> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.verticalslice.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Do you want Vertical Slice to report on a pressing issue? Here's how you can help. - URL: https://www.verticalslice.news/do-you-want-vertical-slice-to-report-on-a-pressing-issue-heres-how-you-can-help/ - Published: 2026-10-14T11:22:15.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-14T11:22:15.000Z - Description: Fearless reporting does not happen in isolation. - Author: Chris Kerr - Tags: News, #vertical-slice A few weeks ago I melted into my couch to watch [The Inventor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtDaP18OGfw&ref=verticalslice.news), a diabolically compelling HBO doc about Theranos founder and now convicted criminal Elizabeth Holmes. Of late, Holmes has become better known as the subject of Nathan Fielder's upcoming documentary, [You Can See Everything](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvW%5FN5p1q44&ref=verticalslice.news). Specifically, for spawning a meme by staring Fielder down with the intensity of a thousand suns in response to a single question: "are you being real right now?" [Unnerving doesn't cover it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGJSRFWALTI&ref=verticalslice.news) Before she became cannon fodder for internet japers, Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for [defrauding Theranos investors of hundreds of millions of dollars](https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/elizabeth-holmes-sentenced-more-11-years-defrauding-theranos-investors-hundreds?ref=verticalslice.news) by claiming her "revolutionary" finger-prick blood analyser could perform the same tests as conventional labs without the need for an intravenous sample. She said Theranos' tech was better, faster, cheaper, and more accurate than its competitors. It wasn't. Customers who trusted Holmes to deliver on her seemingly impossible promise were placed at serious risk. [A Wall Street Journal report](https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901?ref=verticalslice.news) published in 2015 (the one that kickstarted this whole fiesta) accused the company of failing to report test results that raised questions "about the precision" of its tech. When tested by Theranos, patient blood samples produced alarming results due to internal practices such as sample dilution, only to be read as normal by other labs. "Some of the potassium results at Theranos were so high that patients would have to be dead for the results to be correct, according to one former employee," reads the WSJ report, published long before Holmes was convicted in 2022\. How does all of this relate to Vertical Slice, a new trade publication about the video game industry and the people who make it tick? I'm getting there, I swear. The Wall Street Journal was only able to report on what became a national scandal because of the Theranos employees who spoke out. Many of them are rightly championed in The Inventor, and explain how they felt compelled to speak out to protect Theranos customers despite exposing themselves to huge personal risk. Theranos was extremely litigious and attempted to bully them—and the Wall Street Journal—into submission. Much like the company's machines, it did not work. That is what true, public interest journalism often looks like. Brave reporters willing to chase down stories that corporations want buried—and even braver sources willing to speak out to fight injustice. I know it might seem a little excessive to compare labour-led video game reporting to blowing the lid on corporate fraud and conspiracy on a national scale, but good, quality journalism can change lives for the better. No matter where it takes place. For instance, my previous investigations and reporting have [exposed systemic abuse at Ubisoft](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/new-allegations-show-the-cycle-of-abuse-and-misconduct-runs-deep-at-ubisoft?ref=verticalslice.news), [widespread miscrediting at Nintendo](https://archive.ph/b3Lwk?ref=verticalslice.news), [the debilitating human cost of mass layoffs at Microsoft](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/-good-work-is-not-going-to-save-your-job-at-this-company-laid-off-xbox-devs-condemn-microsoft?ref=verticalslice.news), [the hiring of a known sex offender at engine maker Unity](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/unity-senior-client-partner-rod-stafford-jailed-for-sexual-offences?ref=verticalslice.news), [and the undercurrent of anxiety that follows a buyout at the hands of the Saudi state and Donald Trump's son-in-law](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ea-workers-trapped-in-a-maelstrom-of-uncertainty-after-saudi-deal?ref=verticalslice.news). The game industry has no shortage corporations trying to downplay the truth or executives being thrust onto pedestals by marketing teams paid to enhance the profile of their bosses (often with help from reporters who seemingly forget how to ask questions after securing access). I don't really want to pick on anybody in particular, but [this recent New York Times profile on Asha Sharma](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/arts/xbox-microsoft-asha-sharma.html?ref=verticalslice.news)—which only mentions the ongoing Xbox layoffs twice—is still embedded in my neocortex for The Bad Reasons. All of that is to say, if you ever wish to share information confidentially or have a news tip you feel would enable us to report on a pressing issue, I want to hear it. Journalism must hold power to account and unearth wrongdoing, otherwise it risks becoming utterly toothless. [Vertical Slice has more information on how to reach out securely right here](https://www.verticalslice.news/news-tips/). Alternatively, I'm always checking my messages on Signal (**kerrblimey.43**) if that's your preference. If my decade-plus experience reporting on this industry has taught me one thing, it's that positive change requires courage and conviction. It is, however, always possible. Do not let anyone convince you otherwise.