Does games journalism do gamers a disservice?

At the time of writing, Kotaku declares that they have made 42 posts in the past 24 hours (which one would assume includes much of Sunday evening as well as Monday) and N4G has had (in a entirely guesstimated count) over 60 articles published (based on 2 1/2 pages of posts working on 25 articles per page). There is no way to get around this, that is a lot of news. However, I am increasingly dismayed at the calibre of games journalism and frankly what exactly qualifies as being news. I mean really, does this much stuff actually happen which needs to be reported?

Lets look at some of the apparently essential information that these 2 website have published in the past day. N4G brings us the essential news that some random bloke has YouTubed some videos of himself playing Daft Punk (that dance/techno band who released a song you kinda liked about 6 years ago with astronauts in the video) songs on a Nintendo DS. Interesting yes but news worthy? Kotaku brings us the essential update we all needed on a list of the top 9 most uncomfortable outfits in gaming (linked to GamesRadar and its never ending treasure trove of dull lists but Kotaku did obviously think it was interesting enough to link to and write a story around).

I know you may be thinking I am a grumpy arse (even writing ass sounds wrong with a British accent) and you are right. I understand that these stories are little more than light hearted stories; if N4G were a network news TV show then DaftPunk would be the 'and finally' story, equivelant to a cow on the motorway. However,so much of what we call news in gaming circles is really little more than tabloid tittle tattle and a never ending game of Chinese whispers (sorry if I offend, I have no idea of the P.C way of talking about Chinese whispers, maybe sub in another country like Slovakian whispers or Bolivian whispers to avoid offence).

The problem as I see it is that game news providers work from a position that all games news is created equal. Is the Guardian newspapers interview with Peter Moore really of the same calibre as some bint fannying about with a Nintendo DS? All news is not equal and to pretend it is suffocates the real news. News is an event or an opinion from a well known and respected individual. Frankly this is all to rare, does anthing truly happen in the games industry every day?

I understand that sites and blogs need to keep people coming back to them every day or more than that (I need not comment on Gawker Media) but does this need to stuff and fill to make a living lead to a low almost tabloid level of journalism? Should the interview with Peter Moore really have been treated the same as the guy with a DS? Should it really have been shuffled down the list of posts below more recent posts about costumes or should it have been treated differently given its status as actual news worthy media?

This is of course all opinion, my opinion in fact.However, what I know is that when I want to read sensationalism, rumour and hype with a little genuine news here and there in a newspaper then I buy The Sun but if I want real news, hard hitting journalism and well reasoned arguement and opinion then I buy The Times or The Guardian. There are lots of game sites who publish on the level of The Sun but for games journalism to really be a worthy of respect then someone needs to take the high ground and become a little more Guardian esque.

Where is gamings Polly Toynbee? It's certainly not Brian Crecente!