Made up news network MNN has launched a scathing attack on
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, claiming the Xbox 360 and PS3 title "is
training our journalists to be lazy."

During a web news post entitled "Grand Press Repetition" writer
Andrew Rackstraw said journalists commenting on the game will learn how
to make money the easy way by repeating the same articles other
journalists churned out for the past Grand Theft Auto titles. "It used
to take many years and extensive studying to develop the skills
necessary to write a news article. Today, hot topics and copy and paste
are giving young journalists the same thing, with none of the real
skill."

The MNN report, which you're reading right now, further slams the
game's press reaction, with Rackstraw claiming: "When writing about
Grand Theft Auto, journalists can take a potentially semi-valid point,
abuse it and then beat it to death with a lack of research or
understanding of the subject matter."

"When people call them up on their lack of research, journalists can
either use the hot topic of 'the children' or cut straight to the bone
of the matter and make wild accusations about how media is the sole
cause of crime today - this is journalism?"

By complete coincidence, this revelation appears on the back of
Grand Theft Auto IV's wild chart success, just as millions worldwide
are likely to be looking for information and news on the game. But it
would be lazy and irresponsible of this journalist to suggest that the
articles in question were capitalising on that success to maximise
their own exposure.

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(Many thanks to DigitalSpy's David Gibbon for providing the template
for this article. For his article on the CNN report which inspired all
this, please click here. And, of course, thanks to Rockstar for creating such a great, violent, evil game.)