Of all the places I would think to find a useful article, the proclaimed industry source for video game professionals would not have made the list. But the GameDaily BIZ has an article entitled “10 Most Effective Ways To Challenge Questionable Facts” that has some very good suggestions.
Last week Media Coverage pointed out why the enthusiast press sometimes fails to challenge questionable facts. This week he lays out 10 effective ways for bloggers and members of the enthusiast press to become the worst nightmare of dishonest corporate communications.
Apparently last week’s column on how the enthusiast press often fails to challenge questionable facts hit a nerve with many readers. In fact, a number of them requested a second column that was focused on answers to the problem.
In searching for solutions I called up a few of the best editors and writers I worked with in the past and asked them how they managed to so aggressively challenge the questionable facts dished to them by the videogame makers. This column is a collection of their best suggestions.
These suggestions are, of course, targeted towards bloggers, journalists and organizations in the enthusiast press. However, they can also be a standard that readers should expect from their videogame publications. After all, readers can be the most powerful agents of change if they make their expectations clearly and expressly known.
The suggestions given:
- Suggestion 1. Be the skeptic
- Suggestion 2. Be fair, but not necessarily (equally) balanced (Part 1)
- Suggestion 3. Be fair, but not necessarily (equally) balanced (Part 2)
- Suggestion 4. Know Your History
- Suggestion 5. Acknowledge history often
- Suggestion 6. Remember what the readers want from you
- Suggestion 7. Remember that people care about the name at the bottom of the story
- Suggestion 8. Demand Standards
- Suggestion 9. Get Outside Sources
- Suggestion 10. When in doubt use BTLTUMTB
I’d like to think we can use these suggestions on ourselves. By the way, BTLTUMTB means “But They’ve Lied To Us Many Times Before.”
