Sportsfrog.com

The Tiger Woods Thing marks the second time that TMZ has absolutely destroyed mainstream media outlets when it comes to a major off the field incident (car crash) with an athlete.

Think that the MSM is happy about that?

While TMZ isn’t infallible, they’ve got a pretty impressive string of exclusives before other gossip magazines/sites/mainstream outlets have gotten them, (Rihanna immediately comes to mind) and has definitely become more influential than Deadspin when it comes to actual news that includes athletes off of the field.

While Deadspin specializes in who’s doing and drinking with whom, something that TMZ is very good at as well when it comes to the Hollywood set, TMZ has shown legitimate newsgathering chops when it comes to both Nick Adenhart and Tiger Woods. (Was the reluctance to use TMZ information in newspaper stories more related to fears that it wasn’t factually correct, or the fact that it came from TMZ? I lean strongly towards the latter)

Of course, that has everything to do with how TMZ gets its information. It’s a well known secret that TMZ pays for scoops, and that’s a definite no-no in the mainstream media world. The money puts TMZ at an obvious advantage, because why tell your information for free when you can tell your information for pay?

And do readers actually care about how their news outlets receive their information, as long as the information is getting out as soon as possible, and to a lesser extent, factually correct?

I’m not suggesting that mainstream media outlets need to start paying sources for information, because I think that opens a giant can of worms, and at the very least, would decrease the number of free information sources available to the general public. However, given the way that TMZ has beaten down the MSM with their scoops in regards to these two stories, the celebrity gossip site has definitely asserted itself as a force to be reckoned with when athletes make news off of the playing field.

Is TMZ really changing sports coverage? Let us know in the Swamp.

(This post assumes that TMZ’s coverage of the Tiger Woods situation has been accurate. If it isn’t, I reserve every right to retract my post.)