Amazon.com bows to public pressure over Carter book
pressesc.com
>>Amazon.com made the extraordinarily hostile editorial review of former President Jimmy Carter's book on Palestine less prominent after an online petition by angry shoppers garnered more than 18,000 votes condemning the online retailer’s actions.
The petition addressed to CEO Jeff Bezos complained that Amazon had abandoned its usual evenhandedness in the presentation of controversial books by posting the full text of a lengthy attack on Carter's Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid in its "Editorial Reviews" section – and repeatedly refusing customer requests that it add a more positive review in the same location for balance.
In signing the petition, customers pledged to stop shopping at Amazon and close their accounts there if the retailer did not come up with a more balanced version of the page by 22 January.
A copy of the petition, some 16,200 signatures, and supporting materials were sent to Bezos and his staff on Friday, 19 January.
The "Editorial Reviews" section of the page listing Carter's book was completely overhauled for first time in almost a month the following morning.
It now begins with a glowing tribute from Amazon to the former president's chievements and an interview with him about the book, plus a photo of him and graphic links to some of his other books - all new material, and all of it posted ahead of the negative review.
"This is a huge victory," said Henry Norr, the Berkeley, CA-based former journalist who initiated the petition. "The whole tone of the page is different now. Instead of saying, in effect, 'Stay away from this vile book,' what it now conveys is the truth: that this is an important and fair-minded, even if controversial, book by a distinguished American who has unique qualifications to address the issue of Palestine." << |
