SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A collection of the local news stations that uncritically aired Amazon propaganda. (Image: screenshot/Courier News)
Local TV Stations Pilloried for 'Shamelessly' Passing Off Amazon-Scripted Propaganda as News
"Jeff Bezos can run as many scripted news segments he wants. It still doesn't change the fact that he made $34.5 billion over the course of this pandemic while putting his workers in harm's way and shirking on their hazard pay."
May 27, 2020
At least 10 local news stations around the country aired corporate propaganda from online retail giant Amazon praising the company's worker safety protocols ahead of a shareholders meeting on Wednesday where investors are expected to demand better protections for employees from the company's leadership, including CEO Jeff Bezos.
"Maybe Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, should focus on providing all his workers with paid sick leave instead of pushing out propaganda to local news stations."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders
"Jeff Bezos can run as many scripted news segments he wants," tweeted advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness. "It still doesn't change the fact that he made $34.5 billion over the course of this pandemic while putting his workers in harm's way and shirking on their hazard pay."
Courier journalist Tim Burke broke the story Tuesday in an article featuring a video showing anchors from the various stations parroting the script.
Watch:
As Burke explained, the majority of the stations running the package did not acknowledge the material was produced by Amazon spokesperson Todd Walker or that the package came from the company:
Only one station, Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG, acknowledged that Walker was an Amazon employee, not a news reporter. WTVG and WGXA in Macon, Georgia, noted that Amazon had supplied the video.
The segments, which ran about a minute long, praised Amazon's commitment to employee safety and the roll out of new preventive measures at facilities around the nation. The company sent a prepared script (pdf) and video package to producers, as Oklahoma City KOCO 5 anchor Zach Kael said on Twitter.
"No," said Kael, suggesting a different approach to reporting on the Amazon's protocols. "Let us go inside a fulfillment centers with our own cameras."
The retailer has come under fire over its apparent lack of interest in protecting employee safety in the face of increased demand for products.
As the Verge reported, Amazon's record leaves much to be desired despite the claims of its propaganda:
So far, eight Amazon workers have died of the virus, according to media reports, and countless others have been infected. Yet, Amazon has come under fire for refusing to disclose concrete numbers around COVID-19 infections, cracking down on worker protests against safety conditions and failing to inform some workers when their colleagues have become ill.
Syracuse University communications professor Robert Thompson told NBC News that there was no excuse for stations airing the segments.
"Shamelessly airing portions of something someone else produced, it would be like reporting on new studies about vaping and having it produced by Juul," said Thompson.
Bottom lines, tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is that there is no excuse for Bezos and Amazon to invest in propaganda rather than worker safety in the midst of a pandemic.
"Maybe Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, should focus on providing all his workers with paid sick leave instead of pushing out propaganda to local news stations," said Sanders.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
At least 10 local news stations around the country aired corporate propaganda from online retail giant Amazon praising the company's worker safety protocols ahead of a shareholders meeting on Wednesday where investors are expected to demand better protections for employees from the company's leadership, including CEO Jeff Bezos.
"Maybe Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, should focus on providing all his workers with paid sick leave instead of pushing out propaganda to local news stations."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders
"Jeff Bezos can run as many scripted news segments he wants," tweeted advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness. "It still doesn't change the fact that he made $34.5 billion over the course of this pandemic while putting his workers in harm's way and shirking on their hazard pay."
Courier journalist Tim Burke broke the story Tuesday in an article featuring a video showing anchors from the various stations parroting the script.
Watch:
As Burke explained, the majority of the stations running the package did not acknowledge the material was produced by Amazon spokesperson Todd Walker or that the package came from the company:
Only one station, Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG, acknowledged that Walker was an Amazon employee, not a news reporter. WTVG and WGXA in Macon, Georgia, noted that Amazon had supplied the video.
The segments, which ran about a minute long, praised Amazon's commitment to employee safety and the roll out of new preventive measures at facilities around the nation. The company sent a prepared script (pdf) and video package to producers, as Oklahoma City KOCO 5 anchor Zach Kael said on Twitter.
"No," said Kael, suggesting a different approach to reporting on the Amazon's protocols. "Let us go inside a fulfillment centers with our own cameras."
The retailer has come under fire over its apparent lack of interest in protecting employee safety in the face of increased demand for products.
As the Verge reported, Amazon's record leaves much to be desired despite the claims of its propaganda:
So far, eight Amazon workers have died of the virus, according to media reports, and countless others have been infected. Yet, Amazon has come under fire for refusing to disclose concrete numbers around COVID-19 infections, cracking down on worker protests against safety conditions and failing to inform some workers when their colleagues have become ill.
Syracuse University communications professor Robert Thompson told NBC News that there was no excuse for stations airing the segments.
"Shamelessly airing portions of something someone else produced, it would be like reporting on new studies about vaping and having it produced by Juul," said Thompson.
Bottom lines, tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is that there is no excuse for Bezos and Amazon to invest in propaganda rather than worker safety in the midst of a pandemic.
"Maybe Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, should focus on providing all his workers with paid sick leave instead of pushing out propaganda to local news stations," said Sanders.
At least 10 local news stations around the country aired corporate propaganda from online retail giant Amazon praising the company's worker safety protocols ahead of a shareholders meeting on Wednesday where investors are expected to demand better protections for employees from the company's leadership, including CEO Jeff Bezos.
"Maybe Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, should focus on providing all his workers with paid sick leave instead of pushing out propaganda to local news stations."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders
"Jeff Bezos can run as many scripted news segments he wants," tweeted advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness. "It still doesn't change the fact that he made $34.5 billion over the course of this pandemic while putting his workers in harm's way and shirking on their hazard pay."
Courier journalist Tim Burke broke the story Tuesday in an article featuring a video showing anchors from the various stations parroting the script.
Watch:
As Burke explained, the majority of the stations running the package did not acknowledge the material was produced by Amazon spokesperson Todd Walker or that the package came from the company:
Only one station, Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG, acknowledged that Walker was an Amazon employee, not a news reporter. WTVG and WGXA in Macon, Georgia, noted that Amazon had supplied the video.
The segments, which ran about a minute long, praised Amazon's commitment to employee safety and the roll out of new preventive measures at facilities around the nation. The company sent a prepared script (pdf) and video package to producers, as Oklahoma City KOCO 5 anchor Zach Kael said on Twitter.
"No," said Kael, suggesting a different approach to reporting on the Amazon's protocols. "Let us go inside a fulfillment centers with our own cameras."
The retailer has come under fire over its apparent lack of interest in protecting employee safety in the face of increased demand for products.
As the Verge reported, Amazon's record leaves much to be desired despite the claims of its propaganda:
So far, eight Amazon workers have died of the virus, according to media reports, and countless others have been infected. Yet, Amazon has come under fire for refusing to disclose concrete numbers around COVID-19 infections, cracking down on worker protests against safety conditions and failing to inform some workers when their colleagues have become ill.
Syracuse University communications professor Robert Thompson told NBC News that there was no excuse for stations airing the segments.
"Shamelessly airing portions of something someone else produced, it would be like reporting on new studies about vaping and having it produced by Juul," said Thompson.
Bottom lines, tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is that there is no excuse for Bezos and Amazon to invest in propaganda rather than worker safety in the midst of a pandemic.
"Maybe Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, should focus on providing all his workers with paid sick leave instead of pushing out propaganda to local news stations," said Sanders.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.