The human side of business

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CNN.

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Dear CNN,

As I watched your recent interview with Mark Zuckerburg, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. Not because the tech titan now finds himself in the middle of a data sh$t storm, but because your reporter conducting the interview, Laurie Segall, appeared to be flirting the Facebook CEO into answering questions. In this age of #metoo and equal pay, are you serious?

Did CNN intentionally enlist a beautiful female reporter – and then instruct her to bat her eyelashes, cock head suggestively and use a modulated voice to intentionally coax sound bites out of the normally private Zuckerberg?

Here’s the message you sent viewers.

We need to be seductive to get information.
We need to employ mating signals to make men trust us.
We can’t be forthright when asking for appropriate information.
Our voices have to be soothing and gentle to be persuasive.

I wonder if it ever crosses the minds of Anderson Cooper or Don Lemon to modify their behaviors in these ways. Erin Burnett certainly does not appear to.

CNN, you may have a lot on your plate in the age of fake news and perpetual fact checking, but I’m pretty sure Ms. Segall could have gotten the same information by just being the grounded, legitimate journalist she already is.

These kinds of shenanigans really date you as a news organization.

Please don’t encourage them.

Regards,

Every woman you know

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SMARTY began as a thriving community in Los Angeles and Boston with weekly panel discussions and events designed to better understand the mindset and growth strategies behind successful entrepreneurs. Today, SMARTY is a weekly blog written by Amy Swift Crosby who chronicles her life as a creative, parent, entrepreneur and spiritual seeker. As an urban refugee living in a New England seaside village, she unpacks topics ranging from uncertainty and doubt to the built environment and advertising. More on Amy.

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