Capcom Tries To Tapdance Out Of Its SOPA Support, Blames 'Bad Journalism' For Its Own Statements

from the not-going-to-cut-it dept

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. Yesterday, we noted that Capcom was one gaming company that was willing to say that it was in agreement with the ESA on SOPA... and since the ESA has made it clear that it supports SOPA, that's pretty clearly a statement that Capcom supports SOPA. I don't see how else you can interpret a claim that "the ESA represents us on these matters." When you say that someone is acting as your representative, then that means they speak for you. So we reported that accurately.

However, Capcom appears to be trying to backtrack its way out of this, by insisting that it's "bad journalism" to point out exactly what the company said:

We've only ever stated that the ESA represents us in legislative matters (again, like every other publisher). We have not stated any stance on our support (or not) for SOPA. Inferring more than that is bad journalism (which seems to be rampant based upon the rereporting of a six word response to inquiry).

As I noted in the original post, this is why it's dangerous (and not particularly smart) to outsource who represents you entirely. It's great to be a member of an organization that can work with you on what's happening legislatively, but you should never, as a company, completely outsource your own opinion on such things. But that's clearly what Capcom said in their original statement. That's not bad journalism, it's a bad decision by Capcom.

And, of course, Capcom doesn't go so far as to make an actual statement on SOPA. Instead, it claims, "We do not have an internal stance on this particular issue and are not planning to." Then perhaps that's what they should have said originally, rather than pointing journalists to the ESA...

Filed Under: pipa, protect ip, sopa
Companies: capcom, esa