Media in the Post #GamerGate Era: Coverage of Reactionary Fan Anger and the Terrorism of the Privileged

Abstract

History has recorded the aggressive fandom campaigns of the 2010s, which drove vulnerable minority actors from their careers and homes. #GamerGate was the most iconic of these movements with its claim to focus on the ethics in games journalism. This article examines select news coverage of the #GamerGate movement from its initial outset in 2014 to today to identify how the movement changed news reporting’s approach to fandom harassment stories. #GamerGate’s development and deployment media of frames were examined to see how the repertoires of contention shaped during this period played into social and political events that followed.

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“…The attacks escalated to include attacks on other visible women, queer, and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) game designers, as well as members of related industries including games journalism and academia (Chess & Shaw, 2015). The attacks were couched in ethical frameworks, but employed harassment, doxing, and silencing tactics across platforms to push back against any effort perceived to decenter white men, demonstrating what Blodgett notes as a "toxic and angry mindset of entitled masculinity" aligned with alt-right and manosphere discourse (Blodgett, 2020). This type of conflict is part of the growing visibility of reactionary fandom, which Stanfill notes reminds us to push back on narrow interpretations of fandom as a space for "progressive" or transformative work (Stanfill, 2020).…”

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“…355-356). Las profesionales del sector consideran que buena parte de los medios especializados mantuvieron una actitud equidistante, al responder de manera tardía y sin posicionarse ni condenar a quienes apoyaban esta campaña de acoso; otros, incluso, optaron por eludir la controversia y no se pronunciaron al respecto(Blodgett, 2020;Massanari, 2017;Mortensen, 2016;Perreault y Vos, 2016). Fue la cobertura por parte de la prensa generalista, junto al movimiento paralelo en redes sociales, lo que convirtió ambos casos en temas de la agenda mediática.…”

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“…On the other hand, media coverage of social justice movements is not as encouraging. For example, Blodgett (2020) concluded: “#GamerGate presented these (alt-right) communities, where the toxic and angry mindset of entitled masculinity can find a home, with a valuable handbook that allows them to see what kinds of actions elicit news media attention” (p. 196). Similarly, coverage of the #MeToo movement individualized its focus on rich and famous White women rather than the institutional structures supporting hegemonic masculinity (De Benedictus et al.…”

“…Thus, their communications about JEDI issues are important elements of the media's social responsibilities because it influences public perceptions, attitudes and behaviors (Austin, 2010;Bardhan, 2016;Maier and Ravazzani, 2019;Pasztor, 2019;Suh and Lee, 2016). However, coverage of the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements not only failed to empower women and Black people, but also supported the status quo's hegemonic power structures that disadvantage them (Banks, 2018;Blodgett, 2020;Carney and Kelekay, 2022;Noetzel et al, 2022). Moreover, this type of coverage may feed widespread distrust of the global media's ability to engage with important social issues responsibly (Brenan and Stubbs, 2020;Knox, 2022;Watson, 2022).…”