Comments on: Video games,rickets,newspapers and headline writers

By: Prolonged Gaming Blamed For Rickets Rise

Prolonged Gaming Blamed For Rickets Rise — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:27:02 +0000

[...] also replied to MP Watson, writing, “No we really didn’t do a study to show that, or say that Gaming causes rickets. It [...]

By: Chris White

Chris White — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:38:57 +0000

First off, I applaud you for giving a voice to the gaming community. It is all too easy to simply ignore what has always been deemed a ‘silly hobby’ by many.

The problem with this article is not the obvious witch-hunt mentality, but the fact that the journalist involved skimmed the release and added his opinion without actually doing any research. The Metro has an OTS of over 3 million, surely someone should have thought to question this? It seems that for all the complaining journalists do in regards to irrelevant PR contact, they’re all to happy to take press releases and manipulate them to the point of irrelevance themselves.

The only thing we as gamers can do is once again ride the storm, persevering until attitudes change enough that unreasonable claims and absurd campaigns are no longer the norm – Modern Warfare and rickets being just two of the latest in a LONG line.

By: aion database

aion database — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:07:54 +0000

“Experts say gaming leads to a rise in rickets.” How the hell did they come up with this conclusion? And what’s their basis for this? Did these “experts” actually performed intensive research before giving this negative statement about video games?

By: Science calls stories about gaming and rickets ‘lazy’ | PLAY Magazine

Science calls stories about gaming and rickets ‘lazy’ | PLAY Magazine — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:52:08 +0000

[...] a response. Every UK gamer’s favourite Member of Parliament (an avid Play reader, so he told us), Tom Watson, contacted the mad scientists too and got an answer from Dr Simon Pearce, who seems to be the [...]

By: London Paper Shockingly Says Gaming Leads to “Shocking” Rise in Rickets - Negative Gamer

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:36:13 +0000

[...] Tom Watson MP spoke to the doctor in charge of the study who called the article in the Metro who said it was “a classic piece of dodgy [...]

By: » Blog Archive

» Blog Archive — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:49:28 +0000

[...] Video games,rickets,newspapers and headline writers (tom-watson.co.uk) [...]

By: ren reynolds

ren reynolds — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:06:00 +0000

I’ve now read the Press Release (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/experts-call-for-action-to-halt-rise-in-rickets) and the original research. From this it seems to me that is it difficult to blame the Metro too much.

While their reporting, like many, fails to identify the underlying causal relationship that means that kids stay in more (it’s not because of computer games but because of a range of factors that mean that adults are restricting children’s movement – in part this is due to the press, hence it is under reported).

Having said this, the Metro does accurately report the press release put out by Newcastle University. In this release the sciences imply to the point that a casual reader would take that they asset a relationship between computer games and rickets. However their research does not back this up.

You report that Professor Pearce says “It was a classic piece of dodgy lazy journalism, taking 3 words out of PA’s hyped-up version of our press release.” This is not true (if ‘our press release means the university one). If you look at the University press release it is reported accurately and the quotes are not taken selectively or out of context.

So – are the scientists denying that quotes in the Press Release are untrue? If so, they need to state this, university needs to retract it and questions need to be asked of the University.

If the scientists stand by the quotes then (a) they should have expected the headlines, (b) what evidence do they have to back them up as the quotes are not supported by the research?

I see no grounds for a PCC complaint on the basis of the documentation.

By: psmith, journalist › links for 2010-01-25

psmith, journalist › links for 2010-01-25 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:05:05 +0000

[...] Video Games and rickets: Metro headline is misleading | Tom Watson MP Do video games cause ricketts? Newspapers say yes. But why not ask the scientists that did the study: “No we really didn’t do a study to show that, or say that Gaming causes rickets. It was a classic piece of dodgy lazy journalism, taking 3 words out of PA’s hyped-up version of our press release.” (tags: newspapers games gaming badscience) [...]

By: Nicholas Lovell

Nicholas Lovell — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:58:46 +0000

Thanks for the link Tom, and well done for raising an important public health issue that has been obscured by misleading headlines.

And I’m not sure I’ve been called “amiable” before

By: Ren Reynolds

Ren Reynolds — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:19:33 +0000

I’ll take a look at the source documents and compile a Press Complaints Commission submission should the facts meet the PCC requirements for a complaint within their remit.

I recently mounted a successful PCC challenge to the Daily Telegraph headline: “Average age of adult computer game addicts is 35, US study shows” which was false on several ground, the story of that an computer games coverage generally can be found here:

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2009/09/me-vs-the-daily-telegraph-.html

ren