I see advertisements all over gamespot. Many of these advertisements are for games that are reviewed on gamespot. Is Cameron Robinson trying to say that gamespot does not get paid by these companies for these advertisements? Because he doesn't mention this in the 'conflict of interest' segment. The game companies are gamespot's customers. All other things being equal a company will try to please it's customers. And companies will tend to spend their advertising dollar in publications that will give them favorable reviews. This could filter out honest game reviewers out of the market. There is a counter force to this. If gamespot starts giving bad games good reviews they may lose readers/viewers and lose equity in there advertising potential. Probably the viewers keep this conflict of interest in check for the most part. It appears that he is trying to deflect this obvious conflict of interest by placing the focus on the psychology of the reader that may question it. Apparently with 'science' created that may take away from the credibility of anyone going against what is the main message in media. You can create a scientific study to support just about any point you want to make - much like statistics.
It's naive to think that money cannot influence media. They are private businesses seeking the most profit. They are already being paid to put out the message of the game companies. This is how advertising works. And advertising is what pays the bills at gamespot. The only question is whether it leaks over to reviews or not. If you want to make a video about it - then defend how reviews remain unbiased in this way. Don't insult my intelligence gamespot. And don't jump on the conspiracy theory propaganda band wagon to try to stifle your readers from questioning it.
MindsEye's comments