GamerGate deserves some face time.

My name is Michael Koretzky, and I’m a national board member with the Society of Professional Journalists — the world’s largest organization for one of its least-respected professions.

Yesterday, I wrote about GamerGate after my fellow leaders refused to. They warned me that any whisper of the movement would get us doxed and stalked.

Instead, I’ve been unable to keep up with all the fascinating comments, tweets, and emails offering passionate opinions, detailed corrections, and informative links.

So far, the worst a GamerGater has called me is a “snooty hipster” (which is, I believe, redundant). Meanwhile, I’ve been called far worse by my fellow SPJ leaders.

While I try to catch up on the correspondence, let me announce that SPJ will indeed delve deeper into GamerGate — in person.

I’m recruiting rank-and-file SPJers to support a live-streamed panel discussion called AirPlay.

Let’s flesh it out in the flesh.

One of my jobs on SPJ’s board of directors is to organize an annual journalism conference in my region – which covers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

I don’t need anyone’s permission to do whatever the hell I want. And I want to explore GamerGate.

This will be an objective panel discussion, featuring all sides of the issue. It’ll be promoted to SPJ’s 7,400 members and thousands of others in the media.

(Based on the enthusiasm I’ve seen so far, GamerGaters seem quite capable of spreading the word amongst themselves.)

I could use some help…

If you’re a GamerGater, please leave comments below suggesting who should represent your movement — and what opponent you’d like to see confronted. Mind you, I’m going to be courteous and fair to whoever you hate, because my job isn’t to take sides.

My job is this…

1. Introduce mainstream journalists to this topic in a personal way.

2. Give GamerGaters and their opponents a chance to debate face to face.

Ideally, I’d love to find 3-5 GamerGaters who can act as a committee for their cause. I’ll consult them as we congeal the details of this event over the next few weeks, and they can consult with the GamerGate community on decisions that need to be made.

This page will be updated until everything coalesces — hopefully by June 1 — then I’ll announce the specifics on my SPJ blog. Meanwhile, I’m recruiting supporters from within and outside SPJ.

So far, much of what I’ve been told about GamerGate has been proven wrong. Meeting in person and broadcasting the results just feels right.









