"She just happens to be. She's a fat princess. It happens."

"She can have cake, but not Carl's Jr. Back away from the fastfood princess."

Thanks DavidXSee for the tip!

The remainder of Fox's report becomes muddled. In the intro, we cannot tell if they are blaming the shootings on the ads or just claiming that the ads are in poor taste. (They never, in fact, mention when the ads actually went up.) We'd say Fox buried the lead, but we're not so certain there was any lead to bury.

The piece continues grasping for a story, this time through the political hypocrisy of IL governor Rod Blagojevich, who had once spoken against Grand Theft Auto San Andreas advertisements publicly. And then, to demonstrate how we should/could feel about this story (other than confusion?), the viewer is treated to a series of man on the street interviews. Finally, we find that CTA has made no comment on the situation but will be pulling the ads (we can assume only because Fox was doing the story).

After viewing the clip, we realized that the headline above the video is simply "Violent Video Game Ads on The CTA." But that headline, while appearing innocuous at first glance, is as intentionally misleading as Fox's video. Is Fox calling the "video game" itself violent or the "video game ads" violent? You can't tell...which seems to be precisely the point.

We'd say to check out the video for yourself, but we'd hate to see Fox News Chicago make the ad revenue. Crecente had an interesting feature a while back on a similar GTA ad controversy if you feel the need to click something.

Violent Video Game Ads on The CTA [Fox via GamePolitics]

Check out some of the other headlines I have found for this story across the web:

Parents of 5-month-old face first-degree murder charges - Illinois Daily Herald
Parents Charged with Murder - Central Illinois Proud
Parents face first-degree murder in death of baby bound last week - WTHI News

Not one other news outlet I can find focused on the gaming like Fox News did. Are they holding a grudge over the Mass Effect debacle or what? As more and more people start playing video games, will every headline start to read like this? "Man Who Played Video Games Robs Bank." "Video Gamer Dies In Car Crash." This is getting pretty damn ridiculous. Is there a video game angle? Sure. Is it the only angle? Of course not. How about "Irresponsible Young Parents Leave Baby To Die"? Bah. I'm going to go punch something and blame it on gaming.

Parents of Baby Left Alone in Car Seat for 8 Days Face Murder Charges [Foxnews.com - Thanks Orrin]

Max Effect [loadingreadyrun via Maxconsole]

Believe it or not Jack Thompson and I email sorta regularly. Granted he usually emails me bizarre, over-the-top press releases (which I often don't post) and I respond with disjointed quotes from movies, which I hope will one day remove that last wobbly hinge of his. (No luck yet).

Last week Jack emailed me a press release entitled "Grand Theft Auto IV to Be Released April 29; Culture War Begins Now" and after my typical poking, I got on to the topic of the Mass Effect controversy and was shocked, literally out of my socks, to find him defending the game... sort of. Apparently, even anti-gaming crusader Jack Thompson found self-help author Cooper Lawrence (who he refers to as a man), uninformed and the entire controversy contrived. Hellooooo kettle.

To: Brian
From: Jack
Immediate News Release - January 24, 2008
Grand Theft Auto IV to Be Released April 29; Culture War Begins Now

To: Jack
From: Brian
I like your new glasses.

To: Brian
From: Jack
Wow, as usual you're grasping the real news here.

To: Jack
From: Brian
I'm surprised you haven't been looking into Mass Effect.
http://kotaku.com/348692/ea-fighting-mad-about-fox-news-but-still-no-correction?cpage=2#viewcomments

To: Brian
From: Jack
Why would you be surprised. I don't see any problem with it. The guy who shot his mouth off about it had no idea what the Hell he was talking about.

To: Jack
From: Brian
You mean you're OK with mass effect?

To: Brian
From: Jack
Of course. This contrived controversy is absolutely ridiculous. Report that, why don't you?

Consider it reported. Now where did my socks go?

...Ms. Lawrence said that since the controversy over her remarks erupted she had watched someone play the game for about two and a half hours. "I recognize that I misspoke," she said. "I really regret saying that, and now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke.

"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography," she added. "But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of 'Lost' that are more sexually explicit."

While I don't think situations like this will ever change the way Fox News handles its sensationalist stories, perhaps it will send a message to the so called "experts" they bring on the show to do their research before going on air. As vehemently protective as gamers are of their genre, it will only end up coming back to bite these allegedly knowledgeable people in the ass. Hell hath no fury like a gamer scorned.

Author Faults a Game, and Gamers Flame Back [New York Times]

In a single line text message sent from her Blackberry, Teri VanHorn, producer of Fox News' Live Desk with Martha MacCallum, blew off Electronic Arts' detailed call for correction over the error strewn report the show did on Mass Effect earlier in the week.

Jeff Brown, Electronic Arts' vice president of communication, told Kotaku that the producer told him to contact Fox News' public relations department, which apparently now deals with factual errors in their stories.

Brown told me he wasn't surprised, but that EA will continue to "step up when someone maligns our creative teams.
"They need to understand there are 100 people in Edmonton, Alberta who dedicated years to making that game. They've got names, faces and reputations - and they've been slandered. We're angry about that."

He added that yesterday's reaction was not a one off, "it's a policy directive from Riccitiello. Anyone who tells lies about our creative teams is going to get a fight."

EA Calls Fox Out on Insulting Mass Effect Inaccuracies [Kotaku]

The University of Michigan researchers findings indicate that men who are exposed to violent television in video games were more likely to assault their spouses. Women were comparably more likely to have thrown things at their spouses or assaulted another adult.

The study's fact sheet makes note of the fact that as the popularity of video games has increased since the 1990s, violent crime has decreased. Furthermore, it points out that European gamers, who also enjoy the same content, have a much lower propensity for crime.

A very interesting study, one that I'll have to read more closely after I've finished prepping the mailman for the woodchipper.

Researchers Link Video Games to Adulthood Violence [Fox Business]

If you're looking for intelligent debate about the extreme levels of violence in the Mature rated Manhunt 2 and how its release should be handled at retail or cogent discussion on the ESRB's ratings policies, look somewhere other than this Fox News clip from a segment known as "Cashin' In." The news channel for simpletons brings us a moronic shouting match between some lawyer we've never heard of with a gift for hyperbole and crazy conspiracy theories and some libertarian yokel named Jonathan Hoenig.

To further enhance your enjoyment of the low brow antics of Fox News' reporting style, don't miss this earlier report on Manhunt 2, in which Dr. Ted Baehr of the Christian Film and Television Commission invokes Columbine and Seung-Hui Cho just before declaring that the video game ratings system "never works."

You can almost taste the insanity. At the Rockville, Maryland Best Buy, a line of over 150 people has formed, with tents, lawn chairs, fast food and body odor wrapped around the block.

First in line? A family of three, including the twelve year old recipient of a PlayStation 3 whose parents are line-sitting with him.

With the store already in possession of "more than a hundred" Sony consoles, let's hope that everyone spending the night in the rainy cold will get one.

Me? I've officially given up. Michael McWhertor

Gamers Camping Out for Playstation 3 [Fox]

Fox News has launched a Video Gaming section to its web site. Hey, just what gamers have long been waiting for: the same sort of fair and balanced reporting at which Fox News excels applied to video games!

The news is all pretty old by the standards of gaming 'journalism'. You know, like two weeks. But given the dusty curmudgeons who have driven mainstream news into the ground, it actually is a respectable attempt at congregating all Fox News' content that touches upon gaming. We wonder if more news network will follow suit. FLORIAN ECKHARDT

Fox News Video Gaming [Fox News]