When is Journalism Not Journalism

Now, it might seem like I’m being harsh on poker journalism these days but I’m really not trying to pick on anyone. However, sometimes you see something and you’re like WTF!?!?

Case in point is Gambling911. It’s not like the site has ever been known for its rigorous journalistic vetting of stories. Nobody is ever going to confuse the editorial policies there with those of the NY Times. It’s an online trade mag. It’s gambling. I mean you have to cut it some slack . . . or do you?

In a recent article titled “Online Poker: Bodog Fights Off Betfair” Gambling911 quotes its own staff as expert opinion on the topic of why Betfair hasn’t performed very well.

Betfair, however, has not enjoyed much of a role in this growth despite the WSOPE connection. “It’s either poor marketing the rest of the year or the network is not very user friendly,” suggests Payton O’Brien, who acts as Marketing Director of the Gambling911.com website in addition to her role as Senior Editor. “I think it could be a combination of both. This is one company that should be light years ahead of the competition on the Internet poker front.”

Really? The dual-hat wearing Marketing Director / Senior Editor is your expert opinion? Who actually edited this piece?

I know that Gambling911 has used their reporter Jenny Woo as a expert source in the past but at least she’s Jenny Woo. And if you can’t trust a tongue like that; who’s tongue are you going to trust?

But who the hell is Payton O’Brien and why is his opinion more valuable than say . . . oh, I don’t know . . . someone who actually works for an operator or perhaps maybe even an industry analyst who’s opinions people actually pay to hear? I bet he doesn’t even have any pictures of his tongue floating around the interwebs.

When I asked my doorman about this breach of journalistic etiquette he said “Khun Bill, why you always ask me crazy question? Mai kao jai (I don’t understand).” So there you have it. Even my doorman can’t understand why Gambling911 would use their own employees as sources in their reports.

Photocred to greengardenvienna and oddjack