Irresponsible Journalism

Yes, Tiger Woods is a dirt bag, but the media is being irresponsible with their coverage in the fight to report it first. (AP Photo/AP Television News)

It all started nearly two weeks ago, when the Tiger Woods crash story first came to light and sensationalism reigned supreme. Ramped speculation with unsubstantiated facts flooded the airwaves from television, to online websites and on the radio.

First, reports stated Tiger Woods was in intensive care after suffering life threatening injuries in a car crash. Then Woods was in serious but stable condition as the accident was not near-fatal as originally reported. All of these wild rumors (which originated from TMZ for God's sake) were then proven false in what has been proved to be a single car accident in which Woods suffered minor injuries.
(Let's forget about the spousal abuse and DUI accusations for a second as these were rumors at first also, but do carry some weight as Police officials have tried to subpoena Woods medical records and yeah its pretty obvious there is some shit going down in their marriage. Though, without evidence, it's still just hearsay and speculation.)

Fast forward to Tuesday morning, reports came flooded in that a "mysterious, middle-aged blond woman" was taken from Woods home on a stretcher. Reports came in that Elin Woods had bought a house with her sister in Sweden and was not living at the residence. Other reports say that this could be one of Tiger's mistresses and it could have been a domestic dispute. All kinds of wild and crazy theories from so-called "news" anchors and "journalists", and then we come to find out that Woods and his wife were both there and his mother-in-law had collapsed and was taken to the hospital for observation.

What happened to knowing the story BEFORE you report it? With all of the rush between major networks to be the first to break the story, the actual story is beginning to get lost. It's like the news isn't good enough, we need a huge pile of made up zaniness to make it worthwile to watch.

Don't get me wrong, there is some crazy shit going down at the Woods' house, but can't we try and have some tact when reporting about something where facts are scarce? Between sensationalizing stories, to believing any whore who comes forward and claims to have slept with Woods and putting them on camera, and worst of all (in some cases) blatant story fabrication - the media is making itself look incompetant. This story is juicy enough as it is without much of the media losing it's credibility (if there's any left) by jumping at any chance to get that great story without first producing some concrete evidence that said story is actually true.

OK, I'm off my soap-box but J.C., this is getting ridiculous.