It was kind of inevitable, given today's blurring of journalistic lines... and Twitter's proclivity for provocation in the golf world. (if you don't know what I mean by that ask Parker Mclachlin or Carolyn Bivens)A couple of days ago I wrote about Alan Shipnuck live-tweeting Phil Mickelson's pre-tournament press release at the Farmer's Insurance Open. At that point everything was all good and proper and within guidelines. Yesterday however, Mr. Shipnuk found himself in the proverbial bunker with his live-tweet of the tourney's first round. At some point during the session the seditious scribe received an email from the PGA Tour regarding a media regulation that makes the live-tweeting of tournaments a violation.
The incident and it's immediate repercussions have been reported in the golf blogosphere by Stephanie Wei and Ryan Ballengee including additional amusing tweets from @AlanShipnuck, so I won't go into that here. However, you can be sure that this latest Twitter polemic will be debated well into the weekend and beyond thanks to the "What happens on Twitter, doesn't stay on Twitter rule" and the evolving ethics of journalism.
Illustration: c/o TwitrGolfers.com
I think a lot of this come down to today's demand for immediacy. Getting the "scoop" has become so important - and nowadays it's just as likely to be a citizen journalist or blogger that gets it.
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