Thumbs Up!
Tiger Woods isn’t the most popular man in sport – due to his adultering ways and distinct lack of regard for his family’s feelings; he has received a back lash of criticism in the press. This criticism has meant that his game and the golfing talent that he holds, has been overshadowed by the infidelity of his private life.
Now with one of the biggest golfing tournaments of the year – the St Andrews Open – set to start on the 11th July, all eyes are on Tiger Woods and how the drama of his personal life will affect his game. It is clear from the series of press interviews and press conferences that Tiger has taken part in so far leading to the event, that the sports star is keen to remove the media focus from his personal life and place it once again on his game.
Undoubtedly the press have not been so easy to dissuade with questions still being asked about Tigers cheating ways, yet the way that Tiger has handled the media spotlight in the last few days, has shown that he can be a true professional and for now that he regrets the mistakes he has made. Tiger appeared humbled in front of the cameras and likened his experience to the loss of his father – an epic event in his life that allowed him to put everything in perspective. This paralleling of two major moments in his life, has cleverly allowed for the public to see a different side to Tiger – a softer more remorseful figure than the serial cheater he was previously painted as.
His remorseful handling of the press has come at a vital time in his sporting career and has enabled Tiger to -for now – to turn the public’s opinion of him around. Tiger has performed one of the most affective and also risky acts of crisis management – he has admitted to his mistake and been candidly honest about how his actions have affected his life. Allowing the public to see the real Tiger and enable them to make up their own minds about him rather than be led by the negative press. It is a lesson to us all that the best and most moral thing to do both in PR and our personal lives, is to admit to our mistakes, rather than hide under a bed of lies.
Thumbs Down!
TV bosses have faced a series of criticisms in today’s newspapers, with female news presenter Kirsty Young blasting them for being ageist towards women presenters. The aptly named Young who is herself only 41, told Easy Living Magazine that there is a ridiculous dearth of older women on our T.V screens.
Kirsty’s comments are set to re open the fallout that occurred in the BBC when they fired news reader Moira Stewart and Strictly Come Dancing’s expert Arlene Phillips replacing both with younger models. This firing of older women in T.V seems to have hit a raw nerve with the British public and has lead to a PR disaster with bosses at the BBC being branded as ageist and also sexist.
Already several Scottish newspapers including The Herald, The Daily Record and The Scotsman have featured articles on the back of Kirsty’s interview showing how these views have spread. The BBC could have and should have handled the firing of these two prominent figure more deftly than they did to prevent the bad press that this issue has received. While their new younger presenters may be more pleasing on the eye, they may not be sending out the most moral of PR messages.
