MediaVidea

Memo to Mark Cuban: Bloggers aren’t going anywhere

Dear Mark, you write in your blog (hope you note the irony) that since “anyone can be a blogger in 10 seconds”, you were forced to make a judgment call and you banned bloggers from accessing your Dallas Mavericks team.

What was it that you didn’t like about Bloggers?
- Did they not hero worship you, like the clueless mainstream people do?
- Was it the trademark bite and spite from bloggers, which you thought wouldn’t gel well with the Mavericks’ fantastic comeback run?
- Is it about controlling the message?

You write that a blog is a blog is a blog.
Yes indeed. A blogger can do things a news reporter cannot. It was a blog that brought the Larry Craig story to light. Bloggers are in jail in countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia for daring to speak out. Bloggers are running for political power in Thailand and Ukraine.
I can go on and on…

You say that ‘there is TV, and there is HBO’.
Agreed, American Idol is for kids, but what about PBS? Bad analogies do not a argument make. Public broadcasting and Free voice are the touchstones of democracy, always building beachheads against the relentless tides of hidden agendas and stakes.

You became rich by making a fool out of Yahoo.
Wikipedia notes that the sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo for, what was it, $5.7 million, was a ‘silicon valley joke’ - As of 2007, neither broadcast.com nor broadcast.yahoo.com are distinct web addresses.

Point is, you made it big, playing all the 'right' cards in the Digital Industry.
Hell, in some circles, they even consider you as free-wheeling ‘maverick’, a poster boy for ‘get rich quick’ dreams – please do not kick your fellow bloggers into a digital ghetto.

Your blogger ban is plain silly.
Some day, the Mavericks may hit a trough, as is the circle of life, and then it will be a lonely fan who will blog on for your team, galvanizing other fans, not some big media outfit, which prefers to ride with the stars only.

Do what is right.

Peace.

Labels: blogging. ethics, censorship, citizen journalism, controversey, dallas mavericks, mark cuban

posted by Pramit Singh @ 3:06 PM