“We’ve seen an evolving of the makeup of a golf tournament media center to now be probably five guys who are consistent presences"
Bill King in Sports Business Journal looks at the changing media dynamic in NASCAR and to a lesser extent, NASCAR.
Not only are the beat writers evaporating, but fewer papers allowed their columnists to travel to golf’s majors this year.
“We’ve seen an evolving of the makeup of a golf tournament media center to now be probably five guys who are consistent presences,” said Ty Votaw, executive vice president of communications and international affairs for the PGA Tour and former LPGA commissioner. “For the tournaments that take place in their markets, the local newspapers fully staff those. But they don’t send their writers out to other events.”
In spite of this, Votaw contends that more words are written about golf now than ever, thanks in large part to the bottomless reservoir of Web pages from ESPN and CBS.
The concern there isn’t how much is produced, but who sees it. There’s plenty for the golf fan who seeks out stories, but what about for the general sports fan who skims and scans? Just as Votaw would prefer that more golf appear on the ESPN.com front page, rather than be buried where only the golf fans drill, he worries that the disappearance of local bylines is costing the sport better play in newspapers.
There's a newsflash from the city.
But at least someone is showing concern at the Tour, after Tim Finchem's less than compassionate answer on this topic last December.
Monday, July 20, 2009 at 08:24 PM
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