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Journalist Totally Makes Up Story About GTA Based On Murderer, Then Attacks Video Gamers Who Called Him On It
from the professional-journalism dept
We've discussed a few times the various claims that many UK "news" publications have a history of totally fabricating stories. This seems odd, given the ridiculous libel laws in the UK, which you would think would keep that sort of thing to a minimum -- and yet we seem to hear similar stories quite frequently. The latest, sent in by EnJaySee, notes that the Daily Star (which is not a particularly well-respected paper) was caught totally making up a story pretending that the makers of Grand Theft Auto were working on a new version of the game, GTA Rothbury, based on Raoul Moat, the guy who killed shot his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend, a police officer and (eventually) himself -- successfully killing himself and the new boyfriend. The reporter, one Jerry Lawton, even went and asked the grandmother of Moat's ex-girlfriend what she thought of the game, and needless to say, she thought it was terrible. But there is no such game. There was a Photoshopped image, which appeared to be the basis of the story, but no one's quite sure where that came from.
Even worse, after various video gaming publications called out The Daily Star for such a bogus story, the paper deleted the article from its website with no explanation or correction or anything. It just pretended it never happened. Update: As pointed out in the comments, the Daily Star did eventually publish a full retraction and apology, only after this story started getting attention. But the "reporter," Jerry Lawton, apparently took to his Facebook page to lash out at those who caught his made up story and then mocked video game players:
Even worse, after various video gaming publications called out The Daily Star for such a bogus story, the paper deleted the article from its website with no explanation or correction or anything. It just pretended it never happened. Update: As pointed out in the comments, the Daily Star did eventually publish a full retraction and apology, only after this story started getting attention. But the "reporter," Jerry Lawton, apparently took to his Facebook page to lash out at those who caught his made up story and then mocked video game players:
"Baffled by the fury of adult gamers," he wrote. "These are grown (?!?) men who sit around all day playing computer games with one another who've today chosen to enter the real world just long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto! You would think I'd denied the Holocaust!!! Think I'll challenge them to a virtual reality duel....stab....I win!!!"As Destructoid noted, Lawton seems to have selective understanding of the situation:
Nice to see that Lawton conveniently left out the bit where he used a poorly doctored image that any idiot could have ascertained was fake, the bit where he used a 69-year-old grieving grandmother for his own ends, and the bit where he cobbled together a shitty little article full of lies that got taken down because it was a load of crap. Hilarious that he references the "real world" when his article was based in total fantasy to begin with. Maybe Lawton's the one who needs to step away from his computer and face reality.
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You're right about the Star though - they have a rep for posting fictional sensationalist stories (London bus found on moon style)
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http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=257019
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Re: updating
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A dark humor sort of way to fight him
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I've noticed that the apology uses the word "we" eight times to describe that actions of their, um, journalist. No "we" in this part though: "It is now accepted that there were never any plans by Rockstar Games to publish such a game and that the story was false."
As mentioned before, they will pay "a substantial amount in damages".
So this media organization had to published an retraction, admit that their (not the) story is false, and pay out some money.
Hope the additional traffic is worth it.
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Aha! Updated. Thanks.
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Oh no, just when they had me conviced that videogamers spend most of their time murdering people and being violent in real life...
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Isn't that what the article was? Which lost pathetically?
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You would seriously be baffled by this when you spent the time and energy to fabricate such a ludicrous article, simply for the means of hoping you would go above and beyond a mediocre journalist, and then when something you enjoy is shot down turn around and bitch on facebook like a teenage drama queen. How justified you are, sir.
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HEY!!
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Fired?
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