Daily Dot’s Joseph Knoop had an opinion article published on August 17th, 2018 claiming that #GamerGate didn’t care about IGN firing Filip Miucin for plagiarizing content for his reviews. The article is titled “Where are Gamergate’s ‘ethics in journalism’ now?”

Knoop buries the lede under the usual talking points about harassment campaigns and other calumny, writing…

“You remember Gamergate. The online movement is, in function, a series of harassment campaigns against women that hides behind its “ethics in journalism” rallying cry.”

This is a false statement. There never was and has not ever been any evidence that #GamerGate was a harassment campaign. A peer reviewed report from WAM!, indicated that #GamerGate was not a harassment campaign. And a year long investigation from the FBI couldn’t find actionable evidence that #GamerGate was a harassment campaign.

Knoop failed to provide any credible evidence of #GamerGate being a harassment campaign.

He goes on to write…

“It received national attention in 2014 when its members falsely said that a female gaming developer entered an unethical relationship with a reporter.”

This is false. Kotaku’s Nathan Grayson was involved in a relationship with Zoe Quinn and failed to disclose it across three articles. This is all documented over on Nathan Grayon’s Deep Freeze profile.

Knoop also falsely claims that #GamerGate was responsible for Nintendo firing former publicist Allison Rapp, writing…

“In 2016, its members harassed a Nintendo employee and worked to get her fired.”

Nintendo actually fired Rapp after they investigated reports that she was moonlighting as an escort. Nintendo promptly fired Rapp after the reports turned out to be true, as reported by GameSkinny.

Knoop finally gets into the topic at hand: Filip Miucin being fired by IGN for plagiarizing a YouTuber for his Dead Cells review.

Knoop casually states…

“ These days, this hive hangs out on subreddits, 4chan, and 8chan—and it’s not talking about one of the biggest ethics breaches in gaming journalism ever.”

This is false. If you check the GamerGate hashtag you’ll see that various discussions about Miucin is still taking place on the tag.

Journalist Nick Monroe even provides examples of the issue being discussed across various #GamerGate communities.

From what I saw at the time, EVERYONE, GamerGate or no GamerGate, reacted with the same disgust. — Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) August 17, 2018

Knoop, however, goes even further, writing…

“You’d think such an extensive and absurd breach of ethics would be a bloodbath for those at r/KotakuInAction and other Gamergate forums to feast on. But none of the last week’s top posts on KotakuInAction are about anything related to IGN or Filip Miucin, save for one satire post from the Hard Times and a post from pro-Gamergate journalist Ian Miles Cheong. Cheong responded to a Twitter user commenting on KotakuInAction’s silence by responding with a screencap of Reddit threads focused on just that.” “[…] Cheong is wrong. None of the Reddit threads go over 52 comments and slightly over 300 upvotes, which is a dismally low bit of engagement. When you factor in that the comments are likely a small group of people replying to each other, it’s apparent how few of these dudes care that a leading authority in gaming journalism is guilty of rampant plagiarism.”

This is false.

During the initial breaking news of Filip Miucin having plagiarized content from a YouTuber, the initial post went live on August 6th, 2018 and it has 149 comments and 914 upvotes.

That’s just one of many posts covering the topic, which extends across 20 different threads. Even YouTuber Tim Pool, who has no dog in the #GamerGate race, called out Joseph Knoop for the fake news.

Knoop goes on to say…

“Twitter itself is also shockingly calm in the wake of Miucin’s plagiarism. The #GamerGate tag is quiet. “

There is more Twitter traction and interaction for the articles about Filip Miucin’s firing and SJW game journalists complaining about #GamerGate, than there are retweets for Knoop’s article complaining that #GamerGate isn’t talking enough about Miucin being fired.







In essence, even though #GamerGate hasn’t been very active, it’s still more active regarding ethics in journalism than The Daily Dot’s article claiming that it isn’t about ethics in journalism.

What’s more is that #GamerGate had no reason to get incensed and the community had no reason to go on a warpath since IGN resolved the matter with Miucin within a day’s time. The company was alerted about the plagiarism on August 6th, and proceeded to fire Miucin on August 7th.

It’s the complete opposite of what happened with Grayson and Quinn, where Kotaku and the GameJournoPros doubled-down and circled the wagons, claiming that no ethical violations had been committed. That’s not to mention that game journalists then went on the attack, badmouthing their own audience and demonizing the gaming industry until it reached the ignorant ears of mainstream media outlets. Both situations were handled completely antipodes to one another.

Knoop rounds out the piece claiming that Kotaku In Action isn’t really focused on ethics in journalism and more about “punishing progressive individuals”, writing…

“Consider what is actually sitting at the top of KotakuInAction and you’ll find far more examples of Gamergate’s real focus: Punishing progressive individuals, mostly women and people of color.”

As of the writing of this article, one of the top articles on Kotaku In Action is actually about Knoop failing to be an ethical journalist.

Over on Twitter a number of people have called out Knoop for his hit-piece on #GamerGate, which is filled with blatant falsehoods and lies.

Didn’t you guys blocked the mayority of the GG crowd? They have speaked time and time again about journalism ethics, your kind made it about female abuse (more like victimization), but who cares about that doesn’t it? Truth doesn’t matter as long as you get to push your agenda. — STRAYWOLF (@StrayWolf_) August 17, 2018

2014:

>controversy happens

>media deflects and attacks gamers

>GG upset about lack of ethics 2018:

>controversy happens

>media reacts responsibly

>”Where is the outrage? I guess GG doesn’t care about ethics after all” pic.twitter.com/pdXD7BsEVe — Cheeting (@Ridnarhtim) August 17, 2018

I attempted to reach out to ask Knoop how he felt about being mocked on Kotaku In Action for not being very ethical in his Daily Dot piece, and for failing to take the facts into account, but he has me blocked on Twitter.

(Thanks for the news tip Lyle)