About

Amazon Local News Script refers to a viral video featuring clips of 11 separate local news broadcasts reading the same script about Amazon's response to the coronavirus and workplace safety. The script and segment footage were reportedly written and produced by Amazon's public relations team.

Origin

On May 26th, 2020, Courier Newsroom published the video on YouTube. In the video description, they wrote, "Amazon is taking proactive action ahead of Wednesday's annual shareholders meeting--at which investors plan on demanding the company address worker safety issues after at least eight warehouse employees have died of Covid-19--by pushing a propaganda package to local news outlets that promote the corporation's health and safety efforts." The post received more than 360,000 views and 8,600 likes in less than one week (shown below).

Precursor

Prior to the release of the video, KOCO 5 morning anchor tweeted, ^[1] "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 center with our own cameras…" They also included the script and shot list for the segment. Within one week, the tweet received more than 7,100 likes and 2,800 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

Spread

In conjunction with the release of the video, Courier Newsroom posted the script and stations that aired the segment. They wrote:

WTVJ-NBC, Miami, FL
WKRN-ABC, Nashville, TN
WLEX-NBC, Lexington, KY (ran twice)
WVVA-NBC, Bluefield, WV
WTVM-ABC, Columbus, GA (ran twice)
KMIR-NBC, Palm Springs, CA (ran three times)
WBTW-CBS, Myrtle Beach, SC
WOAY-ABC, Bluefield, WV (ran twice)

When Courier reached out to the Bluefield, West Virginia NBC affiliate, WVVA, news director Wes Armstead said, "I was not aware the package was provided by Amazon. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Vice ^[3] also published a report on the segment. They report that "Each anchor introduces the script then throws to an Amazon-produced look "inside" an Amazon fulfillment center, which is narrated by Amazon spokesperson Todd Walker."

Each station introduced Walker as though he were one of their own reporters. He is, in fact, a "PR manager" at Amazon, according to his LinkedIn page. Walker used to be a broadcast journalist, according to his personal website and a sizzle reel he produced for his site.

Days before the segment aired, Amazon sent the video footage with Walker's narration in a press release.^[4]

An Amazon spokesperson told Vice:

We welcome reporters into our buildings and it's misleading to suggest otherwise. This type of video was created to share an inside look into the health and safety measures we've rolled out in our buildings and was intended for reporters who for a variety of reasons weren't able to come tour one of our sites themselves.

That day, Redditor ^[2] wongmjane shared the video in the /r/videos subreddit. The post received more than 55,000 points (92% upvoted) and 2,800 comments in less than two days.

The Facebook group PeopleForBernie also shared the Vice report. The post received more than 3,800 reactions, 1,900 shares and 240 comments in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Search Interest

Not available.

External References