Daily Mail Meets Ad Quota, Soon to Thank Video Game Blogosphere
Finally, Kotaku gets the straight dope:
The party was held on March 1, and attended by around twenty European journalists (none from the UK).
The actual article in the Official PlayStation mag was written by a guy who wasn’t in attendance; the piece was done on the basis of the party’s invite, “which employed a degree of hyperbole in order to encourage attendance”.
The goat in question had already been killed (ie it wasn’t killed at the party), and had been sourced from a local butcher.
The goat’s “entrails” were actually bowls of traditional Greek meat soup. At no stage was anyone allowed to touch the goat, nor did anyone eat or drink anything from inside the goat. After the party, the carcass was returned to the butcher.
SCEE say that they first saw the photo last Thursday and immediately ordered it to be pulled from the magazine, and on Friday Official PlayStation Mag agreed. The magazine never reached general circulation, but subscribers did receive the issue with the offending picture included.
SCEE closed by saying: “We are conducting an enquiry to establish the circumstances behind the event in order to ensure this does not happen again. We also apologise to anyone offended by the article in the OPSM.”
So in other words, the Daily Mail article while technically true was another entry of yellow journalism from a long list of examples from its tabloid history.
Countless blogs and other new media sites swallowed the spin as the proverbial truth while traditional sites such as IGN waited for a response from Sony and ended with a more balanced, objective piece:
Although the Mail on Sunday claimed that at the event in Athens, guests were invited to reach inside the goat’s still-warm carcass, pulling out and eating meat they were told was the goat’s intestines, Sony has since clarified exactly what happened.
A European spokesperson said: “The ‘warm entrails’ referred to in the invitation and in the Mail on Sunday article was actually a meat soup, made to a traditional Greek recipe and served to attendees in china bowls direct from the caterers. There was never any question of journalists being able to touch the goat, or indeed eat the soup direct from the body of the goat, as one report has alleged. The goat was returned to the butcher at the end of the event.”
Visitors on blogs often compete to be the first to leave a comment under a big story, forsaking substance for bragging rights. Sadly, it looks like many new media “journalists” are following their example.
Update: There is hope. Check out The Guardian’s Gamesblog coverage on this story.