Courtesy: AP

The editor of Golf Week magazine was fired yesterday in response to the magazine's latest cover which you can see atop this post.

The cut line alongside the image reads "Tilghman slips up and Golf Channel can't wriggle free".

In editor Dave Seanor's mind, the image was perfectly fitting to illustrate the story. In fact, he told Associated Press that the editorial staff struggled to find the right illustration and he said he took responsibility for the noose.



The cover sparked a storm of negative reaction from the PGA commissioner's office on down to those attending the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando who strolled past the Golf Week booth and picked up a copy.

Recall the Reverend Al Sharpton's reaction last week regarding what the word "lynch" means to a person of African descent in America.

Recall, too, the aftermath of Tilghman's ill-chosen words, blurted out over the air with little thought for their implications.

And Dave Seanor can approve the image of a noose on the cover of his magazine?? Is the man incapable of learning from recent history??

While Seanor was wondering aloud to Doug Ferguson at AP why everyone was so upset ("I was a little shocked by the commissioner's reaction," he said. "It was rather strong, particularly from someone who rarely comments on things on his own tour."), the magazine's owners, Turnstile Publishing, fired him point blank and apologized for the poor choice of illustrations.

"We were trying to convey the controversial issues with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic", was the underwhelming explanation.

This notion of trying to convey a touchy point with a powerful image is one that those in print journalism deal with every day. But not since the editor of a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed three years ago has there been such a backlash.

However, it's because of that very incident involving the Danish paper that I scratch my head in wonderment at the actions of Dave Seanor and his editorial board.

The Danish paper, Jyllens-Posten, did what it did to intentionally push a point about press freedom and self-censorship in the face if Islamist terrorism. Agree or disagree with the paper as you wish but it was making a point.

Golf Week was simply looking for the same kind of glib expression that Kelly Tilghman was looking for on air; Tilghman's was verbal. Golf Week's was visual. There was no issue on their agenda.

That is patently clear in Seanor's comment yesterday when he was fired. "We knew that image would grab attention but I didn't anticipate the enormity of it".

No kidding.