The last few weeks have been rather busy, but I wanted to quickly touch on a familiar topic in game journalism ethics. The issue of publisher gifts has been at the center of many a controversy in the game media. In an effort to cozy up to publications, publishers often send “schwag bags” in the spirit of their latest game release. While the vast majority of these gifts are trivial promotional trinkets, every now and then lavish presents are sent to editors. We often see examples of what not to do when journalists receive these pricey gifts. I’d like to highlight two examples that buck that trend.

In September, Microsoft sent out several personalized Halo 3 duffel bags to members of the game media. The bags contained two Halo 3-themed 360 controllers, Halo 3-edition Elite 360, Master Chief collectible helmet, Xbox Live headset, dog tags, health kit, and some military meals. The total value of the gifts estimated to approx. 800 USD. In a widely reported instance, Dean Takahashi of San Jose Mercury News displayed the contents of the bag in his video blog. Takahashi provided a great example of journalistic principle by announcing that he would return the gifts to Microsoft. In response to reader comments on the video, Takahashi stated:

There was probably $900 worth of stuff in that goody box. That’s some serious swag. It’s so valuable in fact that, if we accept it, people would question our ethics and priorities. So it’s going back to Microsoft tomorrow. We need to get games from the companies we cover and sometimes the hardware to run them as well. We keep a small number of games for reference and donate most of the rest. We’re not trying to put on airs, as much as we joke around about it. When it’s too much, we’ll send it back. There are no hard feelings about that, but it’s the way we operate.

Kudos to Takahashi for displaying solid game journalism ethics on this issue. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype and media frenzy of blockbuster releases, but standing firm on principle is a great message to send to aspiring game journalists in the industry.

After reading Dean’s story, I asked Dan Hsu of Electronic Gaming Monthly what his team did with their Halo 3 duffel bag. I was surprised to hear that they had kept it. However, he gave a reasonable explanation for their decision. Below, Hsu explains his policy on publisher gifts such as the Halo 3 duffel bag:

We are allowed to accept work-related mailings. These include games and consoles, but do not include things such as iPods or Zunes (since we don’t cover those). Employees are allowed to keep standard games, but anything more expensive is considered our company’s property, if it’s not returned to the original sender. So for example, we did not keep the Halo 3 Zune that Microsoft sent us, but we did keep the stuff that came in the Halo 3 goodie bag, since we cover those items (or in the case of the console, use it for work purposes). The Legendary Edition of Halo 3 went to our library as our in-office copy. The console itself we keep for work purposes.

Game machines can be assigned to the office or to individual editors, but they never belong to editors personally. If an editor were to leave our company, he either has to return his assigned hardware or buy another one to replace it.

While I would hope a media firm as large as Ziff Davis would house ample Xbox 360 review units, Hsu’s reasoning makes sense. If publications use the gifts for office operations, I see no violation of journalistic ethics.

In these situations, it is journalistic malpractice for editors reviewing the game to keep the gifts for their personal use.

Nevertheless, I wanted to highlight Takashi and Hsu for properly handling the Halo 3 duffel bags Microsoft offered to press outlets.

Note: If you are an editor that handled the Halo 3 “schwag bag” in a similarly appropriate fashion and would like to be highlighted for your actions, feel free to email VGMWatch.com. We’ll be happy to update our story with each new request.