EA pissed off by FOX

[Bungee]

I was just surprised to not find anything about that story:

Very well, time for my first post then:

Electronic Arts, likely sick of having their recently-acquired role-playing franchise Mass Effect dragged through the mud on national television, has requested that Fox News Channel correct their error-plagued segment on the game.

Source
YT Vid of the Show

Anyone else thinks that EA will go even further than just "asking" FOX to put things right?

[Wolf]

You didn't look hard enough :P

http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Perfection-Making-Peace-Overachiever/dp/1599211793/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t - that's funny too - make sure to check out the reviews and the tags

[Venkman]

Asking Fox to correct anything is only asking for them to talk more wrong about it. For the viewers!

I loved this part. So very straight on:

Do you watch the Fox Network? Do you watch Family Guy? Have you ever seen The OC? Do you think the sexual situations in Mass Effect are any more graphic than scenes routinely aired on those shows? Do you honestly believe that young people have more exposure to Mass Effect than to those prime time shows

[Yegolev]

The part I love is how every link on Kotaku is to Kotaku itself.  That's Journalism in Action.

[Phildo]

This is awesome, but Fox will NEVER retract their statements.  They may ignore it in the future, but I don't expect to see a retraction.

[Tebonas]

Aren't Fox the ones that won a lawsuit giving them the right to never tell the truth in their news?

Or am I remembering something wrong here?

If so, good luck EA.

[Engels]

Yep, they're the ones.

[Venkman]

Linkage to that, if available?

[Riggswolfe]

Yep. Fox won a lawsuit in Florida I believe.

I'm now in the odd position of having to root for EA. But honestly, FOX is 10X more evil than they are without even trying.

[naum]

Linkage to that, if available?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilson_%28broadcaster%29
http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/11.html
http://www.foxbghsuit.com/

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson, were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox “Investigators” team at WTVT in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto Corporation. The couple produced a four-part series revealing that there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.

According to Akre and Wilson, the station was initially very excited about the series. But within a week, Fox executives and their attorneys wanted the reporters to use statements from Monsanto representatives that the reporters knew were false and to make other revisions to the story that were in direct conflict with the facts. Fox editors then tried to force Akre and Wilson to continue to produce the distorted story. When they refused and threatened to report Fox's actions to the FCC, they were both fired.(Project Censored #12 1997)

Akre and Wilson sued the Fox station and on August 18, 2000, a Florida jury unanimously decided that Akre was wrongfully fired by Fox Television when she refused to broadcast (in the jury's words) “a false, distorted or slanted story” about the widespread use of BGH in dairy cows. They further maintained that she deserved protection under Florida's whistle blower law. Akre was awarded a $425,000 settlement. Inexplicably, however, the court decided that Steve Wilson, her partner in the case, was ruled not wronged by the same actions taken by FOX.

FOX appealed the case, and on February 14, 2003 the Florida Second District Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the settlement awarded to Akre. The Court held that Akre’s threat to report the station’s actions to the FCC did not deserve protection under Florida’s whistle blower statute, because Florida’s whistle blower law states that an employer must violate an adopted “law, rule, or regulation." In a stunningly narrow interpretation of FCC rules, the Florida Appeals court claimed that the FCC policy against falsification of the news does not rise to the level of a "law, rule, or regulation," it was simply a "policy." Therefore, it is up to the station whether or not it wants to report honestly.

During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre’s claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so. After the appeal verdict WTVT general manager Bob Linger commented, “It’s vindication for WTVT, and we’re very pleased… It’s the case we’ve been making for two years. She never had a legal claim.”

http://acij.uts.edu.au/archives/profprac/WHISTLEBLOWERS.pdf

We paid three billion dollars for these television stations. We`ll tell you what the news is. The news is what we say it is.

Akre and Wilson (the reporters) won in civil court, but their award got overturned on "technicality"… …and an subsequent attempt to challenge FCC licensing of that Tampa station failed too… …guess it's not in the "public interest" if a broadcaster deliberately deceives its viewing public…

There was another case, Nike, where courts ruled 1st amendment permitted purposefully deceitful advertising…

[Strazos]

I love the chick wondering if she is old because we're not using Atari and Pac-Man anymore...

Ya know what? Bitch, you're old.

lulz at this whole debacle. People complaining because parents have such a hard time....listen bitch, either don't buy it, or lock the system down with parental codes. It's not hard.

[Calantus]

[FOX stuff...]

Jesus christ. What more can be said?

[UnSub]

[FOX stuff...]

Jesus christ. What more can be said?

Having read all that too... I'm stunned.

[Margalis]

How shameless do you have to be to argue that yes, you purposely lied in your news story, but that's your right?

The only thing surprising about the Fox coverage of Mass Effect is that they didn't label all of the sexual deviants Democrats in their captions.

[Strazos]

"I'm not letting Mass Effect into MY house!"

epic lulz

[Margalis]

Just the instruction booklet alone will turn your kids into fags.

[Phildo]

Oh man, I can't wait to unlock the Orgasmic Rape!

[Strazos]

Digital Sodomy Simulator, YEAH BABY! 

[NiX]

Tentacle Rape Online

[Teleku]

How shameless do you have to be to argue that yes, you purposely lied in your news story, but that's your right?

Err, while it's obviously something I hate and would discourage........don't you have the right to say what ever you want?  As was said, its their stations, they really should be allowed to say what ever they want.  It's dirty, but what legal reasons can you stop somebody from lying?  You have a right to lie, don't you?

Only thing I can think of is Libel, which is tricky to define anyways, and only one specific form of lying.

Not trying to start a political flame fest outside the pit that is the politics forum, just curious why you would legally disagree with the assessment.

[naum]

How shameless do you have to be to argue that yes, you purposely lied in your news story, but that's your right?

Err, while it's obviously something I hate and would discourage........don't you have the right to say what ever you want?  As was said, its their stations, they really should be allowed to say what ever they want.  It's dirty, but what legal reasons can you stop somebody from lying?  You have a right to lie, don't you?

It's not exactly "their stations".

As per FCC charter, they're granted a broadcast license (a broadcast frequency is a limited resource doled out by the state) and at one time, would have been held accountable for violating the "public interest" is such a manner (and I would think that purposefully deceiving the public is not in the "public interest", unless we're discussing an issue like protecting the identity of rape victims or underage victims (or perps) of crime)…

If a media outlet wants to publish a newsletter, a magazine, a web site, etc.… …no problem. But the TV airwaves belong to the public (and are extended to cable, where again, may not be as "limited", but still, broadcast networks operate via state sanctioned monopolies… …most people choice comes down to cable or satellite, and in many cases the latter is not an option (apartments, etc.…)…)

[Engels]

Well, in the US, its clear that libel is a moveable feast. To wit, moving to the defendant with the largest wallet. In England, however, libel laws are another story.

[Margalis]

Not trying to start a political flame fest outside the pit that is the politics forum, just curious why you would legally disagree with the assessment.

First, as naum explained public airwaves are a public resource that are supposed to be used in the public interest. The ruling was based on the notion that FCCs policies are essentially meaningless guidelines that can be ignored at will, which is certainly odd. Why bother having policies if they are literally worthless?

Second, I didn't say I legally disagreed, I said it was shameless. Which it clearly is.

[SurfD]

shouldnt that fox case have set some VERY disturbing precidents for other broadcast corporations / print media to butcher the truth and spin all sorts of shit in their content?

[Tebonas]

What makes you think they don't?

[Calantus]

There really should be a law requiring any media calling itself a news source to not deliberately or negligently mislead their audience. This is clearly a case where FOX either deliberately misrepresented Mass Effect, or negligently misrepresented Mass Effect by not having confirmed a story that is easily confirmed. It's not like Mass Effect is locked away in some EA vault, you want to know what the game is all about you need to play the fucking game.

[Tebonas]

I always thought there was. Until that win by Fox I thought there were defamation laws in the US, and that they could be applied in such cases.

[Calantus]

Well in that case there it wasn't about defamation, it was about unlawful dismissal which I imagine has different requirements. I couldn't tell you exactly what defamation laws the US has, but I'm fairly confident in saying that case at least shouldn't affect it. Defamation comes under civil law anyway, and I'd prefer to see a public law (is that the word?) where the state can hand out punishments for breaking the law instead of an individual or organisation needing to press the case in the civil courts.

[ajax34i]

There really should be a law requiring any media calling itself a news source to not deliberately or negligently mislead their audience.

This thread is devolving into something else, but "negligently" and "mislead" are open to debate.  People they interview aren't sworn to tell the truth, and as far as doing your research, the more thorough you want to be, the more time and money it takes, and a lot of times the truth isn't available publicly.  So, can't rush a news story so you're the first to broadcast it and at the same time have it be thoroughly researched and "true", and lawsuits that they broke this "don't negligently mislead" law are easily defendable against via technicalities.

Just accept that they all distort and lie.  I thought that wasn't news to anyone.

[Calantus]

I'm not surprised they do, I'm just surprised they actually admitted to doing it and said "so what?" I still think such a law should exist, it might not be feasible but that doesn't mean I can't believe it should be there.

[Tebonas]

With such cases I meant the Mass Effect story. But the likelyhood of that went out of the window when the judges basically told them they can knowingly lie on air and firing people that won't lie for them is ok.

[Bungee]

So, the FOX News are just one giant classic american joke- except they always forget to add the "NOT!" in the end of each headline, right?

[Margalis]

There is a huge difference between being wrong and lying.

What Fox did was blatantly lie.

[HaemishM]

The really funny part about that Fox story was that it pretty much apes an article by a batshit insane right-wing blogger (article appears to have been removed once the author was informed just how wrong he was). The article was fucking crazy talk. It was about 2-3 days later when Fox aired their piece, after the blogger had already admitted he was inaccurate in his story and had not played the game.

The biggest problem with FOX News is that they claim to be a media source, but are in fact just politically-motivated propaganda entertainment TV. Obama has actually boycotted talking to them because of it, and I think Edwards too.

[Azazel]

I read that blog article the other day. Must have been linked from a thread here or Penny-Arcade or something.

I was going to buy Mass Effect for some hardcore, right hand sodomy action, but then I realised it would be quicker and cheaper to just watch some actual porn.