Remember when Sinclair took over a large number of local news stations? The right-wing news corporation bought local news stations across the United States. When Donald Trump decried “Fake News!” to be any news that was unflattering to him, Sinclair was quick to parrot his narrative. They told viewers that, essentially, only the conservative, president-approved networks could be trusted, like the one they were watching.
How America's largest local TV owner turned its news anchors into soldiers in Trump's war on the media: https://t.co/iLVtKRQycL pic.twitter.com/dMdSGellH3
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) March 31, 2018
Now we have a similar video. While the origin may not be as sinister as a corporation buying up news stations for the purpose of spreading pro-Trump propaganda, it’s still a dangerous new precedent. With people concerned over the treatment of Amazon employees, Amazon decided to write their own news story.
Literally.
Unfortunately, many local news stations ran that corporate propaganda as an actual story.
Corporate Propaganda
Public Relations (PR) teams are often quick to squash bad press. They often send out press releases, in the hopes the responsible journalists will include them in their articles, so that the company’s side of the story is told. I’ve done it. Often, when a story seems all against a company, you have to provide their side. It’s important to allow readers to decide what to believe when the truth isn’t clear. But that’s not what happened here.
Instead, we saw the same news story, the same B-roll footage, the same scripts, and the same message, across numerous local new stations. Many didn’t even know the “report” came from Amazon. However, the entire package was produced by one person: Amazon spokesperson Todd Walker. The purpose, it would seem, was to control what people saw inside Amazon’s warehouses. The “glimpse inside” was just Amazon’s own marketing materials. Some reporters, like Koko 5’s Zach Rael in Oklahoma City, demanded actual inside access to Amazon’s warehouses. Rael even published the materials that Amazon sent his station.
Just got an email from Amazon’s PR team with a pre-edited news story and script to run in our shows. They are selling this as giving our viewers an “inside look” at the company’s response to COVID-19.
No.
Let us go inside a fulfillment centers with our own cameras… pic.twitter.com/7mDk2xmf4O
— Zach Rael (@KOCOZach) May 24, 2020
Image Control
Amazon’s not just worried about whether or not consumers still trust the brand (they don’t). The company has squashed protests, enforced unsanitary working conditions that leave employees without bathroom breaks, and overworked employees to the point of injury. Many do so while making far less than they should, especially considering the company has made its owner, Jeff Bezos, the richest man on Earth. Recently, Amazon has fired whistleblowers at the company, which has attracted the attention of politicians. Some of the firings may have broken state laws.
However, it’s not just consumers that Amazon worries about. It’s shareholders. Tomorrow, Amazon will hold its annual shareholders meeting. There, investors are expected to ask the company about safety issues raised by Amazon warehouse employees. So far, at least eight Amazon employees have died of the virus. They’re asking for social distancing, PPE, sick leave, and warnings when coworkers have become sick so they can quarantine themselves. So far, Amazon has pulled many of the measures that existed to keep employees from getting sick.
Tomorrow’s Amazon’s shareholders meeting. Now they’ll have even more bad press to answer for.
Sources:
- Tim Burke, Courier News Room
- Nick Statt, The Verge