TOPLINE
At least 11 local TV stations across the U.S. appear to have run identical news packages that Amazon scripted, promoting the company’s efforts to keep drivers and customers healthy as concerns grow about worker safety at the company’s warehouses, with Amazon refusing to say how many of its workers have died from the coronavirus.
02 April 2020, Brandenburg, Kiekebusch: The logo of Amazon, (Amazon.com, Inc., listed US-American ... [+]
KEY FACTS
The TV package, which the left-leaning news outlet Courier Newsroom published as a video montage that widely spread on Tuesday, shows local news anchors reading aloud the scripted segment from Amazon, touting the company’s safety protocols.
A spokesperson for Amazon defended the company sending out the video news release over a news wire—which contained a script as well as video—telling Forbes it was not a promotional video and is common practice for companies.
The release comes as Amazon shareholders plan to press the company on its safety measures when it holds its annual meeting Wednesday, with its market capitalization as of Tuesday sitting at over $1.2 trillion—making it the most valuable company in the world.
Conditions at warehouses—which have remained open throughout the coronavirus pandemic—have come under scrutiny, with workers staging protests demanding further protection from the virus while also asking the company to provide them with paid sick leave.
Questions about those conditions have drawn the attention of a group of over a dozen states’ attorneys general, which sent a letter to Amazon demanding the company release statistics on how many workers at its warehouses and Whole Foods have been infected with coronavirus, as well as how many have died.
In an email sent to a local newsroom and obtained by Forbes, Amazon touts the video footage it sent as “giving viewers for the first time an inside look at its buildings to see how the company has transformed its operations in response to COVID-19.”
KEY BACKGROUND
Amazon has said it’s providing masks and temperature checks to employees and staggering shifts, but warehouse workers say the company hasn’t done enough. Workers have said there’s not enough enforcement of social distancing, and have asked that facilities with infections be shut down and cleaned.
CHIEF CRITICS
The company’s response to coronavirus has drawn the ire of labor activists and Democratic politicians, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lashing out at the company in a tweet Tuesday referencing the Courier Newsroom video.
The TV stations that aired the video have also had their editorial judgment brought into question.
BIG NUMBER
$126.9 billion — That’s the net worth of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
TANGENT
The compilation video sparked memories of a similar montage video published in 2018, where more than 190 anchors at Sinclair
FURTHER READING
WATCH: 11 Local TV Stations Pushed the Same Amazon-Scripted Segment (Courier Newsroom)
Amazon investors want the company to address worker safety at its shareholder meeting (CNBC)
State AGs Demand That Amazon Tell Them How Many Warehouse Workers Have Died From COVID-19 (Forbes)
