Examiner.com fires journalist due to complaints from developers

Alex Hinkley appeared on the HipHopGamer Show today where he talks about how Examiner.com fired him for an article criticizing overspending in the gaming industry and blaming six figure salaries of developers for rising production costs. Developers and publishers demanded he be fired and Examiner.com obliged. Should publishers and developers have this sort of power over gaming journalists? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_ckkZ_HbQ

The video is 30 minutes so i didnt watch the whole thing, but the journalist was initially correct. Video game budgets are getting out of control, however the developers have nothing to do with that. Very few developers make 100k a year, usually only a veteran main programmer would make that much, most of them make anywhere from 40-70k a year (but keep in mind they work 100 hours a week sometimes).

So the developers are not the problem, Publishers who have never made or played a video game before are looking at Call of Duty sales and think that if they spend 100 million dollars  they can get that audience to switch to their game, but it doesnt work that way.

Reducing the budget starts and ends with the publisher. To answer your question though, no he shoudlnt have gotten fired, even if i dont agree with what he was saying about developers getting overpaid, if anything they should get more of the profits.

The Examiner is hardly a bastion for journalism of any sort, video games especially. This would be bigger news if it were a major video game publication that fired the guy.

Examiner is pretty low on the totem pole of websites for writing, so I'm not that shocked that this happened. It sucks for that writer, but building up your own blog is better then working for Examiner. I wonder if their pay has gotten any better, I know for the month that I tried them out, the pay scale was something like .05 cents per hit and you didn't get any money until about $20 or so.

Examiner is pretty low on the totem pole of websites for writing, so I'm not that shocked that this happened. It sucks for that writer, but building up your own blog is better then working for Examiner. I wonder if their pay has gotten any better, I know for the month that I tried them out, the pay scale was something like .05 cents per hit and you didn't get any money until about $20 or so.

GT90

Their pay scale has actually been going down.

Alex Hinkley appeared on the HipHopGamer Show today where he talks about how Examiner.com fired him for an article criticizing overspending in the gaming industry and blaming six figure salaries of developers for rising production costs. Developers and publishers demanded he be fired and Examiner.com obliged. Should publishers and developers have this sort of power over gaming journalists? 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_ckkZ_HbQ

Xander7756

Alex Hinkley appeared on the HipHopGamer Show today where he talks about how Examiner.com fired him for an article criticizing overspending in the gaming industry and blaming six figure salaries of developers for rising production costs. Developers and publishers demanded he be fired and Examiner.com obliged. Should publishers and developers have this sort of power over gaming journalists? 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_ckkZ_HbQ

Xander7756

I remember reading that article, it was pretty much the joke of the day for anyone involved in the gaming industry (developers, indies, publishers, reviewers, website editors, internet celebs, etc). Yeah, that probably should have gotten him fired for sheer stupidity. He should have been fired for posting an incorrect, poorly written, idiotic article that was likely to upset people and bring (more) negative press for them, it never should have been approved in the first place.Legolas_Katarn

I don't think the Examiner has any sort of peer-review process. Pretty sure it's just "post whatever whenever."

A staff team reviews every single article after publication.

[QUOTE="Xander7756"]

Alex Hinkley appeared on the HipHopGamer Show today where he talks about how Examiner.com fired him for an article criticizing overspending in the gaming industry and blaming six figure salaries of developers for rising production costs. Developers and publishers demanded he be fired and Examiner.com obliged. Should publishers and developers have this sort of power over gaming journalists? 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_ckkZ_HbQ

Legolas_Katarn

Actually if you look at how many likes the article received compared to the "counter" article, it's like 9,000 to 1,000 in favor of the original. It was only a very vocal minority that didn't like it. Also, all the numbers are referenced at verifiable sources. If you are saying the article is stupid and poorly written, are you saying these sources' numbers are wrong? If so, you should probably take it up with them instead.

Alex Hinkley appeared on the HipHopGamer Show today where he talks about how Examiner.com fired him for an article criticizing overspending in the gaming industry and blaming six figure salaries of developers for rising production costs. Developers and publishers demanded he be fired and Examiner.com obliged. Should publishers and developers have this sort of power over gaming journalists? 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_ckkZ_HbQ

Xander7756

So you came here now after being banned from GAF? I guess that this time you were smart enough not to mention that it was you that wrote the article.

of course not, but places like IGN and machinima get their content directly from publishers

The Examiner is hardly a bastion for journalism of any sort, video games especially. This would be bigger news if it were a major video game publication that fired the guy.

c_rake

I agree. If it happened on Gamespot (second time in their career, I might as well add) or IGN or someplace bigger than Examiner.com, then it would most certainly be a MAJOR deal for a lot of people to come to grips with. Seeing that it came from Examiner.com is considered minor news at best, I suppose.

[QUOTE="c_rake"]

The Examiner is hardly a bastion for journalism of any sort, video games especially. This would be bigger news if it were a major video game publication that fired the guy.

Metamania

I agree. If it happened on Gamespot (second time in their career, I might as well add) or IGN or someplace bigger than Examiner.com, then it would most certainly be a MAJOR deal for a lot of people to come to grips with. Seeing that it came from Examiner.com is considered minor news at best, I suppose.

It wouldn't be suprising, though. Developers and publishers are your source for pretty much all your content as a gaming journalist. Good luck getting press passes, interviews, review copies, etc after you burn them. Small sites are especially susceptible to this kind of pressure, but even larger sites like this one would struggle if they played too much hardball with industry insiders.

[QUOTE="Metamania"]

[QUOTE="c_rake"]

The Examiner is hardly a bastion for journalism of any sort, video games especially. This would be bigger news if it were a major video game publication that fired the guy.

Ish_basic

I agree. If it happened on Gamespot (second time in their career, I might as well add) or IGN or someplace bigger than Examiner.com, then it would most certainly be a MAJOR deal for a lot of people to come to grips with. Seeing that it came from Examiner.com is considered minor news at best, I suppose.

It wouldn't be suprising, though. Developers and publishers are your source for pretty much all your content as a gaming journalist. Good luck getting press passes, interviews, review copies, etc after you burn them. Small sites are especially susceptible to this kind of pressure, but even larger sites like this one would struggle if they played too much hardball with industry insiders.

Yeah, that's a good point. Once you're a gaming journalist, you have a lot of connections with both developer and publishers. Do something wrong, however, and your bridges are pretty much burned with them. So it's definitely a struggle that everyone in the gaming journalism business has to put up with if they wish to keep on going with their jobs.

It wouldn't be suprising, though. Developers and publishers are your source for pretty much all your content as a gaming journalist. Good luck getting press passes, interviews, review copies, etc after you burn them. Small sites are especially susceptible to this kind of pressure, but even larger sites like this one would struggle if they played too much hardball with industry insiders.Ish_basic

Eh. It's made out to be way worse than it actually is. From my experience, both parties get along fine so long as neither are being total dicks to each other, regardless of disagreements with reviews or news or what have you. It's a two-way street: developers and publishers need the press just as much as the press needs them. And, save for the rare instances cases like the Examiner, they all get along fine.

So you came here now after being banned from GAF? I guess that this time you were smart enough not to mention that it was you that wrote the article.

Teufelhuhn

[QUOTE="Ish_basic"]

[QUOTE="Metamania"]

I agree. If it happened on Gamespot (second time in their career, I might as well add) or IGN or someplace bigger than Examiner.com, then it would most certainly be a MAJOR deal for a lot of people to come to grips with. Seeing that it came from Examiner.com is considered minor news at best, I suppose.

Metamania

It wouldn't be suprising, though. Developers and publishers are your source for pretty much all your content as a gaming journalist. Good luck getting press passes, interviews, review copies, etc after you burn them. Small sites are especially susceptible to this kind of pressure, but even larger sites like this one would struggle if they played too much hardball with industry insiders.

Yeah, that's a good point. Once you're a gaming journalist, you have a lot of connections with both developer and publishers. Do something wrong, however, and your bridges are pretty much burned with them. So it's definitely a struggle that everyone in the gaming journalism business has to put up with if they wish to keep on going with their jobs.