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Tiger Woods in Car Accident

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by taller hack, Nov 27, 2009.

  1. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    I was thinking about your comments, 21, specifically this one:

    "bigtime reporters are getting beat by 23 year old TMZers. Not sure how you would resolve this; it surely is not as simple as 'don't be so fucking lazy.'"

    In a lot of ways, yes it is. The ONE exception: Money. TMZ/US/People pay their sources. Alot of us can't compete with that, or are unwilling to. There is something very fair and right about that. I would have no problem -- none at all -- if someone wrote, "I can't compete for the truth that way, I'm not paying for it." Woods can be angry at those sources, but I guess it all comes back to it's his own fault for sleeping with attention whores.

    But, it a lot of other cases, there is a -- well, is "fear" the right word, or is it wariness? I'm not exactly certain. What I can tell you is that Michael Leahy's book really made me re-think the way I report. I wondered: Am I one of those guys? Maybe -- in some cases -- I was. I didn't like that.

    There is no doubt in my mind that, right now, SOME of the people who are writing "it's not a big deal" are doing it because they're being pressured, or they're scared of him, or they're in search of the first big interview. If you're a big star at your newspaper/radio station/tv station/multimedia outlet -- you could rip Tiger, if you wanted. I can understand Alma's frustration with that. I can also understand his frustration, too, because some of the people/outlets backing away from this one have attacked others in flimsier situations.

    If you're defending Tiger because you really believe it, no problem.

    Ironically, I'm doing a feature this week asking how powerful agents really are. One basically said, "You're as powerful as your client." This is one of the most powerful clients of all.
     
  2. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    A glaring example of how the news is being driven by Facebook, Twitter, etc. I saw that doctored image first on Facebook.
     
  3. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Forgive me if this is a d_b, but I don't remember seeing it on here ...

    http://sportsjournalism.org/sports-media-news/what-coverage-of-tiger-woods-crash-says-about-the-future-of-mainsteam-medias-efforts-to-cover-celebrity-news/
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    That's a good, thoughtful take on the situation.
     
  5. TwoGloves

    TwoGloves Well-Known Member

    No rule they have to talk after rounds. I've been blown off by many a PGA Tour player (hi Vijay! hi Daly!) but when Tiger was younger and reluctant to talk after every round, Nicklaus (and perhaps Palmer) told him how important it was for him to stop and give reporters a couple minutes because of his stature in the game. So he almost always does.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  6. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    The news that Elin and Tiger's mothers were both at the house when the thing went down is brutal.
     
  7. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    ouerve?
     
  8. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Riiiiiiight.

    He has gotten his cock sucked for 15 years by the press
     
  9. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    I'm glad to hear from Alma, and while not unsympathetic to that point of view, I come back to a thought I've had on other big scandal stories in sports. Reporters are not superheroes, and do not have subpoena power. So even if they WANT to get the story, but don't want to pay sleazeballs to tell all, what's to do?
    Suppose I was still a Boston columnist. What the hell can I do but opinionize. And really, what do I have to say? That Woods has damaged his own life, and his family. No shit. That this ain't exactly an unprecedented event in American sports history. Again, no shit. Say he deserves his privacy? He doesn't. He invades everybody else's privacy to sell razors and sporting goods, so turnabout is fair play.
    All in all, I know I'd be ordered to say something, but I don't think I'd advance the story very much.
    There's only legitimate journalistic way to do that. Woods is gonna lie. But Elin Woods was there too. A sit down with her is the only other way to get information on what happened that night, seeing as the cops have (wisely) decided to forget it.
    That interview may never happen. If it does, it'll be with Oprah or Babs or some other TV heavyweight, not some poor slob from Golf Digest or the Herald.
     
  10. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    yes, francesa made much of this info, too, laughing off the ruckus as "how bad could it have been" with both moms spending the night? yeah, as if wherever the guest rooms in the woods estate are would have been right under their noses.
     
  11. Crash

    Crash Active Member

    So you're agreeing with me?
     
  12. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    Jenkins and Wilbon, the Point-CounterPoint of Sports Journalism.

    "Sally, you ignorant slut"

    While Sally gets damp pouring salt and lemon juice on paper cuts, Wilbon is busy giving a tongue bath to Tiger's taint.
     
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