Posted by Will Ng under Current AffairsResponses (5)

You may have heard or read about the big flap over Golfweek magazine's recent "Caught in a Noose" cover. I gotta wonder what Dave Seanor, now ex-editor, was thinking, putting a noose on the cover. And he was "surprised by the negative reaction"?

Being in the magazine business, I understand the need to produce provocative covers to grab readers' attention, but this kind of a move by Seanor just makes me scratch my head—not to mention it's likely career suicide for him. Then again, Don Imus is back in business...

So what prompted the distasteful cover, anyway? Seanor and the Golfweek staff were pontificating on another controversy, the one created by Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman. On the air at the second round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, she and partner Nick Faldo were discussing challengers to Tiger Woods. Tilghman, in suggesting what the challengers should do, jokingly made the dumb remark, "Lynch him in a back alley."

Apparently, Tilghman and Woods are friends—he even has tried to dowplay her comment—but there's still no excuse.

Tilghman has been suspended by the Golf Channel, and Seanor has been replaced by Turnstile Publishing Co., the parent of Golfweek. Right moves, and they both deserve the ire they're receiving from everyone including PGA Tour commish Tim Finchem.

There's a lesson in here for meeting planners. While all of us are searching for attention-grabbing event themes, we need to realize certain words or images that may seem innocuous at first are insensitive, even taboo, to others. This is especially important for international meeting planners, who need to be respectful of others and unfamiliar cultures.

But, of course, when you know what you're about to say or do is wrong and you do it anyway, that's just stupid.