Kotaku
Earlier today we posted a rumor story on the site about a possible announcement of a new technology coming to Sony's Playstation 3.
The Playstation Home, we reported, would be an intriguing blending of the Mii and achievements, allowing gamers to create a virtual world for customized avatars and then decorate that space with items unlocked through game play.
What readers couldn't have known was the great lengths we went to to try and pin down the veracity of the rumor before publishing and, when finally deciding to go live with the rumor, to make sure we put it in the correct context.
In so doing, Sony asked us not to publish the story, first nicely, then not so much. Sony Computer Entertainment of American representatives reminded us that the story was a rumor and then went on to say that publishing it could harm our professional relationship with them.
When I responded that we were going forward with the story and that sometimes news doesn't come from official sources I was told that if we published we would likely be blackballed by the company.
Specifically, they said we would be asked to return our debug PS3, uninvited from all meetings scheduled with Sony at GDC, including one on blogger relations and a one-on-one with Phil Harrison, and that they would no longer deal with us.
Knowing that, we went forward with the story, choosing not to point out the threats.
Shortly after the story ran, and I forwarded it to Dave Karraker, the senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, to point out we did decide to run it.
Here was his response:
Brian, This is an email I was really hoping I would never have to write, but it is what it is. When I came on board here at Sony, I made every effort to be as inclusive as possible to media and the blogging community in an effort to improve previously damaged relationships. This included getting people access to executives, opening our events to more individuals and personally responding as quickly as possible to inquiries. This was done in good faith with the thought that the people I was working with would operate with the same integrity and courtesy I think I demonstrated when I was a reporter. Basically, I went out on a limb for a lot of people — people SCEA PR and SCEA management had written off. I caught a lot of flack for it from folks, but I felt strongly it was the right thing to do.I am very disappointed that after trying to work with you as closely as possible and provide you and your team with access and information, you chose to report on this rumor.... I can't defend outlets that can't work cooperatively with us.
So, it is for this reason, that we will be canceling all further interviews for Kotaku staff at GDC and will be dis-inviting you to our media event next Tuesday. Until we can find a way to work better together, information provided to your site will only be that found in the public forum.
Again, I take absolutely no joy in sending you this note, but given the situation you have put me into, I have no choice.
Dave Karraker
Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
Sony Computer Entertainment America
I obviously took no joy in receiving it, though I do believe it adds to the veracity of our initial rumor report.
As I told Dave Karraker in reply, this only highlights the differences between what PR people do for a living and what journalists do.
Dave, Obviously I disagree with your decision, but it sounds like your mind is made up. I think this only highlights the differences that PR people and journalists have. My interest is not in making sure that Sony has positive news or that the timing of their news is correct, my job only is to inform the readers of news as quickly and accurately as I can. Hopefully, one day this dispute will settle down and you will reopen communication with us. Know this, while I disagree with this decision and think it is a monumental mistake, it will not effect our continuing coverage of Sony and the gaming software and hardware your company makes and supports. Take care, Brian
Sony's decision is disappointing, not because of what it means to Kotaku, but because of what it means to the industry.
Ed's Note I just got off the phone with Dave, we were able to resolve our differences.
Comments
Well, my opinion of Kotaku just went up a few notches.
:(
What a bunch of lames.
Oh yeah?! Well... you're not invited to my birthday party!!!
Does this mean you have to send back that rad custom PS3 you got a few days ago from the Super Bowl?
What the hell is that? That's an asshole thing to do... Good for you for not backing down.
Sad. Just because you guys report on more than the simple company line, you're a liability to them. Well... look on the bright side. They can't really threaten you with anything else at this point.
Shame on Sony. Kudos to Kotaku for choosing to run the story, and replying in a calm and collected manner.
Lame on Sony. Good on Kotaku.
The Rumor is true!!!!!
Sony sucks, "If you dont play the way I want to play then I am taking my kickball home"
Kotaku, keep up the good work and keep up the good journalism. Where would we be if Woodward and Bernstein had relied only on verified sources?
(No, I'm not really comparing this to Watergate)
Wow! SCEA thought they had bad on this site before...I think the fit just hit the shan.
Dammit Sony, stop, just stop. You're being stupid and we won't stand for it. Please stop making an ass out of yourself!
Wow...Sony fanboys going to defend this?
Wow, Sony is just on a roll with tarnishing their public image lately. I can't believe that they would blackball a site over a rumor, but as you said, this only adds to the chances of that rumor being true.
Brian, I need you to leave the back door open so the PS3 debug can "get stolen".
I can't believe Sony. This is going to further tarnish thier reputation, which is already in the toilet.
And for what? A rumor that I and anyone who does not own a PS3 could care less about.
Is Sony trying to go out of buisness?
Fair play to kotaku for the pure honest journalism. You expressly stated the fact that it was a rumour and stuck up for yourselves, fair play.
is sony racing the riaa now? they do realize there's no prize at the finish line, right?
Someone should tell Sony can't sanitize the news. Sorry Sony but the world just doesn't work that way. I don't even think an NDA would have helped here because the news Kotaku got didn't come from Sony.
Well, if they want to "take their toys and go home."
So be it. It's their loss in free advertising.
It's almost not fun to poke fun at Sony anymore... almost. ;-)
Wow.
Whether the information about the PlayStation Home is correct or not, I couldn't imagine Sony trying to throw their weight around when dealing with a blogging site. This on top of all the bad press they've been recieving lately doesn't help their cause of gamers accepting them or their product, specifically the PS3.
Again, wow.
:(. Sony, sony, sony. What have you done?
I don't understand how they can expect a blogging site to not post whatever they can find/hear. It's up to Sony to correct/deny/affirm as necessary. It doesn't seem productive to blackball. Personally, I enjoy hearing all things PS3 (good or bad, rumor or fact).
Mood swings.
Wow.
Good for Kotaku!...from a former journalist to the Kotaku staff.
If only Sony PR could pull the reins on their CEOs in a similar fashion.
Note for fanbois (of all types): I have a PS3 and 360 and love them both. Go figure...
That is quite a sad announcement that in the end I believe will hurt Sony more then Kotaku. This is exactly like in the media, as much as people do not like it, technically you are allowed to run what ever story (in which you even stated it was a RUMOR) you wish on the gaming industry. It is quite sad that they have to strong arm you into reporting only what they wish you to report.
It is sad that Blogging has come so far so fast, yet is still tied down by events like this. Its as if they do not respect blogging as a legitimate source of journalism. I am not going to say Sony is the only company guilty of this, but this is just another mark that really saddens me that people and companies tend to fall behind as things evolve quickly thanks to the internet.
My advice is to get as many people who have shown any interest in kotaku to talk to Dave and see if they cannot convince him that the world has changed and stuff like this shouldn't be tolerated. Espeicially in such a connected world, this news post will seriously hurt Sony. I wouldn't be surprised if this is Digged, and within a few days reported in a few papers.
Does Dave have to commit seppuku now?
I don't see how blackballing Kotaku for this solves anything.
Is there any contact information you can give us to forward our displeasure with SOE's decision? An e-mail address would be fine, mailbox would be even better.
YOU GUYS SHOULD ADD A DIGG TO THIS...
Kotaku is a pretty well known name in the industry and you could get this move to backfire on them and force them to compromise from bad PR
somebody needs a big hug
Sony... why?
Sony really are starting to remind me of how Nintendo acted in the early to mid 90s.
Well you don't really wanna be dealing with them anyway.
I'm surprise you didn't write an email to them first saying something like "your constant mistakes and utter stupidity and arrogance has made it impossible to continue a relationship with you! or to even ackowledge your existance."
Hear Hear for sticking to your guns.
Well this hardly confirms anything that was "rumored" huh? :)
Good old Sony.
I mean typical old Sony.
The king of abandonware, be it hardware or relations.
I ditched their stuff when they ditched me and my fellow Clie' owners.
Congratulations Kotaku. It's rare to see journalistic integrity now a days, especially in Video Game reporting. So many publications seem to be little more than corporate mouthpieces. Bravo and keep it up.
a
First Lik-Sang, now Kotaku, then THE WORLD!
Oh Sony, what won't you do on your high horse?
Wow that takes my respect level down even more for sony. Admittedly I own PS3 and just to make you feel better I was number 101 on qbert's net scoreboards. Why is that important? I will tell you why. There was no 102 or 103 listed. No name and a 0 for score. Apparently on the world charts there are only 101 people that have played it networked on the ps3. so they made a whopping 505 dollars so far off of qbert that we can prove. Unless someone can tell me why this could be. It is a sign of the times for sony and Kotaku really don't need sony to exist. Sony might not be around a whole lot longer at this rate.
I'm sorry, but I have to say that this was a pretty stupid move on your part. This isn't Watergate, it's a stupid little rumor about a new feature for video game console. Not exactly something worth going to the mat over.
I understand both of your positions, but in REAL journalism (ie journalism that matters, not the gaming/hobby/celebrity type) access is a two way street, and you pick your battles. You picked wrong this time. And who loses out? Us, the readers.
You actually made Sony's PR department look reasonable in this case, and that should tell you something.
Luckily, with all the good news surrounding sony lately, they've decided to send a positive message to the media!
And with the euro launch, i will return the favor by not buying a PS3!
Good job kotaku, you guys are (and allways have been) ok in my book.
To say that I'm disappointed in SCEA's decision to would be a huge understatement.
I'm disheartened that Sony PR decided to restrict us from covering their event at GDC, as I was personally very much looking forward to it. To think that doing my job and reporting this information would result in being shut out of covering their PR event is pretty upsetting to me.
The expectation that we were to sit on this information after receiving is puzzling to me. I find it hard to believe another outlet would decide this was not worth relaying to their readers.
This certainly doesn't surprise me. PR and reporting rarely go hand in hand, and I am definitely glad Kotaku stuck to its guns and ran the story.
With the near instant flow of anonymous information, you'd think that companies would realize that the days of "Let's hold this 'big' secret until such and such day" are numbered.
My respect for Kotaku has always been in its unbiased stance in dealing with others, and I respect them all the more for not shying away from a big name company.
You should have a little "blackball" scorecard in the upper-right corner of the site, with the catchphrase "One down, two to go."
Good luck Kotaku. For your journalistic integrity in situations like this, you have my readership.
Oh well it is a lose to Sony but I agree with criminallyinane.
More than a few notches; much love.
Way to be a stand-up guy, Brian.
Kinda scary to think about how many journalists take the bait on subjects more serious than video games... Like the government, for example.
I'm really tempted to dump my ps3 after reading this, and I will definitely take no part in their poorly conceived "Playstation Home"
And this is why Kotaku is one of the few sources in the gaming business I still respect.
So this means the story is true and Sony makes themselves look bad yet again. I don't think there are many people who could run the games division of Sony worse than the people in charge right now. This would have been a good time to copy MS. "We don't comment on rumors."
Okay, sorry about that previous comment, I wanted to check to see if I remembered my password before typing anything up.
Anyway, that's ridiculous of Sony. It's not Kotaku's fauly Sony's big secret leaked out. Maybe if Sony didn't apparently have this asshole attitude, these sort of leaks wouldn't happen.
Sony are a bunch of controling cowboys, good on kotaku sony lose out int he long run anyway lets hope other sites back you lets see sony ban every blog site... go on sony you can do much worce right now.
Smart solution: Get Kotaku to sign an NDA and reveal the juicy details to them. The story is kept secret, and in return Kotaku get the jump on everyone else when the story breaks.
Stupid solution: Threaten the journalists with excommunication, making yourselves look like a bunch of assholes.
Sony's PR department have become very, very good at making themselves look bad lately.
This needs to be Dugg.
Is there any event or news story Sony can't screw up?
AllIWantForEasterIsSomeBadPressAndGamerRelations
When I was at Wired, Sony threatened to "end their relationship" with the organization, magazine and all, because one of our bloggers had called one of their PR executives a harpy or something like that. No specific names were mentioned in our post, just that the PR woman was unpleasant, yet Sony tried to strong arm us into removing the post by threatening to sever all relationships, mentioning silliness like never letting us use a Sony product in the magazine again, despite the fact that they have no real control over that, besides handing out debug units and pre-release hardware and the like. Sony's PR folks - many of whom I know and like - are starting to feel the burn, I think. Sucks not to be invincible!
(Disclaimer: I no longer work for Wired in my previous capacity, nor am I speaking for them now or their current relationship with Sony. This went down on my watch, late last year.)
Give me a break. Sony is trying to ensure that information is leaked when they specifically want to announce it in less than a week. Companies like Apple and Microsoft would do the same thing. At least they didn't threaten you with a bogus lawsuit or something. Kudos for Sony for giving us consumers a valuable service, kudos for Kotaku for releasing the story.
However, the sad truth is that business is about relationships and sometimes you have to give something to get something. It would've been better to exchange not publishing the rumor for an exclusive interview right after GDC with Phil Harrison.
Lick my balls $ony
ITS MY PARTY AND I CAN CRY IF I WANT TO. =*0(
What happened to the Sony of the PS2 era that we knew and loved? The PS3 has brought nothing but bad news from Sony. Kudos Kotaku for running the story. You know the real meaning of journalism, and won't give in to corporate harassment.
Sony sony sony....
Now excuse me while I go buy an Xbox360.
Kotaku is just about the only games blog I read with any regular frequency these days and this story further illustrates why that is the case.
Sony needs to learn how to operate in the current "games journalism" culture of the enthusiasts controlling the flow of information instead of the PR people at SCEA. If they truly do not comment on rumors and speculation, they should keep it that way. Shutting down the official lines of communication between the enthusiast press and the big, monolithic company only makes said company appear MORE out of touch.
Bah.
@Scazza: "Its as if they do not respect blogging as a legitimate source of journalism."
No, unfortunately, the same thing happens with legitimate sources of journalism.