You most likely have heard about Tiger Woods’ arrest on DUI charges early Monday morning. It’s another setback in Woods’ personal life. And you’ve probably seen the mugshot that’s been cirulated across the internet throughout the day.
However, in a strange case of editorial judgment, ESPN elected to photoshop the mugshot in reporting on Woods’ arrest.
UPDATE: ESPN has issued the following statement on the photoshop:
We have utilized a standard template for on-air headshots, which led to the background being dropped for consistency. We will revisit this process to improve it going forward.
Golf journalist Geoff Shakelford noticed the difference in mugshots and tweeted it out:
On a scale of 1 to Nick Nolte, I'd say this mug shot is an 8. Unless you are looking at the Photoshopped @SportsCenter version. pic.twitter.com/ZqeFUcLW7M
— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) May 29, 2017
You can notice immediately that instead of messy hair at the top of Woods’ head, someone at ESPN decided to clean it up so it can it in the “Breaking News” banner. Why this decision was made is unknown, but even more bizarre is that it showed the real mugshot next to the photoshopped version.
@GeoffShac @GCTigerTracker @SportsCenter weird, they show the real one but still have the photoshopped one on the left pic.twitter.com/8GfXgNBEAb
— TJR (@TJR) May 29, 2017
And it led to reaction like this:
Why would ESPN photoshop Tiger Wood's mugshot to make his hair look better lol
— CON (@connrohhh) May 29, 2017
That is the question. Why would ESPN elect to smooth out Woods’ hair? It’s very strange.