PGA Joins NHL In Yanking Reporter Credentials Over Use Of Periscope On Golfers Practicing

Well well, this whole anti-Periscope app stuff is certainly becoming a thing. At first it was Hollywood that declared war on the livestreaming app and I said nothing, because I'm pretty sure Hollywood once argued that kittens were piracy-beasts because they might possibly accidentally type "torrent" onto their owners' keyboards whilst trying to get some attention. Then the NHL banned the media's use of Periscope during warmups, but I said nothing because the NHL never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity when it comes to generating interest in the league. Then the boxing world went after Periscope streams of the Mayweather v. Pacquiao fight, but I said nothing because I honestly wasn't aware that boxing was still a thing nowadays. And now that the PGA has come after my potential Periscoping-golf-enjoyment by threatening to yank journalist credentials, who is left to stand up for me?

Golf reporter Stephanie Wei lost her PGA Tour credentials after she used mobile live-streaming app Periscope to show golfers teeing off in practice at TPC Harding Park last Monday. The tour revoked her access “for the remainder of the season” on Wednesday.

Wei wrote about the incident on her site. She admitted that she had received a warning for Instagramming a video of Tiger Woods’s round at the Phoenix Open earlier this year, but considered this to be a different circumstance since she was filming a practice round that wouldn’t have been televised anyway.

As was the case with the NHL ban of the app, the fact that the streams consisted of footage that was never going to be broadcast apparently didn't matter a lick to the PGA. They simply saw someone using the app and decided to go all Hulk Smash on it. Wei noted that she specifically streamed footage she knew wouldn't make the air because she fully acknowledges that the PGA has broadcasting partners generating a great deal of revenue for golf and that the league would be within its rights to protect all that income. But she then argues that streaming practice sessions that wouldn't make television could only help golf in generating more interest.

The PGA responded with a double-bogey's worth of dumb.

PGA Tour chief marketing officer Ty Votaw didn’t see a difference, telling Golf.com that when Wei posts “unauthorized videos, she’s stealing.”

Putting aside the misuse of the term...stealing what, exactly? There's no consequence here, other than the lost potential to promote the sport and the PGA through streaming that doesn't touch the broadcast footage. What did the PGA have that Wei "stole" from them? To yank the credentials of a reporter over this not only removes potential interest, but it also builds animosity with the press. I would have thought that someone involved in marketing the PGA would know better than this.

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