Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Amazon Hits Back at The New York Times: Why Now?

Yesterday, Amazon's Jay Carney (former White House Press Secretary) published a post on Medium that criticized the New York Times scathing article published two months ago about Amazon's culture and workplace environment.    The newspaper offered a quick rebuttal.   My question: Why now?  Why offer this rebuttal two months after the article ran?  The controversy had died down, after receiving a great deal of attention two months ago.  Why bring the issues back to the forefront now?  It only serves to remind people about the negative statements and observations made about Amazon's organization.  Moreover, as The New York Times stated, the Carney post did not refute the claims made in the article directly, but instead only pointed out that some of the quotes came from highly disgruntled employees (at least one of whom may have been fired for wrongdoing).   In a situation such as this one, offering a clear rebuttal may be good policy, but timing is important.  You have to move quickly.  In many ways, you only rekindle the controversy by responding now.

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