Newspaper offers cash for anti-games story

In one of the more unbelievable media twists to come in the aftermath of last week’s Byron Review, a national newspaper is offering readers ‘hundreds of pounds’ to confess that games pushed them into a life of crime.

An advert encouraging readers to ‘pitch’ their story to the newspaper has appeared on an ‘online talent community’ – which promotes opportunities for aspiring actors and models to raise their profile.

It reads:

‘A national newspaper wants your story and will pay hundreds of pounds to the right person.

‘Write a few lines about how computer games turned you to crime and if it’s something we like, we’ll call you straight back.’

The attempt to secure an anti-games story with cash is one of the more worrying moves by the national press in the wake of the Byron Review.

Dr Byron has told MCV that national newspaper reports published the morning of the report misrepresented her recommendations.

The news comes after former morning TV presenter Anne Diamond appeared in a Daily Mail article last week, discussing the ‘chilling’ dangers of titles such as Resident Evil 4 and Scarface: The World Is Yours.