Current Events > Esports Journalist of the Year dumps on Kotaku, Polygon, etc.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Esports Journalist of the Year winner, Richard Lewis, used his victory speech to shit on Polygon, Kotaku, Waypoint, etc. for their poor quality reporting, smear articles, and gatekeeping.

There was a name that should have been on the list though, Cecilia Danastasio. I just want to know if your watching this stream your work is valued, your work is necessary, you could have just as easily stood here giving a better speech than mine.

So anyway, what I wanted to talk about is why this awards important- not my award that I won, cuz thatd be narcissistic- all our awards. Cuz we have to look after ourselves. Cuz theres these external media companies that are looking at esports, and they want to write the history, and they want to tell the stories.

And you know who Im talking about: Polygon, people like that. Waypoint. The Kotakus. Right? And their approach to writing about our thing is two-fold. Theyve consistently embarrassed themselves writing pieces that expose their complete ignorance about our scene, lack of sources, and unoriginal opinions on topics we have talked [about] to death for 20 years.

The second has been to write hit-piece and smears, mostly propagated on half-truths or out-and-out lies, and its about some of you in this room. Give em hell. And they write about it because they think if they get one or two or twelve of you out of the way, they can get their friends in, they can get their cronies in, takeover and gate-keep our industry.

So lets compare and contrast. The reason Im standing here is probably one story. I wrote a story about a great guy, one of the best ambassadors: Rick Fox. Who was receiving racial abuse while he was in Echo Fox. Its a disgrace what happened to him, I love that guy, we owe him a great debt. Thats the kinda story I want to break, and thats the kinda story I want to fight for.

Lets have a look at some of their greatest hits, from the mainstream games press. Well, outside of Cecilias work, its not great. There were the lies they printed about a CSGo Major event being a Trump Rally because the journalist mis-read a sign. Great work. What about the time they all rallied around to stop abuse of a female Overwatch player that didnt exist. Which they would have found if they did a cursory fact-check. And of course theyre the annual hit-piece they write, trying to cancel any one of you. Or what about that interview they did with the worlds most popular streamer- outside of a toilet. One throw-away quote, still haunting him today. Its an outrage.

So anyway, despite this I want to welcome good journalists from a non e-sports background to the scene, cuz there are hundreds of stories every year that must be told, to make our industry better. I stuck it out for 15 years cuz I care, I care about this industry, I care about everyone in this room, and I care about everyone at home; and thats why I want to make it as best as it can be. Thanks so much for this award, I love you all dearly. Thank you.

The response was a round of applause from the audience.

https://nichegamer.com/2019/11/17/esports-journalist-richard-lewis-calls-out-kotaku-polygon-and-waypoint-for-bad-reporting-gatekeeping/

I suppose we can expect to see some retaliation shortly.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jijntHDxM

Need more people like him voicing this sort of stuff in every sort of media tbh

Edit: in that video, why is dr disrespect such a fucking tool to go dressed as his stream persona lmao, he sticks out like a sore thumb
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who?

Richard Lewis is a British esports journalist and livestream commentator from Wales. Having written technology articles for The Daily Dot, Breitbart News, and Cadred, he is best known as an award-winning esports journalist and as a former desk host of ELEAGUE.

Ah.

Frankly, this is an endorsement for Polygon and Kotaku then.
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Didnt Dr. Disrespect livestream some guy in a bathroom?

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Gaming journalism is just politi-gaming news now tbh
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I agree the reporting standards for esports at Kotaku are shit. I write for the Smash Bros. Ultimate scene and all Kotaku really does is publish smear peaces. They will occasionally pump out a good article (one done about Zero in ~2017 was pretty good) but on the whole it's usually drama baiting that seeks to make a circus and not lift people up, something the scene needs.

This is my specific experience in the scene, anyway. I've put a lot of time into knowing the international scene, and watching major gaming media outlets publish bits on twitter drama instead of reporting on big underdog runs at tournaments or instead of highlighting unknown talent is pretty sad.

The Ringer is one major outlet that did do a good niche piece on the Smash scene tho
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Zero_Destroyer posted...

I agree the reporting standards for esports at Kotaku are shit. I write for the Smash Bros. Ultimate scene and all Kotaku really does is publish smear peaces. They will occasionally pump out a good article (one done about Zero in ~2017 was pretty good) but on the whole it's usually drama baiting that seeks to make a circus and not lift people up, something the scene needs.

This is my specific experience in the scene, anyway. I've put a lot of time into knowing the international scene, and watching major gaming media outlets publish bits on twitter drama instead of reporting on big underdog runs at tournaments or instead of highlighting unknown talent is pretty sad.

The Ringer is one major outlet that did do a good niche piece on the Smash scene tho

One of his primary shots was that they do almost no actual fact checking or investigation, so their articles are primarily aimed at smearing the community and known figures in it.

Nanaimo-Bar posted...

who?

Richard Lewis is a British esports journalist and livestream commentator from Wales. Having written technology articles for The Daily Dot, Breitbart News, and Cadred, he is best known as an award-winning esports journalist and as a former desk host of ELEAGUE.

Ah.

Frankly, this is an endorsement for Polygon and Kotaku then.

That'd be a yikes from me dawg!
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LordFarquad1312 posted...

Nanaimo-Bar posted...

who?

Richard Lewis is a British esports journalist and livestream commentator from Wales. Having written technology articles for The Daily Dot, Breitbart News, and Cadred, he is best known as an award-winning esports journalist and as a former desk host of ELEAGUE.

Ah.

Frankly, this is an endorsement for Polygon and Kotaku then.

That'd be a yikes from me dawg!

i agree breitbart (a far right rag) is sketchy but he also writes for the daily dot (a far left rag) so i doubt it's a political slant thing
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>Breitbart

lol

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He might have some good points, but it's ironic... Dude was from Breitbart. Lmao

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why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

references;

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-dot/

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/breitbart/
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Zero_Destroyer posted...

why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

it doesnt fit their narrative
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Arcanine2009 posted...

He might have some good points, but it's ironic... Dude was from Breitbart. Lmao

Not since early 2016, if his page on their sight is accurate. His article don't look particularly outrageous there anyway.

Zero_Destroyer posted...

why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

Because "mah narrative" brah!
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https://www.pcgamer.com/richard-lewis-dreamhack-esports-update/

Since writing yesterday's article about the violent altercation between CS:GO panelist Richard Lewis and Dota 2 pro player Jonathan 'Loda' Berg at DreamHack Winter 2015, I've been contacted by DreamHack offering further comment.

"We had two staff members who witnessed the altercation between Richard Lewis and Jonathan Berg. Lewis and Kelly Milkies [Ong Xiao Wei] had been in an argument, Kelly had left the scene extremely upset and our staff were explaining to Richard Lewis how these types of yelling matches are not appropriate behaviour for our events. At this time then Jonathan Berg aggressively approached Richard Lewis and the two began to yell at one another, until Richard grabbed Jonathan's neck and began to strangle it, and then our staff intervened to end the physical confrontation."

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refmon posted...

Zero_Destroyer posted...

why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

it doesnt fit their narrative

King Rial posted...

Zero_Destroyer posted...

why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

Because "mah narrative" brah!

What "narrative?" I don't exactly have any investment in those sites.
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Antifar posted...

https://www.pcgamer.com/richard-lewis-dreamhack-esports-update/

Since writing yesterday's article about the violent altercation between CS:GO panelist Richard Lewis and Dota 2 pro player Jonathan 'Loda' Berg at DreamHack Winter 2015, I've been contacted by DreamHack offering further comment.

"We had two staff members who witnessed the altercation between Richard Lewis and Jonathan Berg. Lewis and Kelly Milkies [Ong Xiao Wei] had been in an argument, Kelly had left the scene extremely upset and our staff were explaining to Richard Lewis how these types of yelling matches are not appropriate behaviour for our events. At this time then Jonathan Berg aggressively approached Richard Lewis and the two began to yell at one another, until Richard grabbed Jonathan's neck and began to strangle it, and then our staff intervened to end the physical confrontation."

What's the problem?

Apparently the police thought his reaction to that altercation was reasonable and no charges were filed.

Nanaimo-Bar posted...

refmon posted...

Zero_Destroyer posted...

why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

it doesnt fit their narrative

King Rial posted...

Zero_Destroyer posted...

why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

Because "mah narrative" brah!

What "narrative?" I don't exactly have any investment in those sites.

The "narrative" he is trying to get at is, basically, "this guy can be dismissed because he wrote for a conservative sourcd a few years ago, regardless of where he's worked since or the content and quality of his work".

Mentioning that he also worked for The Daily Dot, a left leaning source, would be counter to the notion that he should be dismissed because he wrong for a right wing rag.

F Kotaku and polygon.

Glad someone in gaming journalism are calling them out finally.

this dude's human garbage btw. like the living stereotype of the average toxic ass online gamer

he also choked a dude out at an event i believe
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Delirious_Beard posted...

this dude's human garbage btw. like the living stereotype of the average toxic ass online gamer

he also choked a dude out at an event i believe

You can say that, but he won journalist of the year and his speech was met with applause. So, he must be doing something right.

hard to believe blowhards like this dude can be rewarded and people wonder why video games aren't taken as seriously as a medium
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Delirious_Beard posted...

hard to believe blowhards like this dude can be rewarded and people wonder why video games aren't taken as seriously as a medium

Taken serious in what regard? A ton of time, work, and money are spent on video games as an entertainment venue and, gradually, a sport.

They're obviously taken pretty seriously.

King Rial posted...

Zero_Destroyer posted...

why are people ignoring that he's also from the dailydot

Because "mah narrative" brah!

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