When delivering an editorial, they can say whatever they want so long as it is actually their own opinion.
Well that's the issue. Is it their opinion or are they fishing for kickbacks?
Well, that's a question neither you nor I can answer absolutely nor on more than a case by case basis. I'm sure there are corrupt journalists out there just as there are corrupt forms of every other occupation in the world, but I'm not about to judge an entire industry based on a few notable criminals. I will say this, though: Deguello, you're making me look optimistic and that's a feat I would consider nearly impossible.
Actually they have let their editorial biases conflict their reporting before. Back when it was in vogue to slam the DS for being a "Virtual Boy," they had some pretty slanted reporting of the Japanese launch of both the DS and PSP. They chose some out of the way camera store with three guys standing outside as the "DS launch" and a goodly sized queue from mainstreet Tokyo for the "PSP Launch." However, the numbers clearly showed the DS clocked the PSP and there were pictures of gigantic lines for the DS that dwarfed the PSP Line. It was pretty embarrassing when they got caught doing that, and they haven't really explained why they did it.
Alright, this example you cited is a perfect example of what I was talking about - a failure to report or portray the news as what it is, and that's not the last time IGN's been guilty of this. Just a few months ago, I took issue with an NPD report IGN posted. The headline for this report stated that "Playstation" had outsold the Wii for that particular month. Read the article, though, and you see that while this was technically true, it was only in the sense that the Playstation brand (PSP, PS2, PS3) combined had outsold the Wii for that particular month. It's a misleading headline on a news story, and it was irresponsible journalism designed to elicit a particular reaction from their readers. These are the sort of stories this thread
should be covering, not whining about every editorial that crosses the web that's critical of Nintendo.
It's not ignorant to think IGN is trying to use the strength of their readership as fuel for their bully pulpit. It makes you a critical consumer of media.
No, what I was calling "ignorant" was this idea of KDR's that because writers on sites like IGN are journalists that that means that they are forbidden from expressing opinion in any professional format. It was BS and I called him on it.
And what if IGN is doing as you say? I see no more ridiculousness here than I would simply opening up the Editorial page of the New York Times or any other major newspaper. Editorial is traditionally used to bring about one of two things: change in the audience by speaking about a particular issue the writer wants the reader to know more about, or change in the world by speaking about a particular issue the reader cares about and galvanizing them into action.