Dear Linux today, I am writing to all respectable journalists about an event that took place today concerning journalistic ethics, particularly within the videogames industry. I’m not sure how much the linuxtoday staff will have in common with gamers as free software advocates (as most games are very often closed-source), however GNU/linux is essentially a free “gaming platform” for many of us GamerGate supporters (and is gaining some popularity because of the bullshit surrounding windows 10). You can read into what happened and what the SPJ Airplay event was all about if it’s interesting to you, but my main concern is what I suspect is going to happen shortly from now. I suspect that Buzzfeed and other blog-tier journalistic outlets are going to suggest that GamerGate supporters bomb-hoaxed their own event (even though we paid a considerable amount to send our representatives to attend this event). Mainstream news outlets will turn to the new ‘tech-media’ for information and (as usual) will repeat these claims without an editor fact checking them.
The fact is that nobody knows who issued the threats yet, but hopefully the network of GamerGate supporters, or the Miami Police, will soon find that out.
What we GamerGate supporters want is fair, factual, accurate coverage from as many people as possible, to counter the narrative that will be inevitably felt on Monday morning – that we’re responsible for our own persecution or that we had it coming to us. If you were afraid of ‘Gawker & co.’ slandering you or blacklisting you from your job, then now is the time to speak out. Because they absolutely cannot lynch *everybody*. Many sites will be running the story, but most of them will be those who’ve opposed us for this past year. I ask you to speak out for us as one of many sites who have kept their integrity over the years. We need sites like yours. Those who are not beholden to MediaLink, or Vox, or any of the corrupt media goliathans. We need coverage that is truthful and accurate, even if it doesn’t necessarily agree with some of the principles of our consumer movement.
Please consider our plight for better journalism, keep on doing what you’re doing in liberating users with libre software, and thank you so much for your time. P.S if you’d like to visit 8chan’s /tech/ board then we’d be glad to have you. Thank you.