Former GolfWeb Exec Editor Stu Schneider writes on the
changes to the Web site following GolfWeb's merger with the
PGA Tour in this month's BRILL'S CONTENT. Schneider, who is
currently Dir of Golf Operations at Rivals.com, writes that
while GolfWeb's content was "integrated" into the site, the
PGA Tour "maintained that they would not stand in the way of
reporting facts." But Schneider writes, "In theory, if PGA
Tour player Joe Smith were caught smuggling drugs ... we
would be able to post a news story stating the facts. But
if a columnist wrote that tour personnel had known Joe Smith
was actively dealing drugs ... such an article was off-
limits." Schneider cites other examples: A Ryder Cup column
by Senior PGA Tour player Tom Weiskopf "was killed" after it
was deemed "too controversial" because of "critical
comments" about current PGA Tour players and the Tour
"ordered" Schneider to alter text in reference to a story on
Casey Martin, with whom the Tour is currently in a legal
dispute with. Schneider, on the editorial conflicts: "I told
both SportsLine and tour personnel that this was not an
acceptable situation." Schneider writes that SportsLine top
execs said that was the way the deal was "structured."
Schneider: "In the end, I believe that the real losers in
all this are the readers of both GolfWeb and PGATOUR.com."
SportsLine USA execs declined "an opportunity to respond" to
BRILL'S CONTENT. PGA Tour execs gave a statement that read
in part, "PGATOUR.com/GolfWeb is the number one golf
destination on the Internet" (BRILL'S CONTENT, 12/99).
