Some Chinks Are Showing in TMZ's Armor Concerning Tiger's Accident
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 30, 2009 1:46 PM EST
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PrintGossip site TMZ has been the most active when it comes to updates and reports - all based on anonymous sources - concerning Tiger Woods' crash and the FHP's investigation. Up to this point, TMZ had yet to be proven wrong about reports that they published. Even if you don't believe the ones prior to now were true, they had not been disproven.
That is, until now.
TMZ has reported two stories today concerning the Woods accident that have turned out to not be true.
The first is that the claim that the Florida Highway Patrol is pursuing a warrant to investigate Tiger Woods' blood work (if any) and medical records from his brief hospital stay, as well as video from Woods' private surveillance system. FHP spokesperson Sgt. Kim Montes-Miller said that is simply not true. Further, the FHP reiterated that they do not need a warrant to acquire medical records.
Second, TMZ claimed that Elin Nordigren's initial report of arriving to the accident scene in a golf cart were untrue. Now, shortly after the story was published, TMZ called in a mea culpa and showed accident photos that had a golf cart in them.
Again, since we still have no firsthand account from Tiger Woods or the direct statement of Elin Nordigren, no one can say they know what happened. But it appears that some of the rumors circulating around Woods' accident are clearly untrue and perhaps fabricated.
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They’re better at chasing Britney Spears down the 101 than they are reporting real news.
You do know that they are owned and operated by Time-Warner, don’t you? They are a collaboration between America Online (AOL) and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros.
Yup, they’re also cousins of Fanhouse, which is why Fanhouse runs their reports. But, the AOL-Time Warner relationship is dunzo. It’s now Aol and Time Warner is separate.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 30, 2009 2:24 PM EST up reply actions
AOL and TW are separate, but Telepictures (part of WB) and AOL still share TMZ.
by Charles Boyer on Nov 30, 2009 2:31 PM EST up reply actions
Damn
At first I thought the article was titled. "Some chicks are starting to dress in TMZ armor. My Bad. I can dream can’t I.
Ryan the Wise
Good for you Ryan for clearing that up.
not to mention...
…“chinks”…GEEZ, RB, and I thought you weren’t the prejudiced type… :-D
lol OMP – and Britney would be more fun to watch at a full run. :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
As I said from the beginning
Most of this news is going to be wrong and how many different versions will pop up before the truth pops up if it ever does.
Ryan being critical of TMZ’s reporting is very disingenuous to be frank. I did a post on the crappy reporting yesterday but that merited no attention. Now Ryan is noticing TMZ is full of s*** and its like a big deal.
I have to say that Bill Jempty was all over this story early:
Tiger Woods Accident Story – Will It Ever Be Reported Right?
Actually sports celebrity news bores me. I blogged about the news of Woods accident but refrained on speculating about its cause. That kind of restraint is not normal in either the news business or blogging now. I rather not make a fool out of myself by talking about 2nd or 3rd hand error prone news.
by Charles Boyer on Nov 30, 2009 2:34 PM EST up reply actions
stop confusing us...
…can’t we just stick to Bill and not have to call you Frank ?
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Most Golf writers and bloggers
Right now are giving new meaning to the term ‘Silly Season’. I think silly is being kind to what’s being writen.
I think it’s very funny that you’re saying I’m being disingenuous. That’s not even close to accurate. Seeing as though I’m extremely cynical of anything and I have only done reporting on facts provided to me by the FHP, Rachel Uchitel herself, or Tiger Woods and his handlers. Any mention that I’ve made to rumors and rumor sites have been denoted as such and been told to be taken from what you will. So at no point in time have I bought into or reported as fact anything that TMZ or the Enquirer has claimed.
As for your post, Bill, I had no problems with it. It was largely Dan LeBatard’s take on the situation with yours as well. Sounded good to me. Your posts are available on every page of the site, so it did get attention.
My specific post was about TMZ – not the general reporting community. There’s a clear distinction here.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 30, 2009 3:48 PM EST up reply actions
No Ryan you are being disingenuous
I’ll cite your headline- Some Chinks Are Showing in TMZ’s Armor Concerning Tiger’s Accident
The chinks in the media’s coverage of this story have been appearing for two days or more. Only now do you find it worth noting. Could it have something to do with wanting to maintain traffic here?
I cited the same thing a day ago but its Sunday. Web traffic is down. Plus it sounds better if you have come to the discovery, oh master of Waggleroom.
Your comment actually proves my point, Bill. Chinks are showing in TMZ’s armor, no one else’s, yes? So, that means I’m talking specifically about TMZ. I provided facts from FHP and photo evidence that TMZ was reporting falsely. That’s the post.
Like I said, I agree with Dan’s and your assessments. That’s great.
To be frank, the traffic to this website related to the Woods accident/rumor mill has entirely to do with three posts: the interview with Rachel Uchitel, my column today talking about the circus of how the incident was handled, and the audio of the 911 call. Nothing about my post about TMZ (cause there’s a lot of cynicism about them already). And if you’d like, you can check out the traffic stats for every post. They’re available at the Sitemeter at the bottom of every page.
Bill, there are 16,000 articles worldwide about this whole ordeal. 16,000. I have five of those? I’m not worried about traffic.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 30, 2009 4:27 PM EST up reply actions
Hahaha, very timely :)
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 30, 2009 4:39 PM EST up reply actions
16,000
Of Which the vast majority are newspapers printing the same AP and other wire service articles. Because how many media outlets are reporting it first hand? AP, GC, GWorld, GWeek, Orlando Sentinel, Orlando television television stations, tmZ, If the tally comes to more than 100 I’d be surprised.
Columnists, bloggers, etc are supposed to have written the other 15,000 plus original articles in 3 days time.(Cutting and pasting AP story into a blog post without commentary is not original) I wouldn’t look into that number too closely. It’s likely to be as reliable as TMZ’s reporting.
Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff was just admitted to the hospital and his wife was arrested for OUI HAHAHAHAHA,, SORRY HAD TO THROW THAT IN
Bigger Than TMZ
This thing has blown up way beyond TMZ and NE. On Outside the Lines on ESPN it was mentioned that there were 8200 separate articles about this world wide today and over 16,000 since Friday. At this point it’s hard to say what is or isn’t driving the story. Early on it was the concern for Tiger’s health and then evolved into an affair and domestic violence, which I believe would have been very forgivable if handled correctly. But now, blowing off the FHP 3 days in a row has created a new monster that has taken on a life of it’s own. It’s a shame Team Tiger screwed this up. What’s Next???
More chinks in TW armor as well !!!!
TW is pulling out of the Chevron on Doctors orders ?? Yikes !!!! I thought it was just a minor accident with a fat lip ? Apparently not. The plot thickens. “Now I’m more confused than a nursing baby at atopless bar”…jumpn
I saw that on xxGC’s site, but like Hoggard says, nothing official has come forth…yet.
If he is laying out it probably is to let enough news cycles pass by that this firestorm inevitably goes away.
by Charles Boyer on Nov 30, 2009 2:53 PM EST up reply actions
Just off the presses
A 1-iron was found next to Tiger’s wrecked car on Friday morning.
In 10 minutes some golf writer or blogger will say Woods is being framed. Nobody carries a 1-iron anymore.
Tomorrow we’ll learn it was a nine iron in the Woods garage that had recently been re-gripped.
It was Nicklaus
Just we all know only Jack Nicklaus could hit a 1-iron lol
You might want to run that by Ben Hogan:
by Charles Boyer on Dec 1, 2009 8:25 AM EST up reply actions
YIKES !!!
Well, put aside all the TMZ’s and NE’s of the world and TW backing out of his own tournament from a so-called everyday one car minor accident at 2:30 am in the morning and I say. IT SURE DOES SMELL FISHY
The thing is there are so many unanwsered questions at the point. Aside from the TMZ at NE rumors. Where has he going at 2:30 and why was Elin still awake that late. It was thanksgiving so maybe they were up late who knows. People keep raising the question. Why did she smash the back window? And the thing is some people think it was the rearview window she smashed out. When the pictures clearly show the black seat windows smashed. Like I said it was thanksgiving and lets be honest most people have a couple drinks. Now I dont know if Tiger drinks or not. In fact nobody here knows that either. And the fact that he refused again to talk to the FHP raises some question.
The problem is that most of those questions are irrelevant. There are only three relevant questions – (1) what happened ? (2) are you alright ? and (3) is Elin’s sister doing anything this weekend ? :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Another TMZ tidbit...
Much of the early frenzy of this story was fueled by a “report” from TMZ that a “friend” had visited the mansion and Tiger gave up all the dirt. And another “report” indicated he told a friend on the phone he needed to buy a Kobe Special (house on a finger) for Elin. This is at best highly suspect. We all know Tiger’s circle of friends has been untouchable when it comes to giving up any kind of relevant information about TW. What, does TMZ have a wire tap in Tiger’s home? How would they have got this information? No, unfortunately I can’t do what Ryan has done and prove this to be factually false, but it’s VERY unlikely any of Tiger’s friends talked to anybody at TMZ. Now with that said let me just add a few thoughts. First I agree it is likely that something happened between him and Elin before the accident, but please people let’s not get our “facts” from sources such as TMZ. For those who know me, I make no secret of being a big fan of TW and this incident will not change that at all. I insist that he’s acting well within his rights and I fully support his right to privacy and trying to protect his family from this absurd witch hunt. Leave his family alone to deal with whatever happened privately, it’s none of our business!
tigerhead,
I don’t understand why you object to getting our facts from sources such as TMZ. If they are indeed “facts”, then we should embrace them….we are in search of the truth, are we not? I think you mean we should be very suspicious of the “facts” offerred by such entities as TMZ and NE, and I am. We should be only slightly less suspicious of any “facts” offerred up by the MSM these days also, but that’s a different subject.
Like I said in the other thread here, I will be TW’s biggest fan if these NE accusations are proven to be false. You do realize, tigerhead, that your hero has not actually denied the specific accusation of the extramarital affair….that’s what convinces me that he is guilty…but we shall see as this story develops.
the problem with getting “facts” from places like TMZ is their reputation as gossip mongers. telling the truth is less important than ratings at places like TMZ. They tell a story, and let the facts fall where they may, but those facts are often tainted.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
courtgolf,
I think we’re saying the same thing in different words…let’s celebrate that as we wait for further evidence to be presented.
Speaking of evidence, I saw where Rachel Ulbitel was willing to take a lie detector test. Now I’m not a big fan of lie detector tests, but considering all the NE witnesses have taken and passed lie detector tests, if RU was to take one administered by the same experts and flunk that test, I would think that would be significant. Of course, if she passed it, then we’re back to square one. I don’t think she’ll take one anyway, but we shall see.
I agree niblic but the problem with gossip columns like TMZ is they report rumor as fact and they generally do not substantiate their information in any way; it’s mostly hearsay and gossip. Yes I believe we are indeed in search of the truth, but I doubt very much TMZ is; I’m pretty certain they’re mostly interested in milking this anyway they can. Sure they get it right sometimes and as long as you understand the suspect nature of what your reading I’ve got no issue with it. I think you and I understand each other. As far as the affair, maybe he did maybe he didn’t. Maybe he’s got a hottie in every city he travels to. But none of that is any of my concern, doesn’t effect my life one bit. I care about my own personal business and my own family not his. He’s a man no different than you and I, he just has a few more bucks and can hit a white ball better than anyone else. He’ll take an image hit for this and maybe even loose some fans, but this whole thing is much ado about very little in my opinion.
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