Forum - View topicSurvey: Should ANN Review its own Simulcasts?
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chefneer
 Posts: 1686 Location: Fort Worth, Texas |
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I don't think I would have any particular issue with it. Most of ANN's reviewers are journalists who write reviews for other publications, not just ANN, and I don't think they would have difficulty maintaining an independant point of view. Zac has stated in the past that he doesn't interfere with reviewer's work and, considering the overall high quality of reporting on this site, I'm inclined to believe him. ANN has this thing called 'credibility' and if they made a habit of influencing reviews they would lose that credibility pretty quickly. There may certainly be a perception of a potential conflict of interest, but from my point of view it should not be a major concern.
As far as reviewer's not conforming to particular lines of thought; I have no expectation of agreeing with everything every reviewer says every time they say say it. Reviewers are people with points of view that may not entirely match mine. That does not make their reviews worthless nor does it make them wrong. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10454 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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This is our biggest problem. We're concerned about people feeling this way. Way I look at it though, as long as there is an acceptable separation between the reviewer and the department involved in the licensing, it should, be okay right ? After all, most of the high-level professional critics out there ultimately work for the same corporations that publish the movies they review. Look at At the Movies (Siskel & Ebert, Ebert & Roeiper, etc...). It was produced by Disney-ABC. That never stopped them from reviewing Disney movies. -t Last edited by Tempest on Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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My answer, yes and not sure.
To be honest if you disclaimer everything, and do so from the beginning then I have no problem with it. Just tell everyone, "hey we cast this, we make a little money when you watch, we have a review and we told that person to be honest". From the start. To be honest you shouldn't have much trouble. You cast a lot of crap, and you have a lot of good shows. It should even-out just like every other show that isn't on the site. Last edited by Dargonxtc on Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:30 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Tempest
I Run this place. ANN Publisher Posts: 10454 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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I'm in charge, and I won't be firing Zac anytime soon (provided he continues to do his job the same way he's been doing it). This topic is completely off topic here. The survey in quesiont deals with perceived conflict of interest, not the quality of our reviews. That topic (quality of our reviews) has been covered to death a million times, but if you really want to bring it up again, go ahead and bring it up in the feedback forum. But please first read the existing threads on the topic, I don't want to repeat myself over-and-over again, so if you say things that elicit the exact same answer as previous comments, I'll link to the previous answers and lock the discussion. -t |
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lostinagoodbook
 Posts: 114 |
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You're right, I get what you're saying. I guess I will clarify what I meant. I do trust them to say what they feel. However, what I may not trust is what is informing the critics opinion of an art form. Maybe I'm just being cynical. Example: Does Roger Ebert love movie "A" because... ... he has a friendship with someone involved in the making of the film? ... he has an inordinate love for puppies of which movie A has a plethora? ... it isn't in 3D? (which is fast becoming a rule breaker for me but that's another post) ... he really respects the filmmaker and believes the movie is well made? I trust his review to be informed by answer 4 but if I'm wrong and it happens to be 1 or 2 it's not going to kill me when I find out I hate the movie. I don't expect reviewers to be soulless automatons. They are informed by their personal experience to some degree but does that mean we thrown the baby out with the bathwater? But those are things that I take for granted with every review I read. So I guess my problem was with the wording of the survey. I picked 100% but it's probably more like 80. 
That being said, will the perception that simulcasts are receiving biased reviews hurt ANN's reputation in some way that I'm not aware of? Maybe it's one of those instances where you say "If in doubt, do without". |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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That's generally how Entertainment Weekly does it. They're owned by Time Warner Inc. and every time they review a Warner Bros. movie they include [this publication is owned by Time Warner Inc] somewhere in the text. There is no executive demanding that Owen Gleiberman give Harry Potter and the Seventeenth Sequel an A, but they disclose it just to be sure the reader knows what's up.
Phew! |
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lostinagoodbook
Posts: 114 |
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This gives me confidence in ANN's approach to reviewing their shows. |
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Yorozuya
Posts: 332 |
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I think its unprofessional of you guys to even consider reviewing this if I'm honest. I don't agree with you reviewing this at all.
But at the same I wont cry buckets of tears if you do decide to review it since it doesn't really look that great to begin with. Last edited by Yorozuya on Mon Oct 04, 2010 2:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Tempest
I Run this place. ANN Publisher Posts: 10454 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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That's exactly what I'm trying to determine. I know that ANN Management won't interfere with the reviews. What I don't know is if readers will trust that to be true. So even if we're 100% ethical in our handling of this situation, it's possible that it could still hurt our reputation. Right now I'm leaning towards allowing the reviews. -t |
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ittoujuu
Posts: 164 Location: SoCal |
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If this were most other websites, I would be more wary of the potential conflict of interest infringing on open, unbiased reviews. It's definitely a case where it's worth being skeptical. However, ANN has some very well-spoken reviewers - where I agree with them, I find their words to be indicative of what I felt, and even where I disagree, I can usually understand where they're coming from.
If Theron or Carlo or Carl were to turn in a glowing review for a property that really didn't deserve it, I think it would stick out rather easily because they're typically so honest and frank. Recently, I read ANN's review of eps. 1-7 of Mitsudomoe. I was expecting the review to be negative (after all, there's a lot in the show that could be spun negatively), but the review turned out much more positively than I was expecting, but also made sure to note things like "where the comedy may go too far" or "what were the particularly-inspired jokes," as well as more general discussion of the merits and shortcomings of the show - who would be prone to like it, and what kinds of viewers may be better off skipping it. If ANN can give a Mitsudomoe stream an even-handed review, I have pretty good faith that they're going to say what they want to say, regardless of marketing pressure or general public opinion, and I'm glad it's that way. That's why I read ANN's reviews. Last edited by ittoujuu on Mon Oct 04, 2010 2:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6221 Location: Houston, TX |
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While it is the right thing to do, I don't see anything good coming out of reviewing this show. If it's a positive review, people will say it's biased, and if it's a negative review it reflects badly on ANN for picking it up. It's pretty much a lose-lose situation.
Last edited by v1cious on Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mad_Scientist
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 3013 |
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You do realize that though Oreimo is the only simulcast announced, it won't be the only simulcast ANN will eventually have? This decision will affect far more than that show. And it almost sounds like your issue is less with ANN reviewing something they simulcast and more with them reviewing that specific show. Could you clarify?
See what I wrote above, this isn't just Oreimo we're talking about, even if it's the only simulcast they have right now. Last edited by Mad_Scientist on Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24092 |
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Hmm, interesting. I wonder how companies that license shows to ANN will react if one of their shows gets savaged in an ANN review? I wonder how other companies who allow their licensed shows to be broadcast on ANN will react when an ANN licensed show gets a good review and one of their shows doesn't? Again, I don't think for a second an ANN reviewer would be instructed what to write, nor write what he or she thinks is "expected" of him of her, but I can see this situation complicating some of ANN's relationships. Eh, time will tell, I guess.
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Tempest
I Run this place. ANN Publisher Posts: 10454 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Yes, this is another issue we have to deal with. Chris |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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If you were just reading the one review and there wasn't access to the archived reviews, I could understand this. However, if the reviewer has a history of being balanced regardless who signs their paycheck, this trumps the "conflict of interest". Years ago, I was offered a free subscription to Nintendo Power and was shocked to see how many of the reviewers, working for Nintendo, slammed their own products.
This remark stood out for me for two reasons: 1) The news alone puts "eyeballs to the streams" and no review is going to change this now. Those who saw the news already have their calendar set. As for those "on the fence" brings me to... 2) No conflict of interest. ANN isn't producing the anime, they're just a portal. Reviewing the series (either bad or good) means nothing because any ad revenue was already established before the announcement. The current catalog backs this up. As for the survey, I just answered it in favor of the review which I'll probably read given I won't be watching the simulcast. Several users have already discussed the series and my curiosity is piqued enough to keep it on my radar for a later stream when I'm ready for them. |
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