Being a news reporter in the video game industry is a constant balancing act. On the one hand, if you just report on the official announcements and public information released by the game companies, you're little more than a stenographer – a PR person by proxy. On the other hand, if you rely on unofficial, rumored information, you run the risk of misinforming your readers and getting burned if and when the information is proven false. Then again, if you wait for the official word, you could be left with old information that other outlets reported much earlier, when it was "just a rumor." Of course, the game companies you rely on for comment and cooperation might not be too happy if you ruin their finely-honed information dispersal schedule. (See my fourth biggest video game journalism controversy for a cogent example of this).

The key question for any reporter, then, becomes this: When should you publish a rumor and when should you sit on it?

Or maybe a better first question for reporters is where to get those rumors in the first place. "Regarding leads and sources ... following the journalistic model is the key," says Gamespot Senior News Editor Tor Thorsen. "Cultivate relationships with PR reps and developers at events by being genuine, friendly, and polite." Thorsen says staying respectful is essential to getting sources to open up. "Sure, after-hours carousing can -- and often should -- get a little rowdy. But the enthusiasm aroused by games mixed with the free-flowing booze at press events has led to some pretty ugly scenes of reporters cornering developers and PR reps. I can think of one instance with a pretty prominent writer ... actually berating a developer about his game at high volume to his face." That's not a good way to cultivate a source, to say the least.

"Regarding rumors, we cultivate sources pretty much every way you'd imagine," says Electronic Gaming Monthly Senior Editor Crispin Boyer. "Folks we meet while doing reporting for features, news, or cover stories; PR people who sometimes slip up and say too much; industry folks who leave and move to another company but are willing to dish details about their previous employer; or just friends of the staff who work at developers. ... We also hear a lot of stuff at industry events. Alcohol plus idle chatter equals good stuff for our rumor section."

OK, so now that you've got the rumor, the question again becomes what to do with it.
"We created Rumor Control so we could address less-than-solid items getting wide play without lumping them with regular news, which is an alarmingly everyday occurrence amongst most blogs out there," Thorsen said. Indeed, one of the best ways to avoid letting your readers get taken in by rumors is by separating them out in a separate rumor section. If you can't do that, you have to take extra care to let the reader know that what they're reading isn't official. "When I do post a rumor I make sure to phrase the post title in the form of a question as a visual hint, and make it clear in the post text that the information should be taken with some salt," says Slashdot Games editor Michael Zenke. "When it is 'low hanging fruit,' I do try to confirm rumours ... but generally I've found people appreciate being alerted to persistent if unfounded ideas."

While solid confirmation for most rumors can be hard to come by, asking for an official comment from the affected company is just good policy. "I think the proper journalistic approach is (duh) to follow proper journalistic practices," Thorsen said. "Make your inquiries, see what you get back. If you don't get a response in a timely manner, note you had not received comment in your piece, move on, and update it later. When you pull the 'No response had been received as of press time,' trigger depends of course, on the urgency and/or merit of the story."

That doesn't mean it's always easy doing things the proper way. "For me personally, waiting for publisher comment is the most annoying thing in the world," Thorsen said. "When you finally get a response and present all the evidence on the table in a solid news story with context, the kids set upon you like jackals in the forums. 'SO SLOW GAMESPOT! I heard this TWO HOURS AGO! LOL! LMAO!' Some reward for doing things by the book."

Continue...