A few weeks ago, Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman made a slip-up, saying that the only way to stop Tiger Woods was to "lynch him in a back alley."

She was consequently suspended for two weeks, and most golfers (including Woods) were quick to excuse the rare mishap, because Tilghman is well liked in the golfing community. However, carried by blogs and civil rights activists, the controversy snowballed, and the editor of Golfweek magazine eventually decided to report on the story and publish a picture of a hanging noose on the cover.

This led to his quick dismissal. However, according to Dwyre, this editorial decision fits into a bigger context of traditional media replacing journalistic standards with buzz-driven blogging.

“More likely, he is the product of the current age and rage of media, as well as society in general,” wrote Dwyre.

“We blog before we report, when it should be the other way around.”

“The editor of Golfweek who put the noose on the cover probably went home that night, thinking he had done what his bosses and the world around him kept telling him -- to think outside the box, be creative, groundbreaking, innovative.”

Instead of reporting the news, argued Dwyre, media outlets increasingly pander to the public’s thirst for drama. Even worse, they accentuate the drama in order to draw readers in, echoing recent decisions of the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times to treat Britney Spears as high priority news.

But “she is web hits, the current fool's gold of the newspaper industry,” said Dwyre.

Source: Los Angeles Times