Ophelea brought up an interesting point about game journalism. The industry is relatively young when it comes to reporting. Some of the magazines are funded by the companies themselves, so it really wouldn't make sense to trash your own game. Now, with the Internet, a lot of magazines are trying to keep up with the latest news by posting updates online, keeping blogs and interacting with the community. This gives the reader multiple viewpoints, which is beneficial for reviews. But with it comes a lot of information that you can't confirm either.

But when it comes to news and you want unbiased information, it's not just the video game industry that lacks it, but it's journalism as a whole. (ahem FOX) I was never a huge fan of the media (which is funny because I'm a journalism student) and the more I learn, the more cynical I become. It doesn't help that your professors are all retired from the industry because they are just fed up with the way things are run, but there is a problem with journalism, it's not going in the direction it should be going.

A journalist's duty is to the reader, but I find there are two types of readers: the ones that want things sugar coated and sensationalized because it's much more interesting to read, and the ones who want the dirty truth. Well I'm sure you can guess what the advertisers prefer, especially when the dirty truth involves them.

I think it's the responsibility of the writer to be truthful, and to push for that. Except that when you're financed by advertisers, that's a conflict of interest. It's not just in the VG industry, but anywhere. As a writer if you want to write for advertisers, maybe PR is a better job (and you probably get paid more). Otherwise journalism is a thankless job, and you bust your behind to uncover an important story, only to realize that a) no one cares, not even your editor b) some people care but still won't do anything about it c) nothing happens.

It should also be the responsibility of the reader, to push for the truth. Tabloids wouldn't be so popular if people weren't buying/reading them.

The video game industry is not viewed as a "serious" area of journalism, which could be why it lacks structure. To be in the industry you need to have the passion, which a lot of people have. You also need to have the skills and the integrity, which in some cases, is what people lack. (not just in this industry, I see it everywhere)

I'm sure there are a lot of excellent writers out there who can be good journalists, but I wonder if they're all off reporting more "important" news. A journalist is trained to be the watchdogs of society. So unless you're writing about abused QA testers and money laundering game developers, covering the latest Halo game probably won't get you a Pulitzer.

I still believe that there is a chance of turning things around, it's just harder now with the Internet and the lack of control as to what is allowed out there. Freedom of speech is a great thing, except when there's this much information to absorb, it's hard to know what is being filtered and what isn't.