The Tiger Woods scandal: How much do the media really need to know?

Poor Tiger Woods. After carefully controlling his image for nearly 15 years as a international celebrity (he was actually on "The Mike Douglas Show" when he was 2, already showing off his golf swing), Woods probably figured that the media might cut him some slack when it came to explaining -- or actually not explaining -- what happened in the wee hours of Nov. 27 when he crashed his car outside his Florida home.

But the crash, and Woods' inability to provide a logical account of his behavior, unleashed the media dogs from hell. Now, Woods finds himself deep in the rough, with several women having suddenly popped up, eager for their 15 minutes of fame, happy to divulge details of their alleged sexual affairs with the golf legend. (One woman claims to have had a 31-month-long affair with Woods.)

But the most depressing aspect of the whole imbroglio is that Woods still harbors the quaint notion that, having broken no laws, done no physical harm and never uttered a controversial word in his life, he should be allowed some privacy while he mends his fences. As he put it in a statement Wednesday:

I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. ... Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. ... Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

Have sadder words ever been said? Because Woods couldn't be more right. He's not a public official nor a high-minded preacher or cable TV public scold. What he does with his private life should be his own (pardon the pun) affair. Sure, he has zillion-dollar endorsement deals from the likes of Nike, but he earned those deals because he's the greatest golfer of his generation, not because he's a paragon of personal virtue. But in today's wildly intrusive media universe, being a winner isn't enough to protect your privacy. 

We are a nation of busybodies, and when a hero or a champion or someone who is perceived as a role model turns out to have feet of clay, we feel a need to know every prurient detail about his or her transgressions, no matter how little they have to do with the hero's public performance. For years, baseball writers have been on a witch hunt against steroid users, heaping scorn and hurling charges against a variety of stars, often on the flimsiest of evidence. But at least you can argue that steroids, as performance-enhancing drugs, are a form of cheating, enabling athletes to achieve goals and win awards they didn't deserve.

But the only cheating Tiger has done is most likely on his wife. He hasn't forsaken his public or disgraced the game of golf. The justification for digging up the dirt on Tiger, according to a sportswriter who was interviewed on NPR on Wednesday, boils down to this: In the media, we are not very good at letting go of a story until there are some clear answers.

Of course, that's not exactly true. The media have let go of stories all the time, from how cooked-up evidence of weapons of mass destruction led to the invasion of Iraq to how, in the midst of a horrible financial meltdown, Wall Street fat cats got bailed out by the government while regular folks got the shaft.

But those are tough stories. The salacious stories that revolve around shameless behavior, whether it's Tiger's transgressions or the "balloon boy" or the brazen White House state dinner gate-crashers, they get the media full-court press, complete with front-page headlines and congressional hearings. 

I suspect that Tiger is undergoing the media's version of the full monty in large part because he's a tabloid virgin. This is his first brush with scandal, the first tarnishing of his image. With rare exception, the more squeaky clean the celebrity, the more vigilant the scrutiny. If Charles Barkley's wife chased him down the driveway with a golf club tomorrow night, no one would bat an eye, since he already has a long string of bad-boy behavior that has lowered our surprise factor. Ditto for Charlie Sheen or Kiefer Sutherland or Michael Vick. But if Derek Jeter or Peyton Manning were nabbed in a drug bust or arrested in a nightclub fight, the media hell hounds would be in full pursuit.

So Tiger has to play the game, the modern-day media kabuki dance of acknowledging his sins, asking for forgiveness and allowing himself to be humbled and cleansed, not by seeking out a spiritual guide, but by going on TV, sitting down with Oprah or Diane Sawyer or Bob Costas and facing the music. We demand public contrition from our heroes. The good news is that Tiger will survive, since as the old Arab parable goes: The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on. There will be a new scandal, a new celebrity in trouble and the media circus will pitch its tents at his door.

No one knows this better than Allan Mayer, a veteran crisis management consultant who's now a principal partner at 42 West. He's the guy who first laid out Rule No. 1 of celebrity scandal problem solving, which holds that if you don't tell your story, chances are that someone will tell it for you -- and you probably won't like how it turns out. Mayer was optimistic about Woods' future, noting that the public views athletes in a different light than movie stars.

"For a movie star to be successful, the public has to love you," he said. "But for an athlete to be successful, they simply have to win. All Tiger has to do is win a few big golf tournaments. If he doesn't play well, the story will probably stay alive, because everyone will be wondering: Why isn't he winning? Are his private issues affecting his performance? But if he starts winning, he'll be fine."

In other words, in America, whether you're playing Pee Wee football in Midland, Texas, or holing a long putt on the 18th hole of the Masters at Augusta, winning cures just about everything.

Photo credit: David Cannon / Getty Images

Comments

[Dot]

If there is anyone out there who is perfect, please stand up... We all have faults.. Tiger, the only one you need to answer too is God. Ask your wife for forgiveness and then God. You two stay together for those babies and for each other. When we get married it suppose to be till death do us part... Divorce causes a lot of stress... Pray on it and God bless....

[Jayne]

Tiger is a victim of his own choices. He chose to be a public figure when he became a professional golfer. He chose to hold a high profile wedding and release pictures. He chose to have his wife and kids show up publicly at his tournaments. He chose to cheat on his wife. He chose to cheat with low class, money hungry town bicycles. Everybody's had a ride. He chose to cheat on his wife while she was pregnant or near birth. He chose to communicate with his town bicycles on the Thanksgiving holiday (nice touch!) He chose to drive recklessly that night and hit the hydrant and tree. He chose to not cooperate with the police, who probably would have kept things quiet if he'd just said he stepped on the gas instead of the break by mistake. He chose to lie on his website about the allegations. He chose to give a tortured PR-influenced follow up statement. He chose to buy off the mistress today. The man's gotta live with his choices.

In this day and age of tabloid humiliations of John Edwards, Larry Craig, David Vitter, Mark Sanford, and so many more...Tiger cannot be surprised at the consequences of his choices.

Elin will divorce him...or Elin will stay with him, the choices are all now hers. No matter what, I hope she chooses to get tested for STD's, because some of these town bicycles have been very promiscuous, Tiger dipped his stick in some sewers!

[mal]

If George Bush did what Clinton did. He would have been hanged. Tiger like Bill clinton gets a pass.Look how you treat Roman Polanski after raping a girl. He gets a pass. The Media will want to know only when they despise the person

[Brittany]

I just took this poll at omgnews.info/didtigercheat it asks you if you think Tiger Woods cheated on his wife. I think the results are going to be on the news!

[Des]

"The ONLY cheating he has done is on his wife"!!!

So true..Tiger has only disgraced himself, and not his nation... Thierry Henry now there is a cheater!

[Polly]

Why not be scorned by the world public, the world media? He isn't wholesome or beyond reproach."Personal sin" barely seems to cut it. He He has committed a crime against his whole family and to those who thought they knew him. Its not some innocuous little spat between husband and wife. Its a massive lie. Huge. He has ruined people's lives- those closest to him. If he is capable of this then why should he remain a paragon or brand icon for the rest of us?

[Polly]

He has committed a crime against the very people who are supposed to be closest to him in the world. If he has such disregard for these very people, they why should he be held up as a paragon of modern culture or brand icon? Why should the general public be influenced by someone so morally dysfunctional?
He has hurt and disgraced his family to such a point he has set foot well beyond a "personal sin". Its hideous. And everyone should feel for his wife and kids at this point, to wonder at how he is taking such news is really completely by-the-by surely! He made decisions to jeopardise his fabulous image because of greed and selfishness time and time again. Let's not forget that.

[Cavender Neutze]

Tiger Woods is a golfer that is well known for his ability to block out the distractions and focus on whats important on the golf course. With the biggest problem he will ever face ongoing Mr. Woods should not have to use his abilities to mend this situation, if anything he should be able to let his guard down and be honest with a very receptive media gracious that he is talking at all. To all you non golfers who only want to bash T-Dub because he is the guy you wish you were I want to tell you about a time somebody said something malicous about him. Stephen Ames proudly boasted anything is possible the way he is hitting it, when asked about his chances against Woods. Tiger thereafter beat down ames 9-8 (biggest win POSSIBLE). So while tiger may not speak to the media now just wait because when you rattle a Tigers cage...

[JT]

Somewhere, Jon Gosselin is heaving a sigh of relief.

[Janis 56]

Poor Tiger? No.
Poor family? Definitely.

Tiger Woods IS a public figure. For most of his life he has worked hard to be so. He's not a little boy; he not some innocent; he isn't a victim. Tiger Woods, along with just about every other adult in this country with any wits, must know that part of the price of being a celebrity is keeping yourself firmly in the public eye. That's not something that just happens. It requires a lot of money and work.

Tiger Woods has capitalized on being a public figure and has deliberately developed a specific kind of public profile. The fact that his profile has historically been that of a gentleman and a family man has been entirely related to the way he, and his publicists, have chosen to represent him. It has also helped garner him millions of dollars in ad endorsements and he's done very well for himself by it all.

Tiger Woods, and only Tiger Woods, is responsible for that image having been tarnished. The only person who messed it up was Tiger. Why, exactly, should the media "cut him some slack"? They don't cut slack for anyone. Grubbing after dirty laundry, looking for the sordid, is what the media does. The public loves it and the media serves the public. It's where the money is. Tiger knows that. We ALL know that. And you, in posting this article, are cashing in too. Why wouldn't you?

I do feel sorry for his family. You state, "...the only cheating Tiger has done is most likely on his wife. He hasn't forsaken his public or disgraced the game of golf..." and it seems to me that you're entirely missing the point. I also think your statement is just about as cavalier and as wildly insensitive, as grossly insulting to Tiger's family, as anything anyone else in the press will devise.

Tiger Woods set himself up for this. After repeatedly, publicly, making a really big deal of deeming himself a family man, he got caught behaving otherwise. That would be his bad. That would be the really big deal.

As to disgracing, not disgracing golf? It's a game. Who cares?