Tiger scolds media in apology

That said, I don't think Tiger (or whatever athlete) being a ho is newsworthy in and of itself.

It takes a spark -- like crashing your Caddy at 2:30 a.m., a National Enquirer report and skeletons creeping from your closet -- to light that newsflash.

 

Amidst all the hand-wringing over role of media in this story, yes or no, more or less, us or them, why or why not....just take a moment to reflect on this ground-breaking piece by the Chief Investigative Reporter for The Daily Beast, in which he makes the stunning revelation that sometimes hot women show up at PGA events looking to meet golfers.

It's too easy to take shots at this kind of gunk, but I post it here to underscore my deep hope that we never get to the point where traditional media is compelled to compete with this kind of 'reporting' in order to stay relevant and mainstream.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-12-04/the-secret-world-of-golf-groupies/?cid=bs:archive1

 

I live this part though, 21:

I guess we know how Fluff really got his name now.

 

That site called Ana Ivanovica (sic) one of Golf's Sexiest WAGs (had to look up what a WAG is).

 

I don't want to look it up (lazy mainstreamer that I am).

Share your findings.

 

21, "WAG's" stands for "Wives and Girlfriends." It's an acronym that has its origins in the British lad mags and tabloids. As in, "Hot WAGs cause a stir at England Cup practice," and such.

 

I know...every time I see his surgically enhanced face i want to kick the TV.

To me, this is the stuff that should drive home the reality that 'media' isn't one thing. They do one thing, that crew does another thing, we do this thing. Everyone does not have to do the same thing. I don't want to be stalking Elin's manicurist's sister to find out if Elin ever talked about her sex life, so I can write those golden words, 'According to sources....'

WAGs....hmm, ok. I was going somewhere much uglier. 8)

 

Of course all of us don't do the same thing. Folks should specify sub-goups when discussing "the media:"

Mainstream Media (newspapers, broadcast TV networks)
New Media (blogs, online Web sites that follow mainstream principles)
Talk Media (radio gabbers, often "angry")
Tabloid Media (looser standards and more sensational than mainstream)
Sleazoid Media (anything goes)

Am I missing anything?

 

There is a subset of right-wing media (some papers, TV network, websites) and I guess a less popular subset of left-wing media (thought the right wing would say that's all the mainstream media).

 

21 wrote about the Daily Beast. Well, here's a story from what is supposed to be a slightly more reputable outlet:

NEW YORK (AP) -The daughter of high-profile attorney Gloria Allred says that when her mother canceled a news conference with one of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses that could mean only one thing - she made a deal with the Woods camp.
Lisa Bloom is Allred's daughter and a legal analyst for CBS. She said Friday on "The Early Show" that she worked with her mom for nine years and has never known her to cancel a news conference. Bloom says that can only mean a confidential settlement was struck.
Bloom estimated that such a settlement would be "at least a million dollars."
Allred is the attorney for Rachel Uchitel, who has been romantically linked to the world's top golfer. Uchitel denied having an affair with Wood when contacted by The Associated Press last week.

---

To summarize: Gloria Alred's daughter -- not her -- says her mother never cancels news conferences, ergo there MUST have been a payoff. And she has a dollar figure: At least a million dollars.

It's one thing for the Daily Beast to write this trash. Now we have AP doing it, based on a guest on a morning talk/news show. And adjusting yesterday's news story about the canceled press conference accordingly.


By the way, TMZ, which has been right about a lot of this, says there WAS no payoff.

You can say what you want about all the other outlets writing about this. We should be able to expect more from AP.