5 ms·
This was discussed a few times earlier this year in an article that contains pictures of the monks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10892556 https://news.
by biot 10y ago
This was discussed a few times earlier this year in an article that contains pictures of the monks:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10892556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10892556
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10650278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10650278
Actual article: https://www.damninteresting.com/sokushinbutsu-the-ancient-buddhist-mummies-of-japan/ https://www.damninteresting.com/sokushinbutsu-the-ancient-bu...
Curiously similar wording too. Original article:
"Some of the monks drank tea made from the bark of the urushi tree during their fast. Also known as the Japanese Varnish Tree, its sap is normally used to make a lacquer varnish, and it contains the same abrasive chemical that makes poison ivy so unpleasant. Urushi is so toxic that even its vapor can cause a rash, and it remains in the body after death. Drinking urushi tea served to hasten the monk towards death as well as make his body even less hospitable to insects."
This new article:
"A kind of sumac, the Japanese lacquer tree is called such because it is used to make traditional Japanese lacquer, urushi. Its bark contains the same toxic compound that makes poison ivy so poisonous. If ingested by these monks, urushi tea would have both hastened death and made the body even less hospitable to the bacteria and parasites that aid in decomposition."
- kuschku 10y ago> Curiously similar wording too. That happens quite often with such articles, they’re usually cross-licensed, and just slightly rewritten. If you really want to be freaked out, read gaming journalism – they all just copy the original press statement and slightly adapt it.
- stephengillie 10y agoWhat's freaky about lazy journalism? Edit: http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- kuschku 10y agoBecause with gaming journalism, they’re literally copying developers’ PR statements – zero reviewing, zero own opinion, and it’s still presented as review.
- pavel_lishin 10y agoWhy do you assume that this is limited to gaming journalism?
- pluma 10y agoOutside gaming journalism I believe the term is "native advertising". Obligatory Last Week Tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_F5GxCwizc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_F5GxCwizc
- kuschku 10y agoI’m not assuming it is limited to gaming journalism, but I can only prove that it is happening in gaming journalism, and I don’t want to make any unproven accusations.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- bjelkeman-again 10y agoI have had full stories copied wholesale into computer mags. You hire a good writer to make it not read like a press release.
- pluma 10y agoIn turn, game companies hire good writers to not make their copy read like a press release so journos don't have to change as much.
- rand_r 10y agoI thought "gaming journalism" was a book you were referencing about this practice and it sounded like a good read.
- kuschku 10y agoAh, sorry. That was a bad choice of words. There was a time when, to do let’s plays on YouTube, you had to still get written approval from publishers, and back in the day, that meant getting into their press contacts program. Which in turn meant I got their press statements, half pre-written articles, phrases that should be used in articles, etc. When reading gaming magazines after that I always noticed the exact same texts being used, often only minor alterations being made. Sometimes they even suggested a range in which the rating for the game should be.
- afro88 10y agoSame goes for a lot of music journalism
- JimDabell 10y agoThat's known as "churnalism", and it's disturbingly widespread in mainstream journalism; it's by no means limited to gaming.
- justin66 10y ago> they’re usually cross-licensed, and just slightly rewritten I'd expect that "slightly rewritten" articles aren't licensed or in syndication, they're plagiarized. (and not necessarily one from the other, but in some cases plagiarized from a common source) One common exception being if the articles have the same author.
- pluma 10y ago> gaming journalism Fun fact: this is what Gamergate was (supposedly) originally about before it escalated into whatever it is now. This is why you still occasionally hear the phrase "ethics in game journalism" in discussions about GG.