Fox: EA invited to talk Mass Effect 'SE'XBOX

by Richard Mitchell { Jan 25th 2008 at 12:00PM }

The hullabaloo surrounding an inaccurate Fox News report on Mass Effect continues today. Joystiq readers will recall that Fox News recently ran a story claiming that Mass Effect contains "full digital nudity and sex," a charge that is simply untrue. Electronic Arts, who now owns the Mass Effect property, later contacted Fox via a letter from EA VP of communications Jeff Brown. The letter asked Fox to correct the errors in the segment and also cited more than a bit of hypocrisy by pointing out that many of Fox's own programs, such as Family Guy and The OC, show sexual situations that are just as graphic (and are rated for ages under 17 by the way, unlike Mass Effect).

MTV did a little digging and got their own response from Fox on the matter. A Fox spokesperson, who would not be named, said, "Fox News Channel has extended several invitations to EA through a company representative to appear on 'Live Desk With Martha MacCallum' to discuss 'Mass Effect' and the segment which aired on Monday. We have received no response." So, in other words, Fox can apparently report as much erroneous information as they want, because the party they were defaming wasn't present to defend itself. We'll have to wait and see if EA takes the bait.

Editor's rant: Fox's stance on this matter is complete bunk. The fact remains that they misrepresented Mass Effect, and having EA on to "discuss" the game isn't going to change that. What's called for is a correction of inaccurate reporting. Sorry folks, but as a member of the Joystiq network, it's disgusting. We do our absolute best here to report the facts as they are. Should we find out that we published something that was inaccurate, we fix it and post a correction. That's the way it should be. If we tried to get away with the same things that Fox is trying, our commenting public would skewer us. It's as simple as that. If Fox really wants EA to go on the air, it should be for an apology. Will that happen? We don't think so, but it should.

Tags: bioware, ea, electronic-arts, fox, fox-news, mass-effect, sexbox

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

xenocidic @ Jan 25th 2008 12:08PM

I can, have, and will, skewer you for much less than inaccurate reporting!

like grammar!

rawr !

DjDATZ @ Jan 25th 2008 12:18PM

LOL...you grammar nazi.

DjDATZ @ Jan 25th 2008 12:41PM

Sorry xeno for another reply...but this needs to be at the top of the comments so everyone can read it.

Take a stand against this BS:
http://www.petitiononline.com/EAvsFox/petition.html

Dale @ Jan 25th 2008 1:24PM

"I can, have, and will, skewer you for much less than inaccurate reporting!"

"like grammar!"

First letter of a sentence should be capitalised.

"rawr !"

First letter of a sentence should be capitalised; extraneous space between final word and terminating punctuation.

D-

xenocidic @ Jan 25th 2008 2:23PM

OH the irony !

however, good sir, I am a mere commenter and should be held to a lower standard =]

p.s. the extraneous space is for added effect !

Pyronite @ Jan 25th 2008 12:15PM

There's a key difference here:

Fox is big enough that they are capable of MAKING the news. It doesn't matter if it is true or false. Much like a bad chain letter, once the information they wanted to suggest has been released, there's no stopping it, and they get what they want in the end, whether it's controversy, publicity, or... whatever the hell it was they were suggesting with that piece. Game censorship?

DjDATZ @ Jan 25th 2008 12:27PM

The funniest thing is...THIS GAME DOESN'T NEED CENSORSHIP! lol

DjDATZ @ Jan 25th 2008 12:15PM

Bravo Rich. Well worded and well said. My sentiments exactly. I think you echo the sentiments of most gamers...regardless of what platform they support.

x3f @ Jan 25th 2008 12:35PM

It is things like this that actually make me happy that America is a litigious country. I hope EA sues the crap out of Fox.

Bryan T @ Jan 25th 2008 12:20PM

What's the point in having EA talk? The guy from Spike TV would be just as correct as a rep. from EA. Fox will still cut them off and let the child protectors/psychologists talk for 85% of the time. The end result would be the same, and we would be right back here pissed off for the same reasons.

Just let it die down, it's not causing that much of a controversy.

nerrrrrrd @ Jan 25th 2008 12:20PM

the one good thing with EA being so huge is they atleast have some weight to throw around when crap like this happens. If Mass Effect was just Bioware, I doubt FOX would entertain their complaints.

on an off topic note, can we get rid of that old hag on the tax relief banner add? brutal.

Derek Mayrant @ Jan 29th 2008 12:43PM

It would be great if it was a FOX News problem exclusively, however most reporting these days is just plain lazy. Every single news agency is guilty of it.

Jayslacks @ Jan 25th 2008 12:24PM

We need to stand up and fight. Harder and stronger. No one is going to fight a gamers political battles but us gamers. Good stuff, EA.

Zoot Suit Jedi @ Jan 25th 2008 12:24PM

The Fox network is to idiots what Lifetime is for women. The people who believe any of the trash that spews forth from thier ever decaying mouth are narrow minded bigots whose opinions will not be swayed by thing like "facts" or "evidence." Unbiased news on televison is like the fabled Griffin - non existent. Like anything in politics or media, videogame publishers need to start with the tug jobs before reports, like this one, air.

AnOffday @ Jan 25th 2008 1:11PM

You're a dumbass. While I agree they should correct their mistake, they're still one of the most watched news networks on tv. And there's no need to call all the people who watch Fox News idiots just because they reported a mistake about your precious Mass Effect. It's not the first, or the last time this will happen. News reports lie about games and content all the time, but it doesn't automatically mean that every report is garbage. Get over it.

Dale @ Jan 25th 2008 1:29PM

Sadly, AnOffDay, it's not just when talking about video games that Fox are at best misleading and at worst down-right despicable.

There are many examples to support a strong negative opinion of the network.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_Channel_controversies

You're right, it's not fair to dismiss all of their large viewership as idiots, but a good number of them do accept the information presented to them at face value and echo some of the network's more repulsive opinions.

Van Faulk @ Jan 25th 2008 1:38PM

Anoff-

something like a third of fox viewers not only think there were WMD's in Iraq, but that we found them.

I think his analogy stands.

Tony @ Jan 25th 2008 12:42PM

Yeah, I was going to say the same things as what is in the editor's rant. Fox News doesn't seem to understand that there is a REASON why people don't want to appear on their programs. Given what usually happens, I imagine they'd cut off the EA spokesperson anyway.

chenry @ Jan 25th 2008 1:06PM

Should be rebranded as Fox "News"

David W. @ Jan 25th 2008 2:46PM

LOL nice...and too true, haha

Darkharmony @ Jan 25th 2008 4:34PM

100% true, I refuse to watch fox noise because they like to report the "news" as they see fit. So lets see the incorrectly report about mass effect. They refuse to say they were wrong (no surprise there, they never do). And now they want EA to come on probably so they can bash them and the game again.

Mr. Nosuch @ Jan 25th 2008 1:51PM

I'm not sure what the big deal. Fox shows hard core porn and executions during after school hours. I think they even have a child porn segment on their morning news show.

Or so I've heard. I didn't actually check, but I'm sure it's true.

Bmurph @ Jan 25th 2008 1:18PM

Well said, Richard. Mainstream media is more about ratings than it is actually reporting factual news. This shouldn't be a debate, as it sounds Fox wants it to be. They should be reporting news. It really frustrates the hell out of me, but, unfortunately it's not going to change. Oh welll. Who's up for some Halo3/COD4/Undertow this weekend!?
GT: bmurph83

Chester @ Jan 25th 2008 1:21PM

EA should not go to this! All Fox is going to do is twist their words, or cut them off early any time they make valid points. I mean look how dirty they did Geoff

Chester @ Jan 25th 2008 1:24PM

And your right Richard, this is DISGUSTING!! These people need to be held responsible for what they say!

x silence x @ Jan 25th 2008 1:35PM

@ AnOffDay

No, but FOX does cater news to idiots. I live in Canada and when I want to watch sensationalized news I watch FOX. All you ever see is death, destruction, war and sad news. If you ever get a chance to watch BBC or most Canadian news broadcasts you will see what I mean.

ccc @ Jan 25th 2008 1:52PM

Heres an Idea, Tell fox to forget it and that EA will do the interview with NBC or cbs about Fox's bothced report. Justice served.

Jon @ Jan 25th 2008 1:55PM

F*ck Fox "news," they are worthless and have a sad misinterpretation of what facts truly are.

Chester @ Jan 25th 2008 2:14PM

@ Anoffday
Come on man. Do we really need to call each other names. Lets try and be a lil bit more mature. We are all here for the same reason. We love our games!

Arnie @ Jan 25th 2008 2:52PM

I am a foreigner in this country and although I have lived here for 3 years have never seen NEWS because I never had a TV. However seeing the clip on Joystiq was quite revealing about how "News" is created. I am 25 years old and own and played Mass Effect(2 times). The side boob show I didnt even notice it on my 32" TV(brand new) cause the whole scene seemed to happen so fast. I cant believe the hype around this scene and I come from a more conservative country than even America.
I also cant believe the idiot psychologist admitted on air that she hadnt played the game and then went to spew crap about it.
However unlike most hardcore gamers here I am a relative noob to gaming(only have played for the last year regularly) so didnt get "offended" . I just saw it as idiots talking about something they had no clue about. What was crazy was the news channels visible bias on the topic. I wonder how they survive like that (heck I know murdoch is rather ridiculously rich).
The whole thing is puzzling to me who is kinda looking at this from the edge. I am glad that gamers now have more of a voice and mediums like the Internet can get their displeasure heard. I just hope that some idiot politician doesnt pick up on this and start his own rant on it.

P.S--: Richard and Dustin I definitely hope you are talking about this crap on your next podcast, would love to get your views on it(in audible format rather than the rant here!!)
Also gamers seem to get their fair share of controversies now a days.(GertsmannGate and now this Crazy Talk)

Etchasketchist @ Jan 25th 2008 3:03PM

Fox News is not a journalistic enterprise. They are the P.R./Infotainment wing of the Republican party and corporate conservative business interests. They are propagandists and abide by the ethics of propaganda. They have never shown any interest in following the rules traditional of journalism. They want the EA rep to come on their show so they can continue to put out misinformation and muddy the waters and confuse their viewers. The rep would come on, suffer through a bullying, combative interview and then once they were done with him, they'd have their "panel of experts" explain how everything he just said was bunk. That's the game they play.

Nate @ Jan 25th 2008 3:49PM

Here's my take:

Solution #1: Go on the air, then refuse to say anything until Fox produces screen shots backing up their claims.

Solution #2 (recommended): Rename the game, just to show them who's boss, to "Massive Cock Affect" - laugh all the way to the bank.

Solution #3: Defame News Corp in their next release. Creativity prevails.

DaveTehWave @ Jan 25th 2008 4:30PM

I Love how the stupid 'reporter' on Fox has a book on Amazon and it's getting slammed by ppl who 'never read it'.

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/1599211793/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/103-7432020-9624661?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

DaveTehWave @ Jan 25th 2008 4:31PM

Nevermind - Amazon corrected the reviews.

Edog @ Jan 25th 2008 4:45PM

There's this phenomenon infecting the nation the past 20 years. I call it "The Cult of Oprah".
TV has various formats it needs to adhere in order to produce a show. Much like the 360fancast has a format it follows so it can come across well to it's audience, so does daytime TV. The problem is that in the confines of these formats one can't truly explain and analyze a certain topic. It is common for a PHD hired by a network to "give his/her professional opinion" about something they know very little about. They, the "professional", reads the Study that took YEARS to develop, 15 minutes before they go on TV and give their "Professional" opinion. Certain TV formats are so restrictive that they can't get the people who need to be on, the people who actually do these tedious studies.
In a way, this restrictiveness helps a company who's motives are less then honorable. This FOX "NEWS" segment on Mass Effect was so obvious in it's bias it sickens me on a intellectual level and makes me sad.
I too, can Don a suit and tie, tote a diploma in caption form, and the sad thing is 85% of the peoples will believe anything I say.
Question belief, question authority, and live outside the "LAW", because it's all created by people who want to exploit your fears into cold hard cash.