TJ Walker breaks down Amazon's hiring of former White House press secretary Jay Carney as a shift toward aggressive public relations. He connects it to regulatory pressure and notes Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, arguing Amazon is finally abandoning its strategy of silence and minimal engagement with the media.
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Amazon has hired former White House press secretary Jay Carney. What does this mean?
Interesting development as it relates to Amazon. Now those of you who follow Amazon in the news know that the most common situation you see in any story.
Written about Amazon is seeing a quote.
That says something like and an Amazon spokesperson refused to comment. In fact, the two easiest jobs in the world that I can think of.
Are basically Rush Limbaugh's fact checker and.
Being an Amazon spokesperson. Because it seems as though the Amazon.
Spokesperson can sort of show up at.
4 o' clock every day, check emails for about 10 minutes and just write emails back to the media saying, sorry, no comment.
So why does Amazon need to spend presumably at least a million dollars a year on someone as high profile, credentialed and experienced as Jay Carney? I have to assume they're going to be changing their strategy and be willing to answer questions more, to speak out and have a more aggressive public affairs profile. Now Jeff Bezos, who is the founder of Amazon, has purchased the Washington Post.
As you may recall, a year ago or so. Maybe he's developed a newfound appreciation for.
The news media and answering questions, I don't know.
But one thing is certain. Amazon is going to be facing more.
Scrutiny from regulators, from politicians, from Congress, from consumer groups, from consumers and from startup competition.
And as successful as Amazon is, they're.
Really not very profitable.
Now, like a lot of people, I have a love hate relationship with Amazon.
On the one hand, I hate the way that they seem to be essentially arrogant, not willing to ask questions when reporters are trying to talk to them about some of their practices, some of their monopolies, their effect on publishing.
On the other hand, I love Amazon in that I basically buy products every.
Day or it's a rare day indeed. I don't buy something from Amazon and I have their Amazon prime program and I have their all you can eat Amazon reader program where they charge me every month and I have unlimited books and I sell books and videos and DVDs through Amazon. So I'll admit I'm conflicted like a lot of people. But I do think it's time that they start treating their public profile a little more seriously. I think they've just gotten sort of fat and lazy thinking, hey, everybody loves us because we have one click and they buy products from us all the time so we can ignore the tough questions. That only works so long. The questions are only going to get tougher for Amazon and Jay Carney. I think they found someone who does know how to face tough questions and does know how to answer them.
