PGA honors golf writers, but is it really journalism?

Feb 15

PGA honors golf writers, but is it really journalism?

I like awards, especially when I win one. Awards have their place, a way of honoring good work. But, some are more dubious than others.

Ron Green, 76, just won one called the 2006 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. He will be presented with it at the Golf Writers Association of America’s awards ceremony in April.

I don’t know Green personally, but I recall reading some of his articles and he is and has been a fine writer.

The problem I have with the award is that it is given to those writers for “their steadfast promotion of golf.” Journalists should not be given awards for “promoting” anything, unless it is good journalism.

The award has been handed out since 1989 and past winners include such luminaries as Herbert Warren Wind, Jim Murray, Dan Jenkins, Dave Anderson and Bob Verdi. Great writers all.

But, it also includes people like Ken Venturi, who was mainly a golfer and commentator, and Jim McKay, mainly a broadcaster. Yes, Venturi and McKay could be seen as “promoting” the game of golf, but I don’t think either could be called real journalists.

The awards selection committee is made up of people from organizations like the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, USGA, LPGA and other groups invested in the game. Not one real, journalism group is represented on the committee.

Now, I understand that anybody can give out any award they want to. And I have no real problem with this one, if only they would drop the “journalism” part.

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7 comments

§ Bangkok Al said on : 02/15/06 @ 10:07
Tim, I certainly agree with your premise that good reporting and promoting are two vastly different things. However, I disagree with you about Jim McKay. Not only was McKay a broadcaster, but in his role as broadcaster he was a very fine reporter as well. I don't think there's anyone on TV today who's quite as good in that respect as Jim McKay. I don't remember feeling that McKay was carrying water for anyone during his broadcasts. He was a solid journalist, in my opinion, and there were times -- such as Munich, 1972 -- when those reporting skills were called into action in a very serious way.
§ JOHN SNYDER said on : 02/15/06 @ 15:48
TIM,

JUST STUMBLED ACROSS YOUR BLOG AND FOUND YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THE AWARD FOR 'PROMOTING GOLF' TO BE INTERESTING.

I WOULD AGREE..JOURNALISTS SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN AN AWARD FOR PROMOTING ANYTHING. I LIVE AND BROADCAST IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA AND LIKE YOU, I DO NOT KNOW RON GREEN, SR..EXCEPT TO KNOW HE IS A FINE WRITER.

MY BEEF WITH YOU HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR MAIN ARGUEMENT. IT HAS TO DO WITH WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT KEN VENTURI AND JIM MCKAY. MY GUESS IS IT WAS JUST AN UNFORTUNATE CHOICE OF WORDS. YES, PERHAPS THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GIVEN AN AWARD FOR PROMOTING GOLF, BUT TO SAY THAT JIM MCKAY IS NOT A 'REAL' JOURNALIST IS AN UNFORTUNATE STATEMENT, IF NOT LUDICROUS. YOU AND I WOULD BOTH HOPE TO BE AS GOOD AS A JOURNALIST. HIS COVERAGE OF THE MUNICH OLYMPIC KILLINGS ALONE WOULD MORE THAN QUALIFY HIM. IN SHORT, HE WAS ONE OF THE GREAT SPORTS REPORTERS EVER, IF NOT TO SAY ONE OF THE GREAT REPORTERS. I AM HOPEFUL YOU HAVE NOT FALLEN INTO THE TRAP THAT MANY WRITERS DO, THAT BECAUSE SOME OF US BROADCAST ON TELEVISION, WE CAN'T KNOW MUCH OR REPORT MUCH. I CAN ASSURE YOU I KNOW MANY BROADCASTERS, INCLUDING MYSELF, WHO I THINK WOULD QUALIFY AS JOURNALISTS, WELL AHEAD OF SOME WRITERS I KNOW.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND TROUBLE...

JOHN SNYDER...
§ Tim McDonald® said on : 02/15/06 @ 15:54
OK, you guys. I give up. Including Jim McKay was probably a mistake.

And no, I don't include all broadcasters as non-journalists. There are quite a few good ones.
§ Mike Persinger said on : 02/15/06 @ 17:47
Tim,
As sports editor at The Charlotte Observer, I can assure you Ron Green "promotes" golf only through his fine writing on the sport for many, many years. He didn't get to choose the wording the PGA chose for the award, and probably wouldn't agree with it in the way you define promotion.
That said, it's an honor, and one Ron should be proud of. He has covered the greats of the game for 50 years, introducing them to the readers of the Carolinas. If that promoted the game here, it was a byproduct, not the intent.
§ Under Par said on : 02/16/06 @ 05:12
Hey, Mike, you're the sports editor at the Charlotte Observer? I had words with one of its editors; her last name was "Pope." I can tell you that I won't soon forget her and that she is on my blacklist.
§ Tim McDonald® said on : 02/16/06 @ 06:28
Mike, well-said. As you point out, Green didn't choose the wording of the award. I stress again that my problem is not with the winners of the award, for the most part, but with the non-journalistic entities that make up the selection committee, who deign to hand out a "journalism" award.
§ Lester Hinson said on : 02/16/06 @ 07:02
Eeegads, Mike! If one of your editors, this Pope woman, is now on Under Par's blacklist, do you know what this means!?

A: That she joins 99% of the human race on that list. LOL!