The venerable news program gave Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos a spectacular early Christmas present with its warm embrace of all things Amazon — on the eve of Cyber Monday, no less.
Particularly thoughtful was its worshipful treatment of Bezos' much-ballyhooed December surprise: Amazon's plans (dreams?) to begin delivering the goods in half an hour, via drones. That's right, drones, those devices pretty much known for taking out terrorists in exotic ports of call.
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And the Dronerama was on. The story was rapidly gobbled up and showcased by numerous news outlets, USATODAY.com among them.
It was a masterful publicity coup by Bezos, long known for his media skills.
There was absolutely no news peg for his announcement. You won't be able to receive any goodies from Amazon by Drone Express anytime soon.
But no matter. The net effect was that Amazon was on everyone's lips on a day devoted to digital holiday shopping. Home run — for Bezos, anyway.
Numerous logistical and regulatory issues remain to be thrashed out before the drone drop-offs begin, but you hardly would have known that, thanks to Charlie "Oh My Gosh" Rose's gentle, starstruck handling of the tech billionaire. In a report last month, the FAA said that a "significant challenge" remains before drones can be safely integrated into the nation's air traffic. (To his credit, Bezos did mention that the plan needed FAA approval and wouldn't be implemented right away.)
There wasn't a solitary query during the 14-minute segment about the serious questions that have been raised about working conditions at Amazon.
News magazine 60 Minutes is supposed to be a bastion of skeptical, hard-hitting, two-fisted journalism, right? Surely there must be some tough questioning going on somewhere, even if it hadn't made it on air.
I turned to 60 Minut! es Overtime, a digital supplement to the show — and found yet more gush, with Rose assuring us that he bets Amazon can pull off the drone thing.
Paging Mike Wallace!
You've got to give this to 60 Minutes: It certainly knows how to keep itself in the news, although not always in a good way. The iconic program is still reeling from its dreadful piece on the deadly raid on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
The program has apologized for relying on a rapidly discredited "eyewitness" who told both his employer and the FBI that he had been nowhere near the scene. Last week, CBS News placed its high-profile foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, and the segment's producer, Max McClellan, on leave for their roles in the fiasco.
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"There is a lot to learn from this mistake for the entire organization," Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and executive producer of 60 Minutes, said, quite accurately, of the episode.
Bezos' dazzling promotional skills should help him as he turns his attention to his latest acquisition, The Washington Post. The storied newspaper, like so many other dailies, has struggled mightily at the hands of the digital transformation of the media business.
The hope is that Bezos, with his exceedingly deep pockets, digital savvy and long-view approach to business, will be able to chart a new way not just for the Post but for newspapers in general. If he does, he'll certainly be able to get the message out.
Bezos has told Post staffers that he had rejected suggestions that he mothball the print product and go digital-only. Once he perfects the drones, he should be able to ice any home delivery problems. But it's bad news for kids on bikes.
"What was science-fiction is becoming reality incredibly fast," John Borthwick, CEO of Betaworks, said at a conference on journalism and tech earlier this year.
So it would hardly be a shock if the kinks and hurdles get worked out, and one day, Jeff Bezos i! s deliver! ing his packages by drone.
But that day isn't likely to be quite as imminent as 60 Minutes suggested.
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