News: Journalism Rule #1: Check your sources.
I hate celebrity web sites and the news that appears on them. But one story that caught my eye today was about John Mayer insulting Guitar Hero and all of its fans at Entertainment Wise. It quoted a Rolling Stone interview in which John Mayer supposedly said that "Guitar Hero Fans Are Fake Wannabes" and that the game makes "it easy for untalented people to pretend they are good at playing the instrument."
Pretty outrageous comments when most guitarists love Guitar Hero and have even collaborated with the developers by contributing remastered tracks and appearing as boss characters. Where's the credit for inspiring young guitarists to pick up a real axe, right? Wrong.
I was about to write how John Mayer made these "fake wannabe" comments about gamers and how he once claimed his newest career ambitions include stand-up comedy and writing. As a writer who's one of these so-called "wannabe guitarist," I thought he was being a hypocritical guitarist who's a wannabe writer.
Of course, as a journalism degree holder, I wanted to look up the original source. I didn't get through Comm 409 Media Ethics class and my tough-as-nails (but now I realize brilliant) professor without knowing that checking sources is one of the most essential steps in this business. Even in gaming journalism.
Upon looking up the Rolling Stone interview I couldn't find the most critical remarks by Mayer or anything close to some of the paraphrasing that writer Harjeet Mander included in the article. Yes, Mayer did say that "Guitar Hero was devised to bring the guitar-playing experience to the masses without them having to put anything into it." But that was the harshest he got and he clearly prefaces that quote with "I don't ever want to be the kind of guy who rails against whatever progress has taken place."
Mayer doesn't insult gamers or bash the game in the out-of-context way that Entertainment Wise claims. There's no name calling, no verbal slamming, no mention of gamers being "fake wannabes," no referring to them as "untalented people." He does say that compared to playing Guitar Hero, the real guitar is much more enjoyable experience.
The embellished Entertainment Wise article is a sorry excuse for journalism. Whether you're covering video games or entertainment, there's no reason to exaggerate people’s quotes and, worst of all, trick your readers into becoming outraged.
With furious article comments like “John, it's a GAME. Get over yourself!” and “Has John Mayer actually played Guitar Hero?,” gamers shouldn’t be mad at Mayer, but be outraged that the poor quality of journalism from Entertainment Wise uses them as pawns to gain more pageviews in such a fraudulent fashion.
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