Fox "investigates" PSP porn [update 1]
by Conrad Quilty-Harper 
{ Jun 1st 2006 at 5:25PM }
Are you a parent concerned that your child may have easy access to communist and pornographic materials? If so, you may be shocked, devastated and appalled to learn that your innocent children "are using a gaming device to access porn out of thin air." The PSP, which is a short for PlayStation "pornable", is a portable game console that has the capability of "magically displaying images of naked women." Yeah, that's right. Fox 9, a local news affiliate of Fox News, the world standard for balanced and fair reporting, has revealed that the PSP is entirely capable of displaying images and therefore porn. As a result, Sony and the PSP are entirely to blame if your kid sticks pictures of naked ladies onto the device. Bleurgh.This article has it all: a sensational headline, wildly outlandish claims and a healthy dose of out-of-context quotes from family institutes. What's next? The Nintendo DS steals your precious bodily fluids? Xbox 360 responsible for failure to find WMDs? Playing too much Halo lowers exam results? Wait... that last one's true.
[Via Game|Life] [Update: Fox 9 is a local news affiliate of Fox News, not a purely investigative news channel.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
SiN ViCiOuS @ Jun 1st 2006 5:28PM
Wow what is it cool to trash Fox now? First kotaku now joystiq! I guess CNN is soo much better.
Justafan @ Jun 1st 2006 5:33PM
And the sad thing is, there are actually people out there who believe that Fox News is impartial, fair and balanced reporting, and will accept this report at face value. Fortunately I don't know any of these strange creatures myself, but they *are* out there...
daniel @ Jun 1st 2006 5:36PM
fox strikes again surely the school internet is filtered this is such a load of rubbish people have been able to look at porn on loads of mobile devices, i find it funny that a conservative sex is bad kind of organisation is saying they want to build healthy attitudes to sex
Dirk Dorkelson @ Jun 1st 2006 5:37PM
Come on, guys. Gripes about Fox News being a mouthpiece for the GOP are all well and good. But this is Fox's Minneapolis affiliate's local news website. It's not even affiliated with the Fox 24-hour news channel. This sounds like a classic case of a dumb local news person screwing up.
Paul P. @ Jun 1st 2006 5:39PM
Let me just say right now that when the browser comes out for DS stateside, I am using it for porn. And I blame Nintendo.
Pheonix Gamma @ Jun 1st 2006 5:41PM
I love all of the typos they made in that article. Fox iz profeshawnal.
Jellodyne @ Jun 1st 2006 5:41PM
OMG! There's PORN on the INTERNETS?! Who will think of the poor children?
Hudson922 @ Jun 1st 2006 5:45PM
Video Games, Porn, and amazingly not one word of the article was from JT.
Mat @ Jun 1st 2006 5:46PM
Sin, your comment doesn't really make sense. Are you trying to imply liberal bias in a gaming blog?
Dirk, you don't think local affiliate are subject to the mission of the corporation they are a part of? I would think they ARE as it makes sense from the business perspective.
The report certainly stretches the truth, I feel sorry for the kid (perhaps this should be plural) who is going to have his PSP taken away because of an overreacting and/or uninvolved parent.
Scott @ Jun 1st 2006 5:48PM
In your eagerness to bash FoxNews, you're looking rather foolish. Fox 9 is not an "investigative arm" of FoxNews. It is a local news affiliate.
More than likely, this story was ran around a sweeps period to garner attention. The Atlanta stations do crap like this all the time. They even had one reporter taser himself.
Kip Porter @ Jun 1st 2006 5:49PM
"And the sad thing is, there are actually people out there who believe that Fox News is impartial, fair and balanced reporting, and will accept this report at face value. Fortunately I don't know any of these strange creatures myself, but they *are* out there... "
If you change "Fox News" to "any news organization" then I'll agree with ya.
And its ok, people who whine about fox news and talk radio have been feelin sad since their pals the Soviets lost control over in Russia, so give them a break.
Scott @ Jun 1st 2006 5:50PM
Mat,
Local affiliates share somewhat with the national affiliates but the station owner and station news director make the ultimate choice on what stories to run.
jaemz @ Jun 1st 2006 5:53PM
"Last month a 14-year old boy in Bismark, North Dakota got caught bringing porn into school on his PSP. The local authorities decided to make an example of the boy and charged him with a felony."
-A felony? for what... getting a woodie in class?
... come on now Johnny, you have to stop looking at pictures of women without clothing and use your PSP to play games where you murder people and blow stuff up.
Paul P. @ Jun 1st 2006 5:55PM
Probably a felony for showing porn to kids, since I imagine he was bragging and showing ti to all his friends.
A case where that is not at all what the law was created for and local authorities decide to "make an example out of" a relatively innocent kid.
Clay @ Jun 1st 2006 5:55PM
Media without hypervenalating hysteria does not exist in the USA-------------anywhere. 90% of it amounts to cheap shots and non-news. Take it too seriously and
you'll blow a fuse.
By the way, Can you not play porn on your PSP?
Dirk Dorkelson @ Jun 1st 2006 5:58PM
Mat,
I work in the news media (in newspapers, not TV, though I have friends who work in TV). The parent company's involvement in day-to-day news coverage and news decisions is nil. Local affiliates and local newspapers have their own people (who actually live in the communities we cover) who make these decisions/do editing/etc. Occasionally, Fox News might make available newscasts for local affiliates to run, but even then, the decision whether to run or skip the stuff lies with the affiliate.
(I can only think of one example of affiliates being ordered to air a news program, and it didn't happen at Fox. During the last presidential election, 62 stations owned by Sinclair were ordered to air a partisan "documentary" about John Kerry. An imbroglio ensued.)
Can you imagine how inefficient it would be to run every article up the corporate flagpole? No one would make a dime.
This is a classic case of the local news being ignorant. Nothing more.
gnome @ Jun 1st 2006 5:58PM
I know I'm definitely of topic, but I guess I'd really enjoy Soviet Porn. Even on a PSP...
yo yo mama @ Jun 1st 2006 5:59PM
this is the very reason i bought a psp
Belcho @ Jun 1st 2006 6:07PM
I love how they talk about, "pulling it out of thin air" like no one understands the concept of WiFi. Talk about yellow journalism. Like the PSP can magically create it without an internet connection.
Yeah instead of blaming the school for having 1) an unsecure wireless network & 2) having non-filtered internet, it's the kids fault for taking advantage of that situation. Sure porn doesn't belong in school, but how about actually taking some steps to prevent students from pulling it up at school.
And I'm so sick of parents & organizations blaming everyone else for their kid being corrupted. Wake up parents! Take responsibility, they are YOUR kids. Be educated, don't buy some crap that you don't even know what can do. These days with the internet, there's no excuse to not be educated.
If we're going to blame Sony for anything, it should be for not making enough good games for the PSP. If we had good games, we would be playing them instead of looking up porn, well most of the time anyway.
Nick @ Jun 1st 2006 6:08PM
I watched this report on TV a while back. Fox 9 is the local Minneapolis/St Paul Fox affiliate and are know for sensationalizing and news story they get their hands on.
The week after they aired this story, they had another one that was title something like "Downtown MInneapolis at War" and took isolated events that happened over the course of a year and made them seem as if they were happening every single day.
I watch their stories to get a good laugh and then do the exact opposite of what they say not to do.
BenW @ Jun 1st 2006 6:13PM
Many parents assume the PSP is only used by their kids to play the games they buy. The article is newsworthy in alerting those parents that the PSP can also expose their kids to anything online.
What parents should take away is that many portable devices have the same risks as PCs.
Doug the Aquacell Guy @ Jun 1st 2006 6:14PM
So...he took a look at some other guy's girlfriend's white bits?
Dr. Perry Cox, from Scrubs and possibly one of the greatest television characters ever, summed it up perfectly. "If all of the porn was taken off the Internet, there would only be one site left, and it would say 'Bring back the porn!'"
Anyway, yeah. This is ridiculous. Jack Thompson, assemble!
Canadian Geese @ Jun 1st 2006 6:16PM
"Sony, the maker of the PSP, told us that parents should be responsible for monitoring the content their children are viewing."
Exactly! It's not the manufacturer who is to blame, but the user or the parents.
I remember a while back when some kids were caught putting bleach in super-soakers, and some idiot parent-group started a movement to illegalize super-soakers.
Give me a break.
If a kid beats someone over the head with a baseball bat, should we make the bat illegal?
I'll be willing to bet that those same parents go to church every Sunday, but I'll bet none of them ever blame the apple from the Garden of Eden.
Night Elve @ Jun 1st 2006 6:23PM
Man ¡¡¡¡ this is so true, the other day i was messing with my PSP listening some music, watching some trailers and suddenly a sexy and hot Jenna Jameson picture was displayed on my PSP.
Anyway this is how companies sell stories.
Of course there is more than one boy out there, watching porn in his PSP in the bathroom, so he can squirt the duck.
"Sony, the maker of the PSP, told us that parents should be responsible for monitoring the content their children are viewing."
That`s certainly right.
Cosmos @ Jun 1st 2006 6:26PM
Holy shit, I thought those quotes were just poking fun at the article, but they're actually in there. That's seriously scary.
Someone should make a horror movie about how the media industry works. If you thought zombies feeding on people's guts was terrifying, then take a look at Bill O'Reilly's face!
32_Footsteps @ Jun 1st 2006 6:27PM
You know, I wonder if the PSP would start selling better if they started calling it a Magic Porn Box.
This just proves the old adage - give something access to the Internet, and someone will put porn on it. I can't wait for the Internet-capable toaster. Partly because I want to see people bemoaning toaster porn, and partly because I can't wait for the Darwin Award winner who decides to get funky with the four-slice.
renaldo @ Jun 1st 2006 6:27PM
I make porn magically appear out of thin air onto my computer. And I don't need no stinking wireless access point.
scab @ Jun 1st 2006 6:29PM
ok this is a bit off topic but.....
is anyone else getting tired of playing mario and zelda games on the nintendo consoles not that there not good games
its just that nintendo hasnt had a new hit game in a while except RE4
they need to come out with some new killer games if they wanna bring in some new fanboys
DarkMavis @ Jun 1st 2006 6:30PM
I too live in the Twin Cities and can say with absolute certainty that Fox 9 News is the biggest joke in town. You're correct when you say they sensationalize their stories. For all of the folks who don't know how crappy Fox 9 News is, please dismiss anything they say. They're retarded.
cringer8 @ Jun 1st 2006 6:44PM
Porn is important for kids. The younger the better. Sure, looking at a diagram of a vulva in sex ed makes for a good roadmap, but it doesn't teach you what to DO with it once you're there. I think a lot of thirteen-year-old girls would really appreciate the boys their age learning a thing or two from a pro.
Join me in my campaign to make hardcore porn available in school libraries and on classroom computers! And until that day, keep your porn easily accessible, for your children's sake. They're going to have sex ONE day; help them be the BEST they can be.
Darrel @ Jun 1st 2006 6:44PM
Er, scab? What do you think Brain Age and Nintendogs were? Those were new ips and they sold heaps. Plus, they ARE making new games outside the mario, zelda and Metroid franchises (Excite Truck, Project Hammer, that "Disaster" game) and also new ip for the DS. And what do you think Phoenix Wright, Ouendan, and Trauma Centre were? Oh wait, they aren't "violent" silly me. :p
As for this news article, it's about as legit as that "DS used as pedophile magnet" report done a few months back. ie. It's full of sensasionalist garbage.
jon again @ Jun 1st 2006 6:47PM
"ok this is a bit off topic but.....
is anyone else getting tired of playing mario and zelda games"
A bit off topic? You're not even in the same solar system.
DarkMavis: The Fox affiliate here in Las Vegas is also the biggest joke in town. They did an in-depth investigation on the veracity of the 5-second rule.
DocR @ Jun 1st 2006 6:50PM
@Kip Porter
So slagging off the absolutely undeniably most biased 'news' corporation in the democratic world means I'm a communist. Actually no, it means I believe in the central tenets of democracy far more strongly than an ignorant little redneck like yourself can hope to comprehend!
Fox News: goose-stepping you all the way to fascism.
X-modem @ Jun 1st 2006 6:51PM
You think this is bad you should have seen their story about "The Videogame That Lets Kids Kill Cops" http://www.kmsp.com/news/story.asp?1652037
I had a fun time blogging about that one.
http://my.1up.com/do/blogEntry?publicUserId=5464605&bId=6554571
Fox 9 News = Senesationalist Bu!!$#!T.
Julian @ Jun 1st 2006 6:53PM
Warning!
People are using text to send porn.
(. y .) - Boobies
( ; ) - Butts
!!OMFG!!
EYgamer @ Jun 1st 2006 7:07PM
Talk about writing with an agenda...and I'm referring to the blogger. I'll admit the story from Fox 9 was sensationalist, but it explained the problem in terms its audience understands. Most upper middle-age to baby boomers don't know a thing about wireless. That also means this story would lead them to over-react and is thus, probably not responsible journalism. But the bloggers jump from the Fox 9 story to commenting on Fox News is sheer ignorance in the least and flagrant misrepresentation at the worst. Way to do the same thing with your article that you accuse Fox 9 of doing with its story. Sweet.
TC @ Jun 1st 2006 7:17PM
The media "inventing" stories that aren't really news? No way, man. Quick call CBS News - I'm sure they'd cover it. ;)
Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Jun 1st 2006 7:21PM
EYgamer, I think it's fair game for me to link this to Fox News considering that "Fox News" is written in bold type at the top of the page and that "Fox" is written in massive letters all along the left of the site.
Are you telling me that because this is a local news outlet that the corporation as a whole somehow has no responsibility for this crapfest? Please.
"the story from Fox 9 was sensationalist, but it explained the problem in terms its audience understands."
What the hell sort of audience is this targeted at? People from the stone age?! You have an extremely low idea of what people are like if you think using words like "magic", "from thin air" and "pornable" are explaining it in terms that people will understand. Talk about dumbing down!
Shore @ Jun 1st 2006 7:32PM
So wait...
You all clamor for parents to be more responsible with their childrens gaming...
Then a story comes on that lets parents know their kids can use the PSP to access porn, which will cause some parents to more closely monitor what their kids are doing...
And THAT'S bad too?
*scratches head*
They sensationalize the story to get ratings. All stations do that. The Simpson parody it with the classic "A brand of soda causes death... we'll tell you which one at 6!" Plus, they're giving useful information.
Stop thinking that ANYTHING negative related to video games is wrong. Please. You come off like crazy basement-dwelling fanboys. Which I realize some, but not all, of us are.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Jun 1st 2006 7:38PM
Conrad, you are flat-out wrong on this post. The Fox News channel had nothing to do with this. Your criticism of Fox News is certainly a valid one, but using this example to make it distorts reality.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Jun 1st 2006 7:48PM
Just realized my last post was a bit flip. Here's how it is:
Fox 9: Local Fox broadcast affiliate in Minneapolis. Broadcasts maybe an hour of news coverage a day, runs regular programming. Independently run at the local level.
Fox News: Cable TV 24-hour news network in New York. Nothing at all to do with Fox 9 other than having the same parent company and maybe providing the occasional national story reported from someplace that Fox 9 doesn't have the resources to cover.
(Given that this article quotes someone from the Elk River, MN, school district, near Minneapolis, I'm guessing this article didn't come from the New York folks.)
I realize that even though I work in the news media and know how this stuff works, nothing I say will convince people who believe there's some sort of vast, centrally planned news media conspiracy. However, your claim that Fox 9 is an investigative spin-off of Fox News is just plain false. And the documentation for this is pretty much irrefutable.
EYgamer @ Jun 1st 2006 7:51PM
Conrad, I admit it took me a few minutes to realize what you were talking about with "Fox News" being written at the top, but I finally realized your confusion with their logo. Take a look in their little add on the right. It's Fox 9, not Fox News. The logo at the top is for their news broadcast which would be in no way related to Fox News. I'll agree with Dirk that some of Fox News' reporting may be biased, but you totally kill your point by trying in error (appears accidental) to link the two. I happen to like Fox News myself so maybe I was a little more inclined to not link the two logos when I first read it.
I did admit in my initial post that the story was sensational so I didn't give the news station a pass on the reporting. The "magic" and "thin air" comments shouldn't have been used, but I think the "playstation pornable" is pretty clever at getting the point across. I don't care for the PSP though so that probably makes me sensational and biased too though, right?
Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Jun 1st 2006 7:58PM
I'm sorry but there IS a connection between Fox News corporation (which includes the cable channel) and this article. Merely by allowing this kind of crap to be written under their name, Fox News corporation has a degree of responsibility for it, even if it isn't directly controlling its creation.
Kip Porter @ Jun 1st 2006 8:02PM
"DocR" lol
Redneck and Fascist? You're wrong on both accounts.
I wonder how many stories this site has run about Hillary Clinton and Joe Liberman's anti-videogame crusades. This isn't really the best place for any of that type of talk though, you know, videogame site and all.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Jun 1st 2006 8:06PM
Dude, the logo isn't even the one from Fox News. It's the "Fox 9" logo with "news" written underneath it. A quick look at the rest of the Fox 9 site confirms this. Are you suggesting that Fox 9 not be allowed to call their news program "Fox 9 News" simply because there's a cable channel called "Fox News?" Go to www.foxnews.com ... It's not even the same logo.
Seriously, dude. Saying that Fox News is responsible for this in any way is like saying that they're responsible for or 20th Century Fox's movies, just because the movie house happens to have Fox in the name.
Jeez, man. This is still a great post. That Fox 9 article is ridiculous. But you've got a huge factual error in it, and instead of acknowledging it and thanking those of us who are trying to improve Joystiq, you're wrong-headedly standing up on this huge, "No, I'm right!" soapbox. We point the error out b/c we care about the site and its accuracy, not because we're out to make you look dumb. Stop being so defensive and look at the facts.
Scott @ Jun 1st 2006 8:07PM
Conrad, no offense, but you have no clue on how the relationships between local affiliates and national affiliates work. And apparently neither does the the original poster of this story since he originally called them an "investigative arm" of FoxNews.
CV_Otaku @ Jun 1st 2006 8:11PM
"I'm sorry but there IS a connection between Fox News corporation (which includes the cable channel) and this article. Merely by allowing this kind of crap to be written under their name, Fox News corporation has a degree of responsibility for it, even if it isn't directly controlling its creation." - Conrad Quilty-Harper
With all due respect, you are not correct. As a previous poster mentioned, if all stories went up the corporate flagpole, there'd be no time to do anything.
The fact of the matter is...other than the name, the network has absolutely NOTHING to do with the affiliate. How do I know this? I work for an ABC affiliate.
It has the ABC logo everywhere and we are called an ABC station, but my news director is the one who assigns stories and tells me what angle to take it from. He doesn't go to ABC to find out what assignments he should give us. He decides. The only itneraction we have with ABC, is sometimes they want some of our footage for the national wire. That's it. We don't get weekly phone calls from them. They don't care what we cover.
No interaction.
Belcho @ Jun 1st 2006 8:12PM
Sorry dude, but this article is not related to the Fox News cable channel. The only thing they share is the word Fox. Any bad or biased reporting is purely coincidental. I myself don't like the Fox News channel and this story is very sensationalized, but they are not related. This is just the case of some local affiliate trying to stir shit up. I applaud them for trying to bring this to some ill-informed parents attention, but it was done all wrong.
drnoi @ Jun 1st 2006 8:16PM
WMDs? Fox news? republicans? bush? wtf dude. stick to game topics.
Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Jun 1st 2006 8:20PM
Fox 9 is part of KMSP-TV, a station which is currently owned and operated by Fox Television Stations Group which is in turn owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company (which also owns Fox News on Cable).
Like it or not buddies, Fox News and Fox 9 (and therefore this bullshit article) are both products of the same corporation. I think you two owe me an apology.
http://www.kmsp.com/legal/privacypolicy.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KMSP-TV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Television_Stations_Group