Media and Vulnerability
I wanted to interrupt my Dancing with the Stars posts (but not the shameless plugs, call 1 800 VOTE 411 on Monday between 7pm and 830pm ) to discuss what I think has become the hallmark of media coverage.
Vulnerability.
Read any newspaper. Any Magazine. Watch any news program. Any gossip or entertainment program. There is one single them that runs continuously: The Search for Vulnerability.
It doesn't matter what walk of life you are in. It doesn't matter what profession or year in school. Whatever group you participate in or hover around. There is now a blog, website, social network, column, reporter, video, segment and ??? to cover it. The audience size can be 1 or 100 million. It doesn't matter. Someone is out there searching for your vulnerabilities to report or for the vulnerabilities they think you will be interested in knowing about.
There is someone hoping they can snap a picture or video of you at a vulnerable moment that can be leveraged into a payday, career or opportunity. There is someone who wants as many people as possible to think you aren't a good.... you fill in the blank, and then call your boss, senator, customers, friends and tell them why they don't like you and why they shouldn't either.
Why ?
It just seems like there are an ever growing number of people, particularly those in the media, who want to encourage people to find what they think is the worst of people. Their most vulnerable side.
Hopefully at some point this will change. That vulnerability will stop being currency and be a private matter that we all respect as a universal trait.
Mark Cuban co-founded Broadcast.com in 1992 and is currently the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
