Report: Fox News Host Talks Mass Effect on Yesterday's Show
Report: Fox News Host Talks Mass Effect on Yesterday's Show
January 29, 2008
We didn't catch yesterday's Live Desk program on Fox News, but a sharp-eyed GamePolitics reader wrote in to tell us that host Martha MacCallum made mention of the Mass Effect debacle. From the e-mail we received: Martha MacCallum just wrapped up today's Live Desk with Cooper Lawrence's quote from the New York Times.
GP: That would be Ms. Lawrence's admission to the NYT's Seth Schiesel that she was totally winging it with her inaccurate remarks about Mass Effect...
Martha also reiterated that they had invited "Microsoft, BioWare, and EA" to appear on the show.
Still no apology [from Fox News]... I thought it was pretty dirty that they're letting Cooper take the fall. Personally, I feel that Martha's comments on the game BEFORE the debate/interviews were trend-setting, and Cooper was brought on with a pre-existing mindset that Fox planted.
GP: Agreed - and thanks for sending that in!
UPDATE: G4 has a transcript of Martha MacCallum's comments:
Last week we aired a segment about a video game called Mass Effect. There has been some criticism from the gaming community about the segment – on Friday, Cooper Lawrence who was the guest who spoke-out against the game, had this to say in an interview with the New York Times:
(MacCallum reading Lawrence’s comments from Jan. 26th NYT article): “I recognize that I misspoke. I really regret saying that, and now that I have seen the game and seen the sex scenes, its kind of a joke. Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had had heard, and they had said its like pornography. But its not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.”
MacCallum: That from Cooper Lawrence in the New York Times.
MacCallum: Again, we are inviting a representative from Microsoft, or BioWare or EA, the creators and distributors of this game for an interview with me, on this show to give their perspective of this story...
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Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
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Comments
This may be the closest we will get to an apology and a retraction from Fox News, so savor it while you can.
I do feel bad that Cooper Lawerance is being made to take the fall for Fox, but she does deserve some of the blame. Fox did not make her say the things she said. If she was so concerned about integrity, she would have said she didn't know enough about the subject to comment or refused to take part in the "debate".
Why was she even used as an expert in this debacle? With books like "Been there, done that, kept the Jewelry" and "The Fixer-upper Man: Turn Mr. Maybe into Mr. Right in Five Easy Steps" what possible knowledge could she contribute to any topic on video games? Actually, with those books, it makes her comments about video games making women look like property and objects of sexual desire ironic.
Long story short. Forgive Cooper, but don't forget what she said or that she was wrong. Hold Fox responsible for its lies and slander and demand an apology and retraction.
Here's a link to a pro-Ron Paul website that has lots of Fox News internal phone numbers, as well as phone numbers of Fox News sponsers.
http://nyletterpress.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/ron-paul-fox-phone-blitz/
Also, heres a link to "The Live Desk" (the show that picked up the Mass Effect story) on wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Live_Desk
Of course, I hope Fox still has plenty of trouble over this. Hopefully it will help prevent lies being told as fact in the future.
As other's have said: "It's a trap!" Still, that said, forwarned is foremarmed, so maybe evasive action isn't required.
Probably not, thought. People will say anything for publicity!
We'll be saying more about this...
Look, Fox News is evil in this, yes. But don't let Cooper Lawrence off the hook when she hasn't even apologized, she merely acknowledged she was wrong. And once again, would she have made that statement and looked into it if gamers didn't proactively attack her pocketbook? She is a shallow, petty bitch who saw some backlash attacking the credibility she needs to peddle her wares across the daytime television circuit and she quelled the backlash.
Simple verb tenses, Fox News. Learn 'em.
As for Cooper, perhaps she can take solace in the fact that the people who'd buy her books and otherwise listen to her may not care too much about her views on video games, and the gamers paying attention to this fiasco know that it's not entirely her fault and she's largely taking the fall for Fox.
Granted, that does beg the question of how much Cooper knew prior to agreeing to be on the show. If she knew she was arguing against a game she had no knowledge of prior to agreeing then I've no sympathy for her at all, but if she agreed and then Fox told her, moments before the interview, that she needed to argue against (nonexistant) pornographic games then it's Fox's doing. And quite a nasty bit of trickery that is, too, slandering the game and otherwise promoting your own views through someone else so that no one can actually blame you for the statements.
I imagine that they called her and told her that they needed "expert" comments for a program. It's likely that they didn't tell her what she would be talking about until right before the show. The producers have all the control over these segments and they will intentionally keep people in the dark or feed them false information in order to create their version of the "truth." Odds are that she didn't even know she was going to be arguing about a game until right before the show.
The real bullshit is that Fox invited EA to come on to discuss their claims even though the claims made by Fox are objectively, verifiably false. Any professional news service would immediately issue a retraction and an apology over such grievous errors proving, once again, that Fox News is not a news channel.
EA should pull all News Corp advertising and sue Fox News.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,314541,00.html
Back in December, Fox News's website posted a favorable review of Mass Effect. Their own guy played the game and pretty much said it was awesome.
Weird.
Her wikipedia page is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_MacCallum
QFT: Long story short. Forgive Cooper, but don’t forget what she said or that she was wrong. Hold Fox responsible for its lies and slander and demand an apology and retraction.
It makes me sick just thinking about it...
-Fox didn't attack the game. They paid Cooper to do it for them.
-Cooper's already apologized. Even if you wanted to go after her, it'd be a douche move on EA/Bioware's part - and EA doesn't typically have that much goodwill to spend.
-The most questionable statement made is that Mass Effect has sexually explicit material - which it does. Kind of. Some very puritanical but reasonable people might find the material highly inappropriate, and Fox wanted to warn those people about said inappropriate game. It sounds like a flimsy argument, but it's good enough to withstand a defamation lawsuit.
And honestly, that's a good thing. Game critics should be allowed to criticize games without fear of lawsuit. If this is legally considered slander, then it's not much of a stretch to suggest that saying Manhunt 2 is nothing but grotesque, senseless, and disgustingly graphic violence is also slander.
Incredible that anyone still wants to go on air with them.
I can.
First, we'll hear watchdog groups screaming to give it an AO rating. Then, all news media will give their bullsh- er I mean unbiased take on the game. Wait, why does that sound familiar?
I can.
First, we'll hear all the watchdog groups threatening the ESRB to give it an AO rating. Then, all the news outlets will give their bullsh- er I mean unbiased report on the game. Wait, why does that sound so familiar?
EZK: Fixed that for you.
I also think it would be good for EA/Bioware to go on with them. Yes, it might be a trap, but they now have both the NYT article and Fox's retraction of the comments to back themselves up. They can now get up and talk about the misperceptions and lies surrounding games, rather than defending themselves constantly about "alleged" content in them.
They have a chance to expose the bias for what it is.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,314541,00.html
While I understand that the two evaluations of the game may be mutually exclusive (one as the "best" and one as the "porniest") and this article wasn't actually written by Faux News staff, it still strikes a note of irony in my mind. All Lawrence had to do was read Faux News' own website to realize that maybe the position that she'd been asked to take was questionable.
Faux News dropped the ball on this one, true (although I have to wonder if they every had a ball to drop in the first place...they've dropped so many already). However, I can't say that I feel a bit sorry for Ms. Lawrence, as it was her responsibility to do the research before opening her pie hole. Unfortunately, this is probably the most we'll ever see out of Faux in the way of a retraction or apology, but at least they admitted in perhaps an offhand way that their reporting was inaccurate and evidence-free. Maybe that will turn at least a few gaping-mouthed Faux-cult followers into questioners...maybe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc_FlnjYkTg
yes.
Second of all, it would be cool to see her get married to Anderson Cooper.
Speaking as a PR person, if I was Cooper, I would do some interviews both in print and of TV and blow the shit storm back at Fox. I would explain preair coaching, tainted environment, angle focus, talking points -etc... Then let's see if Fox tries to sue her for slander and libel. EA and or MS should be talking with her now - secretly of course. As pretty as she is she would make for a nice "innocent" victim is this whole torrid affair. Hell she could even get a second book out of it all if she spins it correctly.
If she was really sorry, she would apologize to Bioware, EA, and Microsoft. She would explain what research she was referring to or more importantly, where this "study that came out of Maryland" came from. This isn't her field, where would she have access to such a study from? Sounding like Bartley all over again. And most importantly, she should apologize to Geoff Keighly for her blatantly unethical debate practices displayed there.
Unfortunately, she has done NONE of these things. All she has done is said she was mislead on Mass Effect, attacked Fox programming, and simply laughed it off. She pretended to be an expert with zero knowledge of what she was talking about and got caught. So she retracted her statement and tried to push the blame towards Fox.
It's simple, people. If a child stands up in class and reads a letter handed to him by his classmate and says "The teacher is a douchebag guzzling whore," does this child suddenly get off the hook because the other student told them to say it? Regardless of who told them to say it, he said it.
Your statement brings nothing of use to the discussion. Either explain how you mean, or be quiet.
Some feel bad for her, I say keep the online assault on her comming for another 6 to 8 months...
We must make it painfully obvious that becoming a lying 'expert' that blames everything on games... is a bad career move...
Know if only Hillary Clinton would say how she really feels about games soon and got a similar reaction before election time and Barack beat her... It would be good for the country and no politician would ever blame anything on games ever again...
I think the Amazon bomb was an appropriate response to her statements at the time, however, now that she has rescinded them and been smeared by Fox I really think any further attacks are just plain stupid and would make us look less like an outspoken (so to speak) demographic and more like a bunch of childish assholes.
She's learnt her lesson. Even if her apology was only to protect her bank balance she still got the message: do some fucking research!
We should be focusing our rage on Fox.
of ethics
seek the truthe and report it....hmmmm, minimise harm (journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues has human beings deserving of respect)...what they did to BioWare was not respect, BE ACCOUNTABLE (journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers, and each other......being a lyer is not being accountable
yes there is a code we must follow created by the Society of Profesional Journalists
they are NOT professional
"Theres been some criticism from the gaming community about this segment"; there been "SOME CRITICISM FROM THE GAMING COMMUNITY"? Theres been a whole hell of ALOT of criticism from the gaming community to be accurate (unlike Fox News)! Underestamating us will be something they will regret.
Amen :D
UNITY THROUGH PLAYSTATION NETWORK AND XBOX LIVE
Damn, you had me, right up until you said Playstation Network... :)
Fox "News" is at fault. It's their responsibility to choose their sources and validate the information that is reported on their network.
What they do isn't journalism, it's bullshit. A real journalist or a real news network would ensure that the person acting as an "expert" has verifiable credentials. Fox "News" doesn't do that, they just find someone who's looking for publicity and who's charismatic.
They're basically saying that rather then do any of the real work that is a journalist's trade they will instead just present sources to the audience. That's crap and they need to be taken to task for what they're doing.
@ go fish
Welcome to the field! I hate to be the one to break this to you but it's all corrupt. The trick is to find the least corrupt organization possible and try to do something positive when you can.
Thanks for the positive remark. You said something interesting a few posts back. "We should be focusing our rage on Fox." You made a pretty good point. The real question is how are gamers attack Fox like they attacked Cooper Lawrence? I might have figured it out.
I remember a few months back ago that American Idol's ratings keep droping due to the continued sucess of contestant "Sanjaya Malikar" (and boy did the ratings droped). Everyone was talking about how such a crappy singer stayed on the show. Even judge Simon Cowell was threating how he was going to leave the show if Sanjaya won. There was many theories on why he remained on the show.
The most credible theory was that there is a online movement centered around geting the show canceled by constantly getting the worst singer to win American Idol. The main website behind this was http://votefortheworst.com/
Now you are wondering, "What this has to do with your idea?".
The main reason I metioned American Idol is that Fox News does not have a book of it's own on Amazon. What if we can harness that same energy that was used in attacking Cooper Lawence's book ratings and use it to torpedo American Idol's ratings by having the worst singer win American Idol? It all depends on how many people can we get to "vote for the worst". It could work, the gamers are still VERY pissed off at Fox. The "vote for the worst" message would have to go viral in order to work. But that in its self could be very easy to do seeing how many people posted one star reviews of Cooper's book after hearing it online.
The show is going to begin the main singing contest soon, so that leaves some time to organize. If this works, the gamers can really hurt News Corp. in the wallet. News Corp. is heavily relying on the show to generate money during these rough times (slowdown in the economy, the WGA writers strike). Numbers are one of the gamers' main strengh :)
I said it before and I'll say it again the industry needs to man-up and step-up and do the right thing on behalf of its consumers.
You made a good point. It's just one of the many options that I'm considering. But there needs to be a way to channel that energy used in those one star reviews.
I do agree with you that the game companys need to step up to the chalenge. I think EA should sue News Corp.
Yeah, I agree with Spartan on this. We need an easier way to voice our anger at fox.
I just looked at their "Community" something tells me that it only exists as Fox's fan service to themselves.
Playstation is chatching up and real gamers have all systems
*brushes dust off shoulder*
Haha, no hard feelings aye? I was just being a Dick. I might get a PS3 when they get more games I want and when they come down in price a bit (I'm not going to get a crappy nerfed one).
Give Cooper Lawrence her due, at least she admitted to making a mistake. I guess Fox values the illusion of fidelity over actually being honest... Ah well I don't watch it, or any other Murdoch channelsfor that matter, no skin off my nose.
Gift.
I would like to hope that we gamers are a little more astute than what the non-gaming community gives us credit for.
We do attack them.
But false reporting to get a rise out of your viewership, is just as evil. These are the kinds of actions that lead to further attempts at legislation.
I so want Ms. Lawrence to do the victim spin against Fox News. She could get so much PR mileage out of this situation it is not even funny. Just imagine her book reviews after a few news cycles.
I'm telling you it will work wonders for her. Shoot she would get asked on all the talk shows because of the cool factor due to the tech aspect of video games, the filth that is Fox, the twists & lies, her sexy looks, and most importantly the payback.
And EA, Bioware, Microsoft, and everyone else shouldn't dignify Fox News with any response.
I agree with you on this, She can just play the victim in this for a while and appear on another news station and attack Fox news for using so-called experts who know nothing on the material. Boom, instant PR.
Also agreeing with you that she is quite attractive.
That's the trouble with office desks personalities... You never know when they will "blow up". Be careful... Ticking bomb walking...