"...hundreds of people killed inside the cathedral..."

Nice. Award-winning coverage, assholes. I can almost see the hand grenades sailing into the pews.* At least the BBC version was just the usual slant ("This is a PSA from the BBC: Your kids are firing guns in church!"). This CNN version however, is just another classic piece of blatant idiocy on game coverage in mainstream media. It doesn't matter which numbskull ("I've never played the game before, but I heard some priests are real pissed about it. Shit, this article is gonna write itself!") 'wrote' it this time--it assumes the same blind slant as usual, but impressively adds an additional spin.
Now, I know it's a real hoot to be an SME on everything under the sun, and that there's no need to check your facts because "gamers don't read CNN," but what happens when they do, and your little story is found to be ass-backwards?
If you had done your homework and followed through on a basic journalistic obligation before shitting all over your keyboard, you would have found that:

* The Manchester 'cathedral' scenario in question, is a 10 minute segment of a ten hour game, and not a ten hour segment of your latest media scapegoat.

* I assume that by "rival gunmen," you meant "otherworldly rival mutants bent on the destruction of humankind," rather than the implied back alley gang-bangers with handguns.

* The "hundreds of people" in question are actually an alien race, comprised of little four-legged creatures, who, moments later, are joined by some vaguely people-shaped two-legged creatures, before the player exits the church entirely.

Even in the journalism classes that I barely passed, I always knew that it was critical to "know your audience." Inserting tripe like "rival gunmen" and "hundreds of people" shows that in sensationalist news, you 'know' your audience will eat this shit up. Congratulations. You got an associates degree in "Journalism 101." Maybe a sad sign of the times. Or maybe a sign that the author is a lazy sellout--I'm not sure which.

This isn't about defending the game, or the medium that I so enjoy; rather it's about calling out the "professionals" on their deliberate bias and an ignorance that they know the general public is going to believe. I mean, shit--it's on CNN, how couldn't it be true?

My only question now is, who annoys me more? The Church of England? Or CNN?
And they say gamers are the ones who can't discern fantasy from reality.






* Reminds me of a Pentecostal church we used to go to.