Fair and Balanced Coverage? I'll Stand By It.

Thought all seven of my blog readers would be interested in this. I love getting feedback from readers, even if it's to say "YOU SUCK!!" because it's showing that we're relevant and people are reacting to what we're doing. (BTW, we haven't gotten any "you suck e-mails") But the following back-and-forth was one of the most interesting critiques from a reader I've ever had. We'll call him "Loyal Reader." He said that he feels we're ignoring minority golfers in our community, and the only depiction of minorities in our magazine was a pic Barry Bonds in a column about golf and steroids. Obviously, I disagree.


Dear Alex & Kevin,
Just a note to say I enjoy reading our magazine with it's wealth of information. The one area of where you completely fail, and "drop the ball," is in reporting on minor ties in the Houston golfing scene, especially concerning Black golfers. Your November issues is a complete insult to me, and should be to all minority golfers. Your article on page 64, sports medicine, is very informative, but you feature a picture of Barry Bonds to emphasize the steroid point ! Not a picture of any other Black in your magazine in a positive role, but one in a the implied negative . Why not be consistent and picture Mark McGwire? Wake up guys. This is 2007 and not 1947! The sad part if that you probably don't even realize what you're perpetuating, or do you?
Thanks,
A Loyal Reader

Dear Loyal Reader,

First I'd like to start by saying that I love feedback from our readers, especially as passionate as yours! To level with you, Kevin and I often say to each other that we wish there were more African-Americans competing in Houston amateur golf, to make our coverage a little more balanced in that department. Sadly, I can only name a handful off the top of my head. Dr. Harry Hayes is an excellent mid-am player, and Jana Golden has a golf scholarship to North Texas, those are the two that immediately come to mind. I know that there are several promising young golfers coming out of the First Tee, hopefully they will continue to improve.

Even though we are aware of some talented African American golfers we aren't going to go out of our way to cover them unless they make headlines, or we find a good off-the-course story. We're a small-staff publication run by a few guys who love local golf and want to see it get the coverage it deserves. Houston Links is a labor of love. Because it's just us, we may not immediately by aware of ALL the good stories going on in the Houston golf scene. Reading your e-mail, it sounds like you are sitting on a good story idea. Please submit it!

Anyhow I think that the issues you have with our coverage is more of a commentary on the state of diversity in golf. We haven't really seen that explosion of minority talent that we expected after Tiger Woods burst onto the seen. Like I said though, hopefully that's changing.

In our defense, I'd like to point you to our June issue. When Texas State ended their 21-year drought in the SWAC Championship, we devoted two pages with pictures to their story, and profiled Coach Hank Stewart, one of leaders in the local African-American golf scene. The Chronicle had a few hundred words on this at most. Houston Links was the only publication that I saw to give this story significant play. So don't tell me we have our heads in the sand.

Finally, about the Barry Bonds issue. Let's forget that he's black for a second. He broke the most hallowed record in sports, which had been held by one of the most respected men in the history of baseball, and he's just been indicted by the federal government for lying about the use of illegal performance enhancers. When people think about steroids, they think about Bonds. A local golf magazine can't change the bed that Bonds made.

In closing, I want to apologize for the long response, and thanks again for reading!

Thanks for your response, but I still don't see your justification of using Bonds to make your point.He's not the only steroid user, but you used him in that light. Still you could have used McGwire. You just don't get it. Yes you did a June story. This is NOVEMBER !!!! NOTHING IN BETWEEN. Bonds was indicted after your November issue hit the stands. And another point you miss. I'm talking about all minorities, Asians, Hispanics, not just Blacks. We could go back and forth from now to eternity, but the fact remains, you're missing a large segment of the golf community.

Loyal Reader,

Well if you want to open it up to all minorities...

Craig Kanada is of Korean descent, and we've followed him with regular updates ever since he earned his PGA Tour Card last year.

Lisa McCloskey is Colombian, she's going to be our two-time Girl Junior Golfer of the Year, and she's in practically every issue.

Our U.S. Mid-Am qualifying coverage centered around a local Hispanic golfer, Juan Salcedo of The Woodlands.

How about the story we did on U.S. Open champion (and Argentinian) Angel Cabrera's Houston roots?

Felicia Espericueta is from the Rio Grande Valley, yet her family commutes to the Houston area to play in tournaments. We've profiled her.

Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas is our Men's Amateur of the Year. Jhonattan was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Amateur, and almost qualified for the Masters. He left his home country to live in Houston for a year-and-a-half before securing a college scholarship. Coincidentally, another U.S. Amateur Semi-Finalist was Katy native Casey Clendenon, who is white. We chose Vegas as our Player of the Year because as the 2006 Venezuelan Amateur champions and 2003 Shell Houston Open participant he is a more accomplished golfer.

Mina Hardin was the first Mexican to play on the LPGA Tour. She's now a successful mid-am in Dallas yet we still feature her when she competes.

I profiled New Delhi native Tanya Wadhwa's successful attempt to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur in August. I could go on.

In my last e-mail I asked you to let me know any stories or events about minority golfers that we're letting slip through the cracks. I'm dead serious about that, I want to know.

Also you haven't written anything to convince me that your problem is with the state of diversity in golf, rather than the scope of our coverage. I invite you to attend a high-level local or statewide amateur golf event. The sad fact is, there aren't a lot of minorities playing at that level.

Loyal Reader, you say we drop the ball in covering minority golfers. I have to ask...compared to who? None of those stories and golfers I just listed were covered IN ANY OTHER publication in Houston! So answer me this: Who does a better job than us in covering minority golfers? Who?

Thanks again for writing, and I look forward to hearing back from you. Perhaps I could use the back-and-forth of our discussion as a topic for one of my future columns in the magazine? What do you think? The involvement of minorities in local golf is a good topic, though I will continue to respectfully disagree with you about the shortcomings of our coverage!

Take care

So far, I haven't had a response back, but I certainly enjoyed the debate. Any thoughts?