The fourth estate in the third dimension: the image of the news media and the photojournalist in video games

Unrestricted The goal of this discussion is to examine the techniques, styles, designs and narrative devices that video games employ -- specifically games featuring in-game news media and journalists as their heroes -- so that we might have a clearer understanding of how video games are shaping the image of the journalist in popular culture. In a time in history when the credibility of the news media is threatened regularly, and in a time when rapidly changing technologies, such as next-generation video games, are allowing audiences to experience stories in new ways, the potential for a drastic shift in the image of the journalist by way of video games is more possible than ever. This discussion will examine how developers weave fictional news media -- specifically in the form of television, radio and internet news -- into the fabrics of video game narratives to create more believable and more complex game worlds and to demonstrate the necessity for, and the societal implications of, the news media in popular culture.