Video Game Journalism and the Ideology of Anxiety: Implications for Effective Reporting in Niche Industries and Oligopolies

ABSTRACT

Video games are a $20-billion-a-year industry, but it is still treated as a niche market. The video game corporations hold considerable power over the articles that journalists write. Through in-depth interviews with video game journalists and by using the theoretical perspectives of Herman and Chomsky, Shoemaker and Reese, Shoemaker and Vos, and Goss, the researchers concluded that video game journalists adhere to an “ideology of anxiety” in which they mediate their work based on the perceived expectation of Foucault-like punishments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.