IGN Editor Married to Nintendo PR Executive
VGMWatch.com has been able to confirm that IGN Nintendo editor Matt Casamassina is married to Golin Harris Vice President Edie Kissko. Golin Harris serves as Nintendo’s PR firm. Sources connected with both Golin Harris and IGN.com were able to validate this information. While VGMWatch has no interest in personal affairs, undisclosed conflicts of interest plaguing the game industry’s integrity cannot be ignored. To that end, there are several journalistic red flags surrounding the facts of this case.
Unfortunately, we have yet to discover any public acknowledgment from either Nintendo, Golin Harris, or IGN Entertainment informing customers of this conflict of interest. Furthermore, IGN.com has continued to allow the Nintendo channel editor to manage Nintendo product coverage. Likewise, the Golin Harris VP in question is responsible for promoting Nintendo products. Clearly, millions of IGN readers’ trust has been violated by this irresponsible abandonment of principle.
Make no mistake, people cannot help with whom they fall in love. As such, the personal integrity of the two individuals involved with this case is completely irrelevant. Indeed, it is principle and principle alone which concerns VGMWatch. The buck stops with IGN and Nintendo to address any conflicts of interest they may have. Simply put, the line between product coverage and sales should be clear and uncompromised. The mere appearance of journalistic impropriety of this magnitude should be avoided.
When game media outlets and publishers taint product coverage it hurts the industry as a whole. Gamers should not tolerate this type of gross irresponsibility. It is also completely unfair to the game publications and publishers that do practice integrity and sound business principle. Frankly, we are tired of seeing reputable industry outlets dragged into the mud due to the careless actions of others. Let’s face it, a newspaper dining critic would not be allowed to review a restaurant his/her spouse managed. If the publication was aware of the potential for conflict of interest, the journalist would most likely not even be allowed to review any restaurants in town. This is basic journalistic integrity consumers expect. The game industry deserves nothing less.
Needless to say, we are disappointed with IGN.com. However, we do want to offer some advice to the network to remedy this situation. First, we strongly urge IGN to not make the network editor a scapegoat in an effort to save face. It is the network’s responsibility to deal with these issues, not the employee. Furthermore, IGN.com should issue a public statement to its readers regarding the conflict of interest. Also, the Nintendo editor should be assigned editorial coverage that does not conflict with his/her personal relationship. We strongly urge Golin Harris/Nintendo to take similar measures on its end.
We contacted IGN and Golin Harris representatives as well as the individuals directly involved. Currently, we have received comment from Golin Harris:“All GolinHarris employees who work on the Nintendo account sign and adhere to a strict confidentiality agreement.” VGMWatch will continue to investigate this story and any other conflicts of interest that come to our attention.
Updated Editor’s Personal Note: I was uncomfortable publishing this story. In fact, I have been sitting on this piece for many months debating whether to run it or not. However, with the game media beginning to take a closer look at cases of corruption, it is time to address this issue. Personally, I find it sickening that these companies’ mistakes happen to be connected with personal affairs. That’s why, rightly or wrongly, I refuse to mention the two individuals’ names. The original story I published did not contain the individual’s names. However, after recommendations from fellow journalists, I have reluctantly decided to disclose the names of the individuals involved. Unfortunately, there is an element of responsibility that falls on the individuals involved as well. Nevertheless, I respect them personally and realize that marriage is a wonderful institution. Rather, my frustration is completely directed towards IGN, Nintendo, and Golin Harris. While it was very difficult for me to publish this type of story, I could not in good conscience continue to shelve it. I also understand that some folks inside the industry have known of this marriage already. However, it would be disingenuous for our publication to not report on such a conflict of interest for the general gaming public. Hopefully, if we continue to engage in open dialog regarding problematic issues facing game journalism we can aid this industry in its maturation.
Update: For clarity, I want to reiterate the central point of the article. This story is about full disclosure on the part of IGN and Nintendo/Golin Harris. It is utterly disrespectful to their readership to not disclose this situation. The personal integrity of the two individuals is irrelevant. It is also unnecessary to assume that there have been any competitive advantages gained with this situation. Rather, IGN and Golin Harris need to disclose this type of information directly to their readers to avoid any appearance of conflicting interests. For example, if we were to find out tomorrow that Katie Couric and George W. Bush were lovers and neither CBS or the White House reported it, we would all be outraged. Just because Couric may have done X amount of negative pieces on Bush’s administration, it doesn’t give the problem of conflicting interests a free pass. I hope you can see the connection here.
Update 2: Golin Harris has issued this statement in regard to the story:
“All GolinHarris employees who work on the Nintendo account sign and adhere to a strict confidentiality agreement.”
on December 19th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
This is old, old, old news. Plus, its none of our business. :)
on December 19th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Seriously………….who cares? Leave him alone!! Pretty much all game reviews companies are tainted anyway. I don’t get why this is such a huge deal. Doesn’t change anything for me. The Wii rocks regardless of Matt’s opinion.
on December 19th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
I just want to clarify the central point once again. This story is about full disclosure on the part of IGN and Nintendo/Golin Harris. It is utterly disrespectful to their readership to not disclose this situation. The personal integrity of the two individuals is irrelevant. It is also unnecessary to assume that there have been any competitive advantages gained with this situation. Rather, IGN and Golin Harris need to disclose this type of information directly to their readers to avoid any appearance of conflicting interests.
on December 19th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Matt has talked about his wife before. Many times. He didn’t name her. But he said she worked for Nintendo.
on December 19th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
I applaud David for bringing this issue to light.
The currently perceived integrity of the video game enthusiast press is about one step shy of being paid shills for the industry. If they can’t follow general rules regarding conflicts of interest with their own employees, then they will continue to be seen as shills rather than journalists.
I expect this sort of behavior from the PR firm - its their job.
Reading this article as an attack on the marriage is missing the point.
Steve
on December 19th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Out of all of the journalist who regularly review Nintendo games, Matt C. is by far the most honest, straight shooting person out there. He regularly calls out Nintendo when it is deserved. Case in point, his recent IGN editorials:
http://wii.ign.com/articles/841/841571p1.html
http://wii.ign.com/articles/819/819583p1.html
Many Nintendo fanboys on IGN think Matt is too critical of Nintendo to be the editor.
At least you accomplished what you were trying to do…….drive traffic to your website. Even though it was a poorly researched National Inquirer type conspiracy story.
on December 19th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
This is not news. Anyone who knows anything about Matt’s career knows that he’s never professed to be impartial when it comes to his Nintendo coverage. He’s a Nintendo fanboy, but not a blind one. He generally loves their games and supports their products, but he will call them on their BS every now and then(friend codes, voice chat, lack of marketing for MP3). You really shouldn’t try to blow this out of proportion and sensationalize his private life under the name of “integrity”. I’m a democrat and I hate Dick Cheney. However, I thought that it was idiotic when other republicans tried to use the fact that his daughter is a lesbian in order to question the integrity of his stance on same sex marriage. I feel this story is just as idiotic.
on December 19th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Gary, please take a look at my last update. This story has nothing to do with the personal affairs of the individuals and everything to do with IGN and Nintendo not disclosing this appearance of conflicting interests to their readers. This is completely unacceptable and not tolerated in the world news media and we should look to have a similar level of journalistic standards.
I’m sure the two individuals wouldn’t mix personal and private, but the appearance of conflicting interests their relationship causes needs to be disclosed by IGN and Nintendo. IGN and Nintendo do not need apologists for this mistake.
on December 19th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
This is an important story. You were right to publish it. If Matt worked for Nintendo Power, it would be a different story.
The reality, though, is that the industry will always be a little too comfortable with the videogame press, because it is a completely marketing driven business.
on December 19th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
I don’t think the situation is as serious an issue as the article makes it out to be. First of all the Matt’s wife doesn’t work directly for Nintendo, the indirect nature of the relationship SHOULD be considered. It would first of all make the restaurant analogy incorrect. It would be like if the wife works for the restaurant’s PR company. The content produced by Matt is a review and critique of Nintendo and NOT his wife’s company. If an analogy is to be used, it would be similar to a movie critic being married to movie PR company figure. If that be the case there could be a lot of offenses.
Neither IGN/Nintendo/Golin Harris or any company have any responsibility to publicize a particular employee’s performance, relationship etc if they don’t deem it relevant to the work or customers. They could be treading on thin in this matter if they do (legally).
I just don’t see need for disclosure in this case to be a reasonable request. Ultimately the reason is that the editor’s job is not to give criticism on his wife’s company.
on December 19th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
David, what I’m saying to you is that anyone who’s followed Matt, knows his stance on Nintendo. His office is littered with Nintendo swag, posters, etc.. He raves about Metroid and Mario like it’s better than sex. He used to cuddle with Perrin Kaplin during interviews. You either love him or you hate him for his fanboy style of journalism. IGN has no obligation to disclose the details of Matt’s personal life because we already know where his allegiance lies. His marriage to a Nintendo PR person changes nothing.
on December 19th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Gary, Again, my friend, I am pretty sure Matt Casamassina is a fantastic guy.I don’t think he’d tried to abuse that situation. The issue falls on IGN and Nintendo. Journalistic principle does not make special excuses because perhaps this person A has a great rapport with readers or person B has never told a lie in his life or person C saved a bus of school children from falling off a cliff. Principle is unwavering and universal. Publications gotta disclose this type of relation exists so that their readers can trust them.
Think about it. If we were to find out tomorrow that Katie Couric and George W. Bush were lovers and neither CBS or the White House reported it, we would all be outraged. Just because Katie may have done X amount of negative pieces on Bush’s administration, it doesn’t give the problem of conflicting interests a free pass. I hope you can see the connection here.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
David, you’re comparing apples and oranges. Katie Couric is a traditional journalist who’s expected to be impartial in her coverage. Matt is not. A better example would have been to compare Matt Casamassina to Michael Irvin. Michael Irvin used to work as an analyst for ESPN. Michael Irvin is a diehard fan of The Dallas Cowboys and University of Miami football. Everyone knows he’s biased when he discusses those two organizations. I would not be outraged to learn that Michael Irvin was married to a cowboys cheerleader or someone working in the UM athletic department. ESPN has no obligation to disclose that information to me.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
It’s not apples and oranges. Journalism is journalism. Whether you’re reviewing a White House policy or a product review that millions of consumers will partially base their purchasing decision on, you must show conflicts of interest to readers. Everyone can assume Matt has a preference for Nintendo based on his writings, but I can vouch for him that he will maintain (and I believe he is) an honest and impartial game reviewer. He tries to objectively analyze products. When IGN chooses not to disclose this appearance of conflicting interests to their readers, it only serves to hurt Matt.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Old news is surprisingly old.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
David,
I don’t know where you’re getting this “millions of consumers” idea. The vast majority of people who buy Nintendo products have never heard of Matt or IGN. Otherwise, why is Zack & Wiki(a game he hyped to death) selling like it was made out of baby seal skulls? The minority of gamers who read Matt’s content on IGN already know what he’s about. They also know that any review or preview of his is just one man’s opinion and not the opinion of IGN as a whole. And to go back to my Michael Irvin analagy, if I place a bet on the Dallas Cowboys solely because he picked them to beat the Patriots and I lose my money then that’s my fault for not doing my homework on him and the team he endorses. I can’t be angry at ESPN.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Gary, so you mean to say Matt is not a “regular” journalist and that he is not expected to give impartial reviews? Maybe I’m misunderstanding you.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Gary,
Last I checked, IGN claims to have millions of unique visitors visiting their site every month. Furthermore, game product reviews in general receive millions of consumer views and decisions are based upon them. We can extend that same logic to Katie Couric or Britt Hume or Bill O’Reilly, if they’re found to have relations with White House staff and it has not been disclosed, it is clear appearance of conflicting interests and the companies are at fault for not disclosing them.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Please explain how their professional lives conflict with their marriage, because I’m pretty certain that their relationship with one another does not create the necessary pressure to compromise on their very own integrity. The restaurant analogy does not hold because there is a direct cause and effect relationship between the two parties, which is not evident here, unless you know something we don’t.
And do you believe in the privacy of marriage, or that an individual’s personal life should be let known to the general public if only to raise a questionable point at best? How would you like it if your entire life was made public?
None of us are hermits. We all have friends in positions that sometimes could benefit from our intervention. It is up to everyone of us to exercise professionalism in doing our jobs objectively. This applies to Matt and Edie too. Their marriage does not make their moral compass anymore susceptible to corruption than anyone else in the industry, hence making known who they are is unwarranted.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
David,
You said, “IGN claims to have millions of unique visitors visiting their site every month.” Firstly, viewers =/= consumers. Also those stats are inflated. I don’t subscribe to IGN Insider. Therefore, if I check IGN from my house, my office, my palm, and my friend’s house on a particular day then I count as “four unique viewers” on that day.
Game product reviews from all sources do receive millions of consumer views, but any consumer who makes a decision on a product based upon one review from a person they don’t do research on is a stupid consumer. When I want to see a movie I don’t randomly base my choice by picking a review out of a hat. I read a few reviews or better yet I go to rottontomatoes.com. When I’m thinking about buying a game I don’t read just one random review from a random site, I read a bunch of reviews from reviewers I have followed for a while, or better yet, I go to gameranking.com.
on December 19th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
“The restaurant analogy does not hold because there is a direct cause and effect relationship between the two parties, which is not evident here, unless you know something we don’t.”
Please elaborate on this point. I find that completely false. A restaurant critic reviews restaurants. A game critic reviews games. A person involved with managing the restaurant wants to publicize the restaurant as much as possible. A person involved with managing PR for a game publisher wants to promote the games as much as possible. In both cases, if there’s a relationship between the two, the company is responsible for reporting on this appearance of conflicting interests.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:06 am
First off, those of you stating an invasion of privacy or some other ridiculous thing — hello, marriage is a public function. Who you are married to is completely public information - ever heard of a marriage certificate? At any time, you can go down to your local public records office and look up anyone’s status.
Second, his wife makes money by making Nintendo look good. Furthermore, her job is dependent on making Nintendo look good. This means there is a direct financial connection between the PR firm and IGN. It’s a quid pro quo situation, or it seems like it. He financially benefits by providing positive coverage for Nintendo.
Third, the problem isn’t the marriage or their jobs, it’s the lack of disclosure about the situation. I shouldn’t have to research the backgrounds of journalists to find out their conflicts of interest, it should be brought to my attention so I can make my own mind up about what I’m reading. It’s called ethics.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:07 am
I dont’ see how this is a non issue, it’s a definite conflict. If you recall there was a lot of “friendly” ribbing about this IGN person and Perrin Kaplan who was the Nintendo PR.
One wonders how that contact was made, considering the wall (nintendo is notoriously one of the most difficult companies to get PR materials from).
Is anyone claiming bias? No. However in this day and age, the APPEARANCE makes it look bad.
And if you believe IGN makes editors sign confidentiality agreements, you’ll probably also believe Roger Clemens didn’t take steroids.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:14 am
If there were even mildly compelling evidence that the relationship had affected Casamassina’s reviews or reporting, that would be a big deal. If they had gotten married in secret and didn’t wear their rings or talk about their relationship with their colleagues, that would be one hell of a scoop. As it stands, there just isn’t a story here.
While you keep stressing that you have no reason to doubt Casamassina’s credibility, the entire point of the post is to create suspicion that something untoward _could be happening_. This isn’t old-school muckraking - it’s stopping about a foot short of libel and asking your readers to fill in the blanks. You say that IGN and Golin Harris are your real targets, but that seems naive…at best.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:15 am
Here’s Matt’s response taken directly from the update on Kotaku:
“While I would prefer to keep my wife and kids out of the public spotlight, the fact that Edie and I have been happily married for several years is no secret. Nintendo and IGN / FOX have been aware of our relationship since we first started dating. We’re professionals. Both of us have signed strict confidentiality agreements with our respective employers and, incidentally, we leave what happens on the job at our home’s front door.
The original article makes the suggestion that my marriage to Edie violates the trust of IGN’s dedicated readership, but I think my body of work speaks for itself. Over the years, I have remained one of Nintendo’s biggest fans and harshest critics and have also developed hundreds of reliable of sources within the industry, none of them Edie.”
http://kotaku.com/gaming/ign/ign-nintendo-scandal-or-old-news-333816.php
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:17 am
definite conflict of interest. while their personal lives are none of our business, the professional implications are. one of them needs a new job. and it pains me to say it, since, as a reader.sometime subscriber to the site since the gamecube, MC has really done great work on the site.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Dan,
The fact that you already knew about Matt’s friendly relationship with Nintendo and Perrin before this story about his wife broke only helps to prove my point. The fact that he’s married to someone that works for a company that does PR for Nintendo is a much weaker evidence of potential bias than the fact that he used to blatantly flirt with the former PR rep of Nintendo of America.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:30 am
Really I think your call for Matt to be reassigned is ridiculous. Matt has been covering Nintendo products and games for years, he is a fan of the products and games, and he has spent his career building up relationships with people working on games for Nintendo products. You are essentially asking IGN to take his talents and skills and stick him over on something he does not care about nor will he have the contacts to do his job as effectively.
I think you are really blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Please, give me examples of how this potential conflict has actually produced something that could be considered out of line?
A professional can leave his personal life at home and his professional life at work. Matt has proven himself time and again to be an excellent person to be the editor for IGN’s Nintendo channel. What do you suggest he do if he is moved to another channel? You cannot put him on Sony brand or Microsoft brand products, because they are Nintendo competitors. Think about that? If you had, you would realize that all you are doing is making it so he no longer covers video games at all. Is that what you want?
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:36 am
PR professionals get paid for placing stories — it’s harder than it seems. My degree is in journalism, and I’ve worked in that field as well as in public relations. There is no way to tell how his relationship might have affected the editorial content on the site. It’s not simply about reviews or positive slants, it’s about placing PR stories as news and a myriad other things, that if you’ve never worked in the business, you’d never even consider.
Simply put, IGN is one of the most massive sources of entertainment news and information. Casamassina is a gatekeeper for the information that gets out, how it’s presented, and how it’s framed. If his section covers something, it then becomes news.
Can you start to see what some of the problems are here? It’s not about simply positive stories — it’s about having the appearance of a financial incentive to slant and direct public discourse about Nintendo.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:48 am
I’m sorry. I feel for Matt and his position, but this is a situation that TOTALLY PRECLUDES the ability of readers to trust his reviews/spin/reporting tone to be unbiased.
Regardless of his head space; which no one is privy to, except Matt.
I trust Matt, I trust his journalistic integrity. That trust has been built through years of comparing his reviews to my own experiences with the games. However, in this case, his relationship is an inherent conflict of interest, my trust in either party is inconsequential. By definiton. While their personal lives are none of our business, the professional implications of their living arrangements are.
I’m sorry, Matt, the fact that this behavior falls within the ethical guidelines of a Rupert Murdoch owned company is not comforting to me.
Lastly, the fact that Nintendo is ok with this is just icky. God Bless the children.
on December 20th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Billy,
What I am saying is that Matt is a journalist who makes no bones about his partiality to Nintendo and their products. He’s very upfront about it. He is expected to give HIS review of a game. He’s expected to give HIS honest opinion, which is based in part on his love of Nintendo. This is not IGN’s opinion and they don’t have to give me any sort of disclaimer about who Matt consorts with in order for me to know that.
I read and respect Matt’s reviews even though I have always known where he stands on Nintendo and particularly where he stands on the Nintendo classics like Zelda, Metroid, and Mario. I know enough by now to understand that when Matt gives Metroid Prime 3 a score of 9.5; that really means it’s probably a 9.2.
on December 20th, 2007 at 4:06 am
Gary: “This is not IGN’s opinion and they don’t have to give me any sort of disclaimer about who Matt consorts with in order for me to know that.”
This goes against everything in your article. Now you don’t care? Now it doesn’t matter to you if IGN gave you full disclosure? This is a stupid article full of yellow journalism. How about you report on something news worthy, or just not report at all. All this article truly does is tarnish your reputation more than Matt’s or IGN’s.
on December 20th, 2007 at 4:37 am
Don’t tell us this story has nothing to do with IGN, but more about you getting traffic by having your story run on Joystiq and Kotaku. (and let’s not forget your buddy Kyle works at the former website)
If this story was really about integrity and exposing truths, you seemed to have forgotten all the other editors who are dating and/or married to pr professionals. Good job on your great story Gornoski. (note: that last sentence was sarcasm)
on December 20th, 2007 at 4:43 am
Jonathan, I think you’re confused. Gary didn’t write the article… David Gornoski did.
And Andrew, David’s “buddy” Kyle is reporting on matters as he sees fit over at Joystiq. If you’ll notice, Matt C. reached out to him and provided commentary on the story, which Kyle published. Seems objective to me.
on December 20th, 2007 at 5:49 am
VGMWatch.com has been able to confirm that VGMWatch editor David Gornoski is “good buddies” with Kyle Orland, editor of the news blog, Joystiq.com, which purports to serve as an unbiased news blog. Sources connected with both VGMWatch and Joystiq were able to validate this information. While VGMWatch has no interest in personal affairs, undisclosed conflicts of interest plaguing the game industry’s integrity cannot be ignored. To that end, there are several journalistic red flags surrounding the facts of this case.
Unfortunately, we have yet to discover any public acknowledgment from either ourselves or Joystiq.com informing readers of this conflict of interest. Furthermore, VGMWatch has continued to allow this editor to manage video game “controversies.”. Likewise, the Joystiq editor in question is responsible for promoting VGMWatch stories. Clearly, dozens of VGMWatch’s readers’ trust has been violated by this irresponsible abandonment of principle.
on December 20th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Uh… ok this is the first time here, never seen this website before but.
From what I can see, vgmwatch, is a Watch Dog website set up by you and you’re also EIC off.
At the same time “David currently serves as CEO and Editor-in-Chief of E-mpire Ltd Co., an entertainment media firm specializing in game publications. In years past, David has served as EIC of NintendoNow.com and PSInsider.com”
you are EIC of and CEO that reviews games and posts gaming news as well.
Isn’t there a much bigger conflict of interest there?
Or are you above what you are harping on about when it comes to Journalistic Ethics?
on December 20th, 2007 at 9:04 am
*David* Thanks for the correction, Billy.
on December 20th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Sorry Gary, your argument isn’t just on shaky ground, it’s on top a sky scrapper set for demoltion. What you say doesn’t really make sense.
You keep talking about how this Matt guy is clear to his readers on his views of nintendo products, maybe you know this because you visit IGN everyday or whatever and keep up on him, that’s great but what about someone else who just decided to go to IGN suddenly to see what they said about specific title or whatever. They don’t know the history there and they shouldn’t have to do a background check anytime they want to read a review by someone too know this guys stuff is “ok”. It’s IGN’s responsibility to make these sort of things clear.
It’s always amazing to me how incredible defensive gamers get over little things like these. It’s clear that not disclosing this relationship is wrong, I don’t see how anyone can defend that. It seems to me you’re just saying that since we’re talking about videogames, oh well then journalistic integrity isn’t all THAT important.
Yeah ok, maybe this Matt guy is an alright guy, a straight arrow or what ever, I don’t see how that matters at all. Are we supposed to just let this one pass until that’s just the norm, all journalist are bought off or in bed with company pr people, but it’s okay cause they’re good people?
on December 20th, 2007 at 9:17 am
I completely agree with David.
The videogame industry is currently making money comparable to Hollywood, and therefore needs to be treated as such. Considering the fact that reviews can help to make or break companies, for an IGN writer on Nintendo to be married to a PR Nintendo exec is horrible.
15 years ago, when gaming was still considered to be something that only a very small sub-culture did, perhaps this would not be a big deal. According to the journalism integrity, it would still be wrong even back then, but hey…nobody would care.
Now, however, especially with Nintendo currently succeeding in reaching the non-gaming masses, and the industry larger than ever—this is the kind of thing that can lead to at least dishonesty. Websites like IGN and Gamespot are no longer dealing with a sub-culture. They have to be held to the same standard as a New York Times now. These writers are becoming as important as movie reviewers like Ebert and Roeper.
I think Gary’s examples of Katie Couric and President Bush are a bit exaggerated and hard to imagine…but let’s imagine if Ebert or Roeper were married to PR exec from Paramount or Warner Bros. We are not calling for the marriage to be dissolved—but the integrity of reviews would be question. We would no longer be getting non-biased reviews.
We cannot trust that people are going to be non-biased in a conflict-of-interest situation like this. People can’t help themselves, especially if they are in love. They are not supposed to be non-biased anymore once they’re married!
And about David breaching privacy—please. As somebody above said, marriages are a part of public record. It’s how we do it in America, folks.
I respect David for putting his name out and standing for the integrity of non-biased journalism. For Nintendo to do nothing about them makes them seem desperate. For IGN to do nothing about this takes away their integrity and may lead to them being in the same boat as Gamespot right now. These big reviewing sites need to shape up because they are now going to be judged on the same level as the other industries.
on December 20th, 2007 at 9:28 am
All Wii games keep getting C@rp reviews anyway ;)
on December 20th, 2007 at 9:44 am
The point is Conflict of interest ONLY .
I find it shocking that something this straight forward is up for debate .
Hello People this is a square not a circle. Why is it so difficult to recognize ?
on December 20th, 2007 at 11:00 am
“The point is Conflict of interest ONLY ”
No, David attempts to protect himself from criticism, by claiming his issue with it was that IGN and Matt, didn’t make it clear to user/visitors of the web site, that Matt’s as a reviewer has a Conflicts of Interest.
Thats David’s gripe about it. Its not about the fact there is one, Hes complaining that IGN didn’t make it clear.
By doing this it protects himself from criticism of “Conflict of Interest’, the fact that David owns this ‘Gaming news/review Watch Dog’ website as well as being a CEO and EIC of a seperate website thats posts Gaming News and Rewiews. e-mpire Ltd owned ones that is, i.e. potential Conflict of Interest financial gain by ‘watchdogging’ all his competitor sites.
So no this article and post by David has NOTHING to do with Conflict of Interest, its him attempting to accuse IGN of NOT DISCLOSING the conflict of interest, but he must have obviously known that anyone picking up on this story will automatically go oh noes, huge conflict of interest rant rant, Matt should be sacked IGN’s been misleading us, Matt’s probably dishonest, IGN too, when thats ’supposedly’ wasn’t the point of David’s article, not that hes fighting hard to clarify that is he?
on December 20th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I think it could be called a conflict of interest for IGN and GH to not disclose this apparent conflicting interest in an effort for readers to have transparency.
We’ve disclosed my other positions in the game media in the past. And I think that I probably am not THE best candidate to always be reporting on stories like this, but someone has to do it. It’s similar to if Keith Olbermann of MSNBC or Lou Dobbs of CNN reported that Fox News has not disclosed to viewers that Brit Hume had a connection or relation to someone high up in the Bush White House PR team. Yeah, MSNBC and Fox News have similar markets, but that shouldn’t prohibit Olbermann or someone else at MSNBC to report on such a story. They’d be abandoning their duties as a journalist. I think its even a stronger case with a publication like VGMWatch, which is devoted solely to game media analysis.
I hope that helps show where we’re coming from.
on December 20th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Matt Casamassina has publicly acknowledged this information coming out, mentioning that he’s never kept it secret, and that he has never let it get in the way of his work. They both have signed confidentiality agreements with their respective companies, and even met after he had worked for IGN for several years. His allegiance to Nintendo definitely shows before he met her, as well. There isn’t really a conflict of interest involved.
on December 20th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
David Jay said, “Matt Casamassina has publicly acknowledged this information coming out, mentioning that he’s never kept it secret, and that he has never let it get in the way of his work. They both have signed confidentiality agreements with their respective companies, and even met after he had worked for IGN for several years. His allegiance to Nintendo definitely shows before he met her, as well. There isn’t really a conflict of interest involved.”
That sounds great, but why didn’t they tell us sooner? In an obvious situation of conflict of interest, IGN should have made a concerted effort to assure readers that they were getting unbiased coverage. By disclosing the information publicly, IGN would have given the readers a chance to evaluate for themselves whether the editor was able to disassociate his personal and private life.
P.S. David, how far do you think they should disclose? What if Matt Casamassina was only dating someone from Nintendo? For how long would you have to date someone before you must disclose it? How about a relative? How close do you have to be to the relative?
on December 20th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
At the very least this shows very bad decision making on the part of GolinHarris/Nintendo. The easiest, most straight-forward solution to this situation - which has apparently gone on for years - is to remove Matt’s wife from the Nintendo account. GolinHarris is an agency and has many, many other accounts. Simply moving her to another account would make this a non-issue.
A relationship/marriage between a PR professional and a journalist is not uncommon. It happens all the time. However, any PR agency concerned with ethics, integrity, and appearances would have insured that the couple would never have to interact professionally. Signing confidentiality agreements is not enough. Clear separation is needed.
on December 20th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
This is important to know, thanks.
on December 20th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Sorry to say this, but this is old news. Ignorance of it, doesn’t make it “new”. Matt has been very vocal about his marriage all this years, the only “new” aspect of this was her name (which doesn’t concern any of us). But most IGN visitors already knew his wife worked for/in Nintendo PR.
*Reposted for spelling mistakes.
on December 20th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Matt is incredibly critical of Nintendo, so unless they are getting a divorce I don’t see how this is a big deal at all…
on December 20th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
What happened to innocent until proven guilty?
You assume that just because they’re married they share information…
Prove it, and you have a story.
But it seems that what you have here is a dirty gossip capitalising on the Gamespot story, with nothing but sensationalist FoxNews like writing to get hits to your website.
You can say its all about disclosure all you like, but you and I both know that’s a load of bull.
on December 20th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Sorry Funky J, but we aren’t making any assumptions about the sharing of information. We made no such allegation. The point of the article was about full public disclosure of the relationship, because of the appearance of conflict of interest.
Sorry you see it differently, but there’s no “bull” in this story.
on December 20th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I really don’t think it’s the business of anyone other than the married couple and their employers. There should be disclosure of these things, but the employees and their employers should sign agreements that can be reproduced at times like this.
Quite frankly, updates notwithstanding, I find the tone of this article a little distasteful. I also find it interesting that someone so indignant about full disclosure is now moderating comments.
on December 20th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Reading through the comments, I see that many are unfamiliar with the concepts being discussed. For a jumping off point, I point you to these two articles:
Journalism Code of Ethics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standards
Conflict of Interest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflicts_of_interest
From the second article:
“Someone accused of a conflict of interest may deny that a conflict exists because he/she did not act improperly. In fact, a conflict of interest does exist even if there are no improper acts as a result of it.”
on December 20th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
You shouldn’t make a claim of conflict of interest in the same article where you mention “other journalists” (the intention being that you are yourself a journalist.) It’s disingenuous for a blogger to make a claim of being a journalist, when what they’ve written is a gossip column piece.
A journalist would have taken this information - which is only information regarding a *potential* conflict of interest, not an *actual* conflict of interest - and researched Casamassina’s writings. One could easily see what his trend was on review scores, previews positivity, and any other changes in tone after the marriage. That would prove a conflict of interest or not. A journalist would have also attempted to get statements from the parties involved before publishing their article.
Maybe you should hold yourself to the same high standards you want the rest of the gaming media to hold themselves.
on December 20th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Honestly, I don’t care. I’ve been an IGN reader for years, and have always agreed 100% with the opinions of Matt Cassmassina. I don’t think the fact that his wife works for Nintendo PR affects his review scroes at all.
on December 20th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Scot, this is not a “gossip” piece. We made no unsubstantiated allegations, we only presented the fact that Matt C. is married to a Golin Harris PR Executive and that this information was not adequately disclosed. That is the crux of the piece. The issue is not, as we have pointed out, that Matt is unfairly reviewing products. The issue is non-disclosure, so your other point is irrelevant. Furthermore, the parties involved were contacted for comment.
Hope that clarifies matters.
on December 20th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
@Billy,
No this is clearly an attempt by some guys at an IGN competitor attempting to take a shot at IGN, because they are a far bigger and more profitable at what they do compared to you and David.
How would you consider this relationship to be “properly disclosed?” Should Matt have put it at every review a little disclaimer saying his wife works for a PR firm and handles the Nintendo account? By that standard you and David fail, because I missed the part in the above article which says David owns a competitor to IGN.
You guys are video game “journalists.” But lets face it you are nothing more then reviewers, previewers, and middlemen for press releases. You are not investigating billions of taxpayer dollars being misspent, you are not expose lies in Iraq, you are tell us if a game in development looks good and if the final product is worth buying in your opinion or not.
Seriously attempting to get Matt moved to reviewing cell phone games or DVDs so you two can make a name for yourself and build some hits for your site is pretty low. Not to mention you have an inflated view of what you are doing as game “journalists.”
on December 20th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
I will admit now you are clear on the fact that you are competitors to IGN. I was mistaken.
on December 20th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Paul, we aren’t calling for Matt to lose his job or be moved. The call is for open disclosure by IGN, that’s all.
on December 20th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Billy,
Quoted from above:
“Also, the Nintendo editor should be assigned editorial coverage that does not conflict with his/her personal relationship”
So that would men clearly not Nintendo. Probably not 360 or PS3 either since both of those are competitors to the company his wife represents.
Unless that statement means something else, calling for Matt to be moved is what David said.
on December 21st, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Again I will state that the obvious solution is for Edie Kissko to be moved to another account. If GolinHarris abides by a standard PR agency conflict of interest policy, there is no possible way it could represent both Nintendo and one of its competitors. So there is no way she could gain confidential competitor information to PS3 or 360 to pass along. Therefore moving her to another account will allow Matt to continue his coverage of Nintendo and should satisfy the appearance of impropriety.
on December 22nd, 2007 at 3:15 am
Why don’t you do some real journalism and see if there is significant bias in his review scores versus the mean/median of other reviews.
on December 22nd, 2007 at 11:12 am
So the former editor of N64.com is bias??? I smell a Pulitzer for you David.
on December 23rd, 2007 at 9:21 am
Billy Kirk,
If this is truly an issue of non-disclosure than VGMW has a lot to learn. This article, being written by the owner of competing sites to IGN, is ripe with conflict of interest and non-disclosure of those interests.
This is not the first article posted about a competing site. Watchdog organizations are only trusted when they are independent from and not connected directly to the industry they are watching over. In VGMW case, it’s one of the smaller sites watchdogging his competitors. There’s no way VGMW can be trusted to maintain any air of journalistic integrity under these circumstances.
on December 23rd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Scot. Thank you for your comments. We realize our own limitations, but are doing our job to our ability. Readers must make their own decisions on the value of what we report.
Non-disclosure of those interests, however? Please check the “About Us” section to learn about both the site’s editors - located very visibly on the right sidebar of the homepage and every individual blog post.
on January 6th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Well written and even handed story David, thanks for posting it.
Ignore all the fanboys who had to go into their imagined self-defense mode because anything with the word “Nintendo” was used in a negative connotation. This is proper journalism and you did it well, kudos.