[WCUSP] Amazon's Negative Review of Carter's book

[yvonne simmons]

> This is something that we could get behind, don't
you think? Yvonne

> Subj: Amazon and Jimmy Carter.
> Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:20:45 +0000
> 
> As you all know, the war in the Middle East is not
> only fought on the
> ground, but also in the Media, predominantly the US
> media.
> 
> PLEASE copy and paste this email and keep sending it
> to Jeff Bezos,
> CEO of Amazon. jeff at amazon.com . Send the letter to
> friends you know
> care and will do something.
> 
> To: Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com
> 
> As longtime Amazon customers, we are deeply
> disturbed by your
> treatment of Jimmy Carter's important new book,
> Palestine: Peace Not
> Apartheid. Under the "Editorial Reviews" heading - a
> space normally
> used either for the publisher's own description of a
> book, or for
> short, even-handed summaries from listing services
> such as Booklist
> and Publishers Weekly - you insist on running the
> complete,
> 20-paragraph, 1,636-word text of a review
> unabashedly hostile to
> Carter's viewpoint. You have refused to add
> information shoppers
> should have in evaluating this review: the fact that
> the reviewer,
> Jeffrey Goldberg, is a citizen of Israel as well as
> the United States,
> and that he volunteered to serve in the Israeli
> Defense Forces, for
> which he worked as a guard at 
> a prison for Palestinian detainees. And you have
> refused to balance
> his negative review by giving comparable space to a
> favorable
> assessment of the book, even though positive reviews
> by qualified
> experts have appeared in many reputable
> publications.
> 
> Because giving so much space in this location to
> such a negative
> review is so unusual - if not unprecedented - for
> Amazon, because you
> have refused requests from many customers that you
> take a more
> balanced approach, we can only conclude that you are
> deliberately
> trying to discourage shoppers from ordering the
> former President's book.
> 
> This is contrary to Amazon's own interests as a
> bookseller. More
> important, it's also contrary to the interests of
> understanding,
> peace, and justice for all parties to the
> Israel/Palestine conflict.
> 
> We are not interested in supporting a corporation
> that uses its power
> in the marketplace in such a biased and
> unconstructive way on such an
> important issue.
> 
> Accordingly, if you do not, by Jan. 22, remove the
> Goldberg review,
> move it to the more appropriate "See all Editorial
> Reviews" page, or
> restore a semblance of balance by giving comparable
> space and
> prominence to a more positive evaluation of
> Palestine: Peace Not
> Apartheid, we the undersigned pledge to:
> 
> 1. Stop shopping at Amazon.com;
> 2. Completely close our accounts on your service;
> and
> 3. Encourage our friends, family, and associates to
> do likewise.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> The Undersigned
> 
> --- End forwarded message ---
> 
> __._,_.___  
> 
> 
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> 



 
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