One of the hardest, and arguably most important, parts of being any kind of journalist is being objective. Each day we may see something that speaks to us a bit more personally than most and we may want to say something regarding it in that light. We have a responsibility as journalists to suppress that need and make sure to provide an unbiased opinion on things so as not to color that opinion with feelings and emotions.
One of the best examples I've ever seen of this is how Giant Bomb is treating coverage of Bastion. The four men who make up the core team over there are very good friends with Greg Kasavin, one of the leading men on Bastion. They managed to get him to convince others in his company to bring the game over during development and show the process in making a game with a smaller studio. Over five installments, viewers got to see a much more in-depth look at game development than they have probably ever seen.
Tomorrow, Bastion comes out. Giant Bomb has decided (they even said this back when they started this whole thing) not to run a review. Why would they choose not to, you may ask? They feel that their closeness to the product would only color opinions of the game and hurt their objectivity. This is a level of responsibility I rarely see from game journalists and I really appreciate their decision. Even if everyone else's opinion of the final product matches their own, they don't feel comfortable writing a review.
Objectivity is something game journalists have to fight each day. Someone who plays mostly mature games on their own time may feel an E-rated game is boring and beneath them, focusing on that instead of the actual quality of the product. Or a journalist may have a friend who works on a game and come review time, give the game a better score because they feel obligated. It is the mark of a true journalist when they are able to push their fears and objectivity aside and write something that speaks to the truth of the matter.
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