Amazon Attacks -- It's A Jungle Out There

By: Vaughn Ververs
Topics: Blog Buzz

If you thought the flap over Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell was something, take a look at this growing point of contention on the Web – the Amazon assault. Michelle Malkin has all the details about the campaign, apparently led by left-leaning blogs, to use reader reviews on Amazon.com to drive down the site's rankings of conservative tomes.

Initially, the target was a book by Kate O'Beirne, titled "Women Who Make the World Worse." Now, a new book about President Bush by conservative commentator Fred Barnes is under the gun. It's not yet caused Amazon to shut down its reviews, but it's getting some notice. Malkin:

"Bottom line: The Amazon.com review section has become a joke and a cesspool, and if the company cares about its credibility with a large segment of its book-buying audience, it better fix the problem."

Update: As you can see below, several folks weighing in on this topic note that tactics such as trying to drive down Amazon rankings are not new and have been used against those on the left as well. Thanks for the reminder, that point should have been made. As a clarifier, my point was more directed to playing off the Washington Post controversy and what this atmosphere says about the public discourse going forward. I certainly was not attempting to say that either side of the spectrum has a monopoly on these tactics, only that these examples popped up at the same time.