Let me begin by stating that Tiger Woods gets no pity from me for cheating on his wife. Not that my disapproval means or should mean squat to him and his family. It is simply my opinion and I think what he did was wrong.
But was his transgressions any worse than John Ensign, John Edwards or Mark Sanford? All of these men cheated on their wives. One even had a child out of wedlock. Sanford's wife has filed for divorce. http://www.jaxobserver.com/...
And so, why is it that Tiger Woods' story has been covered ad nauseam by the media, compared to the three politicians, when Woods is only a sports star?
I will confess, I have intentionally stayed away from the Woods coverage. But not my sister, who lives in Maryland. She literally forced me to hear what was going on in the press. She called me daily without fail to complain about the media blanketed coverage about Woods.
She fussed that stories about Tiger's affairs were just way too much. She believed some of the women coming out and claiming to have an affair were probably lying. While she never condoned what he's done, she was very angry about the media barrage.
Though she never compared Tiger's coverage to others like the politicians mentioned above, last night Saturday Night Live did. SNL wondered why as politicians, the three men have not gotten as much coverage in the mainstream media as Woods.
Here is the SNL Clip. http://www.nbc.com/... I am sorry I don't have a clue on how to embed a video.
In the skit, watch Ensign, Sandord and Edwards themselves ask the media why Woods is treated to such a double-standard.
After all, as the piece aptly points out, these were men, who not only broke their marital vows, but men who abused the public trust.
As it relates to these politicians and the coverage of Woods and the media, Rachel Maddow, to my mind, has been the only one who has approached this kind of coverage without the sensationalism of the affair. For the Ensign affair for example, she looked at the fact that there were possible laws broken when Ensign allegedly got his parents to pay his mistress and her husband. She doggedly covered the story from the stand point that Ensign's connection to the C Street House involved others like Senator Coburn and the like.
I dare say her aggressive coverage of the story forced some in the mainstream media to give it a look, although not as much as they should have.
And with the Woods story, as far as I remember, Rachel never touched the it, except for the night when word came that Woods was calling off golf for a while. Even at that she covered it only from the business aspect, and how Woods' absence from the golf course might impact the game. Kudos to her.
I found the SNL piece interesting. Once again, it takes a comedy show to school the media about its uneven coverage and its misplaced priorities.
Go figure.