ABC and NBC could barely contain their contempt while covering the
controversy over the all-male Augusta golf club. Katie Couric, guest
anchoring Good Morning America on Thursday, lectured the organization hosting the Masters tournament to allow a woman in: "I mean, really. Get with the program. Seriously?"
Reporter Josh Elliott lamented that Augusta has remained "cloistered,"
"a secretive sanctuary for golfers and one that has never admitted a
woman. On Wednesday's Nightly News, correspondent Lisa Myers
wondered what Augusta Chairman Billy Payne would "tell his
granddaughters about why women are excluded."
The same program featured Sports Illustrated
journalist Alan Shipnuck who sneered, "It's getting unseemly. The
longer this goes, the more ridiculous the club looks. You know, August
National is sending a very strong message to women and girls, which is
you're not welcome here."
The issue is whether IBM CEO Virginia Rometty will be made a member, a tradition for corporate club sponsors.
On Thursday's Today, panelist Donny Deutsch called for a boycott unless Rometty is allowed in.
The lone dissenting voice was fellow panelist Star Jones who reasoned,
"I don't think that they should have to admit women. It's a private
club, but they shouldn't have to have my money."
An incredulous Deutsch responded, "You're kidding me!" He followed up
by asking if it would be okay to not allow African Americans.
At the very least, the rights of a private club to do as they please
should be given some discussion by journalists who cover this issue.
A transcript of the April 5 GMA segment, which aired at 7:14am EDT, follows:
GEORGE
STEPHANOPOULOS: Time, now, for the controversy swirling around the
Masters golf tournament which begins today. The big question, will the
Augusta National Golf Club finally admit women? Josh is all over this
for ABC News. He's here on the other side of the desk for the latest
now. And we may be hitting a tipping point.
ABC GRAPHIC: Secretive Sanctuary: Cry to Allow Women at Golf Club
JOSH ELLIOTT: Indeed, we may. And, again, for almost 80 years now,
Augusta National has been all male and resisted all pressure to go
co-ed. But, today, that polarizing tradition may be all but over,
because IBM is one of the tournament's major sponsors. And IBM's new CEO
just happens to be a woman.
For nearly 80 years, the storied fairways and greens of
Augusta National, home of the Masters, have remained cloistered, a
secretive sanctuary for golfers and one that has never admitted
a woman. But Virginia Rometty isn't just any woman. The trail blazing
executives, ne of Fortune's "50 powerful women in business" seven years
running, is now the first female CEO of IBM. And the chief executive at
IBM, a longtime Masters sponsor, has traditionally been offered a club
membership. Yet, as the tournament begins this morning, Augusta Chairman
Billy Payne refuses to say which tradition Rometty will alter.
REPORTER'S VOICE: One of the changes that hasn't happened to the club
is the all-male membership. I am wondering if you ever foresee that
changing?
BILLY PAYNE: All issues for membership are now, and have been
historically subject to the private deliberations of the members.
ELLIOTT: Augusta National is so secretive it won't reveal the name of
its members, or even how many of them there are. Reportedly there are
300, all by invitation only. And while Augusta won't admit to an
official no-woman policy, the fact remains, there have been no female
members.
FEMALE REPORTER VOICE: As a grandfather, what would you say to
your granddaughters, how would you explain leading a club that does not
include female membership?
PAYNE: Once again, though expressed quite artfully, I think that's a question that deals with membership.
ELLIOTT: So, will Virginia Rometty break up the Augusta Nationals boys club?
CHRISTINE BRENNAN (ABC News consultant): Augusta National wants this
old boys club from the 1940s or '50s and here comes the 21st century and
women are in charge of companies. And in this case, a woman happens to
be in charge of a company that sponsors the Masters.
ELLIOTT: Now, Augusta National is nothing if it is not
tradition-bound, but it has broken course before. In 1990, it admitted
its first black member. And while it's able to deflect such pressures
before, 22 years later, those pressures, guys, were always put on them
by outsiders. But now, here we are, on the inside. And the face
of this issue just happens to be one of the most powerful executives in
the country.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But, even if it happens, it will not happen before the tournament ends this year.
ELLIOTT: It will not happen before the tournament ends this year.
However, it will be revisited and it is hard to see how they will betray
their own tradition and not give the CEO of IBM a membership.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Boy, it sure is. Okay, Josh. Thanks very much.
KATIE COURIC: I mean, really. Get with the program. Seriously? [Laughter from Stephanopoulos. Couric shakes head.] Okay.
-- Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
