Post made by John Davison, Editor of 1UP.com gaming page.
What's The Big Idea?
273 Thumbs
I've never walked off the set of a TV show in disgust before, but this week I did. There's a first time for everything, I guess. I was in the studio for a live-to-tape session of the Donny Deutsch show on CNBC, "The Big Idea" on Tuesday morning this week. After enduring it for about 10 or 15 minutes it was clear that the whole situation had been a set-up from outset.
I know a few of you saw the show (as you've messaged me with your support) but I thought it might be interesting to shed some light on the background and highlight a problem that we all share as gamers; that of total ignorance on the subject of videogames from "big" media. Deutsch comes from the Michael Moore school of "journalism." He has a point he wants to make, and isn't particularly interested in anything that might contradict that point. It's his show, after all. His website points out that the show is "smart, sexy, hip, and irreverent television." The description also says that the show is "provocative, spontaneous, and real." We'll come back to that.
The show's director originally contacted me on Monday this week. I was told that Deutsch would be talking about videogames, and they wanted someone from the gaming media to talk about a bunch of things. The subjects listed to me ran the gamut from "the future of videogames" to "online clans and community." I was told that the violence thing might come up, in light of the recent 25-to-Life exposure, to which my response was a dismissive "that's been done to death, it's boring." The director simply asked me if I would "just say that on air."
When I arrived at the studio, and after being caked in layers of makeup, I sat down in front of the camera and soon learned that the entire show was about violence. It kicked off with Donny holding up a copy of Computer Games magazine declaring that there wasn't a single game in there that wasn't violent, and they then immediately cut to scenes of CJ stamping on a girl until she bled over the pavement in San Andreas. I was introduced as pretty much the bad guy who thinks this doesn't have an effect on kids, and...well...things just deteriorated from there. I tried to discuss the ratings system, I tried to talk about how the majority of games are sold at Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy, and how they all take the ratings system very seriously...but this isn't what the show was supposed to be about. Donny had an agenda. "All games are violent" was his proclamation, and nothing was going to sway him. We weren't here to test a hypothesis. While this was happening, the director kept nagging me through the earpiece to "jump in and talk about what you're here to talk about." I was pissed. "That's not what the show appears to be about, darling."
As we cut to the first break in the live taping, more guests were being lined up including Columbine student Brooks Brown and his parents. This was looking like a full on ambush...so I got up and left. I'd been set up as an apologist for videogames, and with the obvious agenda it was clear that neither I, nor anything I represent was going to come out of it unscathed. Deutsch wasn't interested in discussing the efforts of the ESA or the ESRB, or the fact that the rating system has been commended by numerous organizations, he was simply interested in demonizing an entire segment of entertainment.
So I bailed, feeling just a tinge of smug self-satisfaction at being such a prissy media primadonna, but also absolutely furious about the way I'd been ambushed. The pre-show "prep" was incredibly misleading, and it was clear that I'd been set up. Before I left the studio I demanded to speak to the director so I could express myself to the fullest extent of the English language, but she wouldn't speak to me.
I called our PR guy to bitch about the way things had gone down, and probably made some demands regarding some suitable form of retribution.
And that was pretty much that.
Except it wasn't. Today I got a note from Brooks Brown, who if you can cast your mind back all the way to 1999 was the Columbine student who warned police deputies that Eric Harris was building pipe bombs and had threatened to kill him. "I was that guy on the show with you," he said. "Wondered a few things - first, wanted to say nice job, and it was fucked up what they did. They actually edited the show's content so my points weren't let in." We have since struck up a conversation over email, and he has told me "When [the director] contacted me she told me almost the same thing - how the show was about gaming in general. She told me violence may come up, but it wouldn't be the focus. She also said my history with Columbine wouldn't be beaten to death, and also that I'd have a chance to make my points...they also promised I would be able to explain why the violence is necessary."
He went on to discuss what his parents had to say. "They were going to make a great point that got cut (one I think you'll appreciate). GTA and Postal are innocuous at best - the worst game for kids is Halo 2, because the moment you sign on and play on Live, 11 year olds yell things at you that would make Eminem cry. It's not the game, it's the parents, and Halo 2 proves it. My PARENTS were going to say that! LOL."
All this, of course, never made it into The Big Idea.
The media's obsession with violence in videogames is getting old, but what's more interesting about this turn of events is that the debate itself wasn't seen as important. In this case, Deutsch and CNBC were manufacturing an exchange that would be what was, in their minds, "good television." Through judicious editing and a pre-determined agenda they manipulated the comments made by guests on their show (who were manipulated into being there in the first place) and glossed over observations that could spark further much more interesting debate.
"Provocative, spontaneous, and real." It's no secret that the media manipulates whatever it can to provoke the audience, but in this case being "real" didn't seem to come into it.
273 Thumbs
I've never walked off the set of a TV show in disgust before, but this week I did. There's a first time for everything, I guess. I was in the studio for a live-to-tape session of the Donny Deutsch show on CNBC, "The Big Idea" on Tuesday morning this week. After enduring it for about 10 or 15 minutes it was clear that the whole situation had been a set-up from outset.
I know a few of you saw the show (as you've messaged me with your support) but I thought it might be interesting to shed some light on the background and highlight a problem that we all share as gamers; that of total ignorance on the subject of videogames from "big" media. Deutsch comes from the Michael Moore school of "journalism." He has a point he wants to make, and isn't particularly interested in anything that might contradict that point. It's his show, after all. His website points out that the show is "smart, sexy, hip, and irreverent television." The description also says that the show is "provocative, spontaneous, and real." We'll come back to that.
The show's director originally contacted me on Monday this week. I was told that Deutsch would be talking about videogames, and they wanted someone from the gaming media to talk about a bunch of things. The subjects listed to me ran the gamut from "the future of videogames" to "online clans and community." I was told that the violence thing might come up, in light of the recent 25-to-Life exposure, to which my response was a dismissive "that's been done to death, it's boring." The director simply asked me if I would "just say that on air."
When I arrived at the studio, and after being caked in layers of makeup, I sat down in front of the camera and soon learned that the entire show was about violence. It kicked off with Donny holding up a copy of Computer Games magazine declaring that there wasn't a single game in there that wasn't violent, and they then immediately cut to scenes of CJ stamping on a girl until she bled over the pavement in San Andreas. I was introduced as pretty much the bad guy who thinks this doesn't have an effect on kids, and...well...things just deteriorated from there. I tried to discuss the ratings system, I tried to talk about how the majority of games are sold at Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy, and how they all take the ratings system very seriously...but this isn't what the show was supposed to be about. Donny had an agenda. "All games are violent" was his proclamation, and nothing was going to sway him. We weren't here to test a hypothesis. While this was happening, the director kept nagging me through the earpiece to "jump in and talk about what you're here to talk about." I was pissed. "That's not what the show appears to be about, darling."
As we cut to the first break in the live taping, more guests were being lined up including Columbine student Brooks Brown and his parents. This was looking like a full on ambush...so I got up and left. I'd been set up as an apologist for videogames, and with the obvious agenda it was clear that neither I, nor anything I represent was going to come out of it unscathed. Deutsch wasn't interested in discussing the efforts of the ESA or the ESRB, or the fact that the rating system has been commended by numerous organizations, he was simply interested in demonizing an entire segment of entertainment.
So I bailed, feeling just a tinge of smug self-satisfaction at being such a prissy media primadonna, but also absolutely furious about the way I'd been ambushed. The pre-show "prep" was incredibly misleading, and it was clear that I'd been set up. Before I left the studio I demanded to speak to the director so I could express myself to the fullest extent of the English language, but she wouldn't speak to me.
I called our PR guy to bitch about the way things had gone down, and probably made some demands regarding some suitable form of retribution.
And that was pretty much that.
Except it wasn't. Today I got a note from Brooks Brown, who if you can cast your mind back all the way to 1999 was the Columbine student who warned police deputies that Eric Harris was building pipe bombs and had threatened to kill him. "I was that guy on the show with you," he said. "Wondered a few things - first, wanted to say nice job, and it was fucked up what they did. They actually edited the show's content so my points weren't let in." We have since struck up a conversation over email, and he has told me "When [the director] contacted me she told me almost the same thing - how the show was about gaming in general. She told me violence may come up, but it wouldn't be the focus. She also said my history with Columbine wouldn't be beaten to death, and also that I'd have a chance to make my points...they also promised I would be able to explain why the violence is necessary."
He went on to discuss what his parents had to say. "They were going to make a great point that got cut (one I think you'll appreciate). GTA and Postal are innocuous at best - the worst game for kids is Halo 2, because the moment you sign on and play on Live, 11 year olds yell things at you that would make Eminem cry. It's not the game, it's the parents, and Halo 2 proves it. My PARENTS were going to say that! LOL."
All this, of course, never made it into The Big Idea.
The media's obsession with violence in videogames is getting old, but what's more interesting about this turn of events is that the debate itself wasn't seen as important. In this case, Deutsch and CNBC were manufacturing an exchange that would be what was, in their minds, "good television." Through judicious editing and a pre-determined agenda they manipulated the comments made by guests on their show (who were manipulated into being there in the first place) and glossed over observations that could spark further much more interesting debate.
"Provocative, spontaneous, and real." It's no secret that the media manipulates whatever it can to provoke the audience, but in this case being "real" didn't seem to come into it.