ShareMatt Berkey has slammed PokerNews for promoting accused cheaters Bryn Kenney, Jake Schindler, and Ali Imsirovic during the 2022 WSOP. The American accused the journalism team of unfairly “shadow-banning” PokerBunny, a regular on Live at the Bike and Hustler Casino Live, while still featuring the accused heavily in its write-ups.
Deserved Criticism?
Journalists from the PokerNews team were quick to respond, saying this is an unfair accusation.Connor Richards, an editor and live reporter, tweeted the following: “Equating coverage of Pokerbunny to coverage of high-profile accused cheats running deep in the Main is absolutely bonkers, man. It’s almost as if one of these 2 things is inherently newsworthy and notable. Criticize our coverage if you want, but this analogy is nonsensical.”
Berkey followed up by saying it was a conscious effort to avoid covering PokerBunny, “spitting in the face of the community.”
A bit harsh to say the least.
So should anyone accused of cheating at poker be excluded from tournament write-ups in the future?
The problem with the three names mentioned above is that they are truly high-profile figures in the game and feature frequently in the biggest tournaments on the calendar. Whatever their reputation in the game, people will still be interested in following their progress whether it’s to hope they fail or otherwise.
Ben Cundall, Senior Commercial Manager at PokerNews, said: “Nobody is shadow banned from @PokerNews and whilst alleged cheaters run deep in the biggest tournaments in the world they’re obviously going to get into the updates until they’re banned.“
As for ignoring PokerBunny, the responses were more than forthright in explaining why she might not be deserving herself.
Chad Holloway, PokerNews Executive Editor USA, explained that if she is seen in an interesting hand it will be reported but her reputation for being unprofessional towards reporters in the past over a lack of coverage is probably working against her.
She is also a cash game player without much of a tournament record so there isn’t any special reason to give her any focus over other lesser known players.
Poker Bunny replied to Chad Holloway claiming that they had never met in real life but he responded by telling her that he was forced to call security at the 2021 WSOP after she became disruptive and rude towards him during a high roller event.
“We spoke at the WSOP last year. I had to call security on you after you refused to engage in a civil conversation, instead opting to escalate and causing a disruption of the high roller event that was next to where we were talking. You then ran away before security arrived.”
The final salvo fired at PokerNews came from Joey Ingram who accused it of being selective in its reporting, preferring to stick to the narrative of its investors.
“I spent the first half of my career thinking they were the news of poker until I learned more how the media industry works! They are the news their investors and customers want people to believe is the news (standard for most media outlets) I think they provide a nice service.”
