Media are off their game

At a historic golf tournament named in honor of one of the funniest men to ever live, the undercurrent of the day was anything but a laughing matter.

Sure, bogeys and birdies were chatted up during the third round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, as they always are. But the bigger buzz, sadly, was racism and misguided media.

The first part of the story has been out there for about two weeks. Kelly Tilghman, Golf Channel anchor, made an inadvertent comment during some broadcast chatter on Jan. 4 that the only way to stop Tiger Woods was to "lynch him in a back alley."

It was a throwaway line, a joke, a stupidly miscalculated foot in her mouth.

Most people cut her some slack. She is well-liked among pro golfers and they, for the most part, said her two-week suspension was justified, and severe enough.

Mark O'Meara said Friday, "All the players are on the side of Kelly, because they know her and know she is a nice person."

Fred Couples said, "She's talking for four hours. You kind of understand."

Woods, who would stand to be among those most offended by any statement about "lynching," accepted her apology immediately.

But others, including civil rights activist Al Sharpton, felt a need to do more than merely shrug, say oops, and give her a pass because she is nice and popular.

So the controversy snowballed. Some segments of the media saw it for what it was and handled it evenly. Others, not being able to distinguish noise from substance, turned up the volume full bore.

Then it got worse.

A magazine apparently seen by hundreds, Golfweek, decided that it would report on the controversy by putting a picture of a hanging noose on its cover. Up went the volume again.

On Friday, the editor of the magazine was fired and the publisher and new editor spent much of the day saying they were sorry and admitting what a horrendous breach of judgment it had been.

"The guy [editor] had all week to sit around and think about this," Couples said. "He must be an idiot."

Nope. Probably not.

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

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

We write more about ourselves than we do about our subjects. We have Facebook and YouTube, and we see the world as being all about us, on all topics, every day. News isn't news unless we agree with it.