IGN repost deleted post on Palestinian aid after controversy

After a battle of several months between IGN editorial staff and management, an article on how to contribute to Palestinian aid groups that had previously been deleted has finally been republished, but with some modifications.

A long note attached to the top of the post in the name of the IGN The editorial team describes part of the process that explains why it was originally deleted and how it was restored. It also announces a revised policy on article corrections, updates and deletions, and indicates that “more formal processes” have been put in place to ensure that editorial management is involved in publishing and editing. occasional revisions of articles on “sensitive topics”.

“A IGN the employee council, with the advice of a third-party ombudsman, and management agree that the position needed adjustments to be more respectful of the culture of potential reading of our staff and our audience, ” we read in part of the note. “We regret the posting error without these adjustments and recognize that our processes failed us. We also agree that instead of deleting the post, we should have updated it. “

IGN, one of the world’s largest gaming and entertainment news sites, originally published on May 14 during the so last wave of violence resulting from the continued occupation of Palestine by Israel. The article, which shared links to charities that interested readers could donate to, was followed by calls to action on other gaming sites. including GameSpot, Game Informer (since deleted), and Here has Kotaku.

On May 16, following a Instagram post now deleted of IGN Israel condemning the IGN US story, IGN withdrew their fundraising story, as well as the tweet promoting it.

May 17, IGN posted a statement on Twitter, allegedly on behalf of everyone in the company, saying, “By highlighting just one population, the post mistakenly left the impression that we were politically aligned with one side. This was not our intention and we sincerely regret the error.

According to Vice, this led to a meeting later that day in which “pissed off” editorial staff confronted management about the article’s deletion and issued a statement on their behalf, apparently without there, consult them on this.

The blatant violation of editorial independence ultimately led the members of IGN editorial publish an open letter to Medium, signed by more than 60 staff, criticizing management for its interference and calling for the restoration of the fundraising post in Palestine and a bare-handed meeting to discuss what had happened. Less than two weeks later, Peer Schneider, IGN responsible for content and co-founder of the site, sent a note to staff would have taken full responsibility for the elimination of the post and saying it was “a failure of the editorial team’s process to get the post online in the first place.”

The new published version of the article makes several changes, including removing the very first word from the original version, who was “Palestinian”. The beginning now reads: “Civilians are currently suffering in large numbers in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. He also now cites 12 Israeli dead in addition to the 230 in Gaza. The title of the message changed from “How to help Palestine” to “A resolution and a new IGN Policies ”, although the URL still contains the original title.

It is still unclear why this was a “failure of the editorial team process” to get the post published in the first place or why it took three months for it to be restored. IGN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Going forward, the company’s updated takedown policy says it will only delete messages in “very rare cases” and even then all deleted messages will be replaced with a note from the publisher explaining that the content has been removed and providing a reason why where permitted by law. do it. The policy also reaffirms IGN editorial autonomy, asserting that content decisions “are made solely by our editorial team and our coverage is not influenced by external sources or financial considerations.”