>>8
I actually have the opposite view. I think games journalists are mostly those who come from an academic background (recent graduates who studied, like, journalism or something). Although I'm focusing mostly on reviews here - I tend to ignore gaming news.
I like to compare them to independent games reviewers like Matthewmatosis, Sseth or TheGamingBrit. They may not be professional journalists, but they're passionate about games and make an effort to understanding what makes them good/bad.
In one important way the independent reviewers are more trustworthy, since they often buy the game and play it through to the end while the journalists receive the game for free and play it for an hour or two at most.
You often get the sense the journalists don't play games much or even like to play them.