Tiger Woods and the Media-The creation and the dismatlement of sports stars

I do not exactly know how important or influential a figure Tiger Woods is in the American society, but I did grasp how much people thought of him as a star through the media coverage about his recent ‘scandal’. Tiger Woods is indeed a world famous sports star, however is it just me who thinks that the media is excessively interested in this scandal? True, Tiger Woods acknowledged that he has done some wrong, but that is his own personal life, and has actually nothing to do with his ability to play golf well.

Thinking about this, I realized how sports stars revered as a role model, and is demanded to be a person not only good in his area of sport, but also a person who is both a good family person with moral. This would definitely connect to the endorsements of sports stars. And the media plays a big role in forming a ‘sports star’, but also has the role of tearing down the star. People might have a sports star they are interested in and become to see as a role model, but it is definitely the media that forms a kind of myth around a sports star. They write sometimes in a dramatic style about the life, the hardships, and the miraculous accomplishments they have made. Perhaps this is because the media needs someone to on the place of the hero, to feed the public on. I once read an interesting blog entry about Michael Jordan. In that blogger’s opinion, Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player in history. After his retirement, no basketball player was able to revive his legend, thus leaving the media deprived of a hero figure they could use to feed on the interest of the public. And that is why the media kept on making issues about Jordan’s comeback, even when Jordan’s comeback did not bring the results everybody hoped for.

Then again, the media has a big role in dismantlement of the sports stars, just as in the case of Tiger Woods. The excessive coverage(at least in my point of view) about Tiger Woods adultery, his fight with his wife, and his decision to quit golf, and many other speculations are all part of tearing down a star, just for the same reason the media has established one. The media is manipulating and feeding on the ‘disappointment’ of the public. And in the course, some news sources are not separating fact from rumors. An article in The Washington Post(‘In the Media Frenzy, the Tiger Steak is Served Rare’(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/10/AR2009121004315_2.html) says that the mis-reports about Wood’s scandal are due to the fact that journalists are no longer keeping their roles as ‘gatekeepers’. The excessive interest about the star has led to false reports. Is what we see in sports stars, whether good or bad, what the media sees in them?