As it’s Mental Health Awareness Week, Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco pens some honest thoughts about one of the challenges of being a journalist and how it’s affected him
Hi everyone, hope you’re all safe and well in these uncertain times.
This post won’t affect most of you, but I want to address something that’s come up a few times at Esports News UK (nothing to do with my day-job at the British Esports Association) and has affected my mental health.
This doesn’t happen with the vast majority of articles we run, but for the very small percentage of more negative or serious stories we publish, I have on rare occasions in the past, been treated (in my opinion) unfairly and I’d like to speak about this.
It’s been on my mind for a while. I actually wrote most of this article some time ago and was waiting for the right time to post it. Does this feel like the right time now? No, not really, but sod it, I’m going to publish it anyway!
Please note this is not about one situation in particular, rather a build up of several over the years and a general observation I had that I wanted to talk about. I also thought it’d be good to have a point of reference, something to link to should this happen again in the future.
I have at times been vilified for reporting the news and obviously don’t appreciate any attacks or threats made towards me for doing so. It’s clearly not a nice feeling!
My role is to report on UK esports developments the team and I deem worthy of coverage, that includes opinion pieces, news, match reports, interviews and more. That sometimes includes things that people may not want published, and I completely get that no one wants negative coverage written about them, or a friend, or something else that may affect them.
Unfortunately, journalism doesn’t just include the positive news, the tournament wins, the epic plays, the big partnership or investment announcements or zero-to-hero stories, it also should reflect what’s happening overall, that at times includes more negative stories, like player bans or orgs going under, unprofessional behaviour and so on.
It should also tackle other difficult issues, so we can explore them, and maybe try to create a better ecosystem for everyone in the long run.
There is an old saying that goes something like: ‘News is what somebody doesn’t want printed. The rest is advertising.’
There are some things that I really don’t enjoy writing about, believe me. I write about these things to highlight them, so we can learn from them, to map a history of UK League of Legends and esports, to cover what’s important.
I genuinely love writing about UK teams winning and doing well, but I can’t only write about that and ignore everything else. That would be unethical and improper of me, and a failure on my part by ignoring the truth. You don’t only get articles when you win a tournament or do something else that generates positive coverage for you, that’s not how journalism works.
“If you’re ever annoyed with me in the future, try to be understanding of my role, I’m there for the good and the bad. Believe me, I want to report on more good news, and less bad, but let’s be real, this is esports, not super happy magic land. Shit happens.”
On that note, trying to prevent me from covering the news will not work, so please, save yourself the bother.
I don’t tolerate being bullied, attacked, threatened in any way (this includes threatening me with legal action, intent to harm, damage my reputation or anything else), or coerced into not covering something by anyone who tries to bend the truth or uses personal reasons as a shield.
I’ve had this happen even when I’m just lifting things off social media and writing about it, adding context and following up on it, and so on. That information is already public.
Some of this stuff has really affected me, I won’t lie, I’ve had sleepless nights, anxiety, you name it. And I’m not trying to play the victim here, not at all. I’m sure there are many people out there in worse situations than me and I feel for them. I’m just trying to be open and honest.
My work on Esports News UK is not personal (though I understand opinion pieces can sometimes be taken personally, but the responses I’ve had from some people that influenced this post have not been around opinion pieces anyway). I’m a messenger and I do my best to be objective, impartial and fair at all times.
If I’ve got something wrong, please, by all means correct me. I always want to be accurate and sometimes us journos make mistakes! You’ll find I am quick to amend any errors and happy to republish and make clear when I get something wrong. That’s not what this post is about.
Being blacklisted can happen, and again I understand if an org, brand or person doesn’t like what I do and doesn’t want me to write about them. That’s their right to not speak to me.
Just know that blacklisting or ghosting me will not prevent me from writing about something, especially if it’s in the interest of the UK scene. I’m lucky enough to have some good friends in UK esports and can quickly get to the bottom of something if I dig for it, with or without someone’s blessing.
Other people have criticised the lack of time I have for Esports News UK. Yes, sometimes I report on things a few days after they’ve happened. In an ideal world, of course I would like to write up important news straight away, unfortunately this site is run in my (extremely limited) spare time, I basically have two jobs and three young children. So sometimes I have a piece on my list of things to do and it doesn’t get done right away. Sometimes I miss news entirely. I can only apologise for that, I do my best.
Then there’s the argument some have that I should only be allowed to cover the news if I’m running the site full-time and making a proper living from it. What revenues I make from Esports News UK (not enough to live on) has nothing to do with what I can and can’t report on.
Some of the comments I’ve received for doing this job have been rude, nasty or threatening and I want to make it clear I don’t tolerate nonsense, never have, so save yourself the trouble!
Like I say, this post won’t affect most of you, but I just wanted to be open and honest and put this out there to help clear my head.
TLDR
Please think before trying to threaten, attack or manipulate me in an attempt to dissuade me from covering news. It doesn’t work and it just ends up causing more strife and a waste of everyone’s time!
If you’re ever annoyed with me in the future, try to be understanding of my role, I’m there for the good and the bad. Believe me, I want to report on more good news, and less bad, but let’s be real, this is esports, not super happy magic land. Shit happens.
Thank you for reading <3
Dom
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week this week. Here are some relevant links:
- Let’s talk about mental health in esports
- Safe In Our World launches hub to help gamers manage stress, cope with isolation and learn relaxation and exercise techniques
- Mental Health Foundation
- MIND
- NHS – mental health and wellbeing
- Samaritans
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
