First up, I am not sure if this is entirely relevant, but I have to smile to myself when I think of the old PC Format/Gamer magazines I used to read as a kid. A review for a game on one page and an ad for the game on the next. If you think about it back then In no small way the publishers had a lot more influence on the journalists being that the magazine needed their ad revenue to exist. Of course the journalists (well most of them) still had to maintain some sort of objectiveness to be considered reliable. I am sure though it was pretty tough for an editor back then when your next paycheck relied upon the publisher of the game your journalist just submitted an article on that practically ripped the game apart. Of course websites still have ads but I think that the ad content is much more divorced from the website content than the magazines of old.
I guess my point (if I have one), is that none of this is exactly a new thing, surely it was worse in the past, as there was a lot less oversight in general. I'm not saying that we shouldn't call people out when bias can exist, but it just seems like it can't really exist on the same level anymore. There is just too much information and eyes watching everything. I guess like most things though it's all about perspective.
Atrak
