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I mean, splashed all over CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News as they cackle a little that the darling of the liberal establishment (is it?) takes a hit to its reputation.

http://www.safetynewsalert.com/amazon-warehouse-investigated-by-osha/

• June 2, 2011: An Amazon warehouse worker told OSHA the heat index inside the warehouse hit 102° and 15 workers collapsed. The worker said employees who left due to the heat received disciplinary points.









• July 25: An Amazon security guard called OSHA to report the heat indoors exceeded 110°. The guard said two pregnant women were taken to nurses and Amazon wouldn’t open dock doors to help air circulation. Employees said the doors were kept closed because of Amazon’s concerns about theft. While no one says the Amazon dock doors were locked, such situations have contributed to some of the largest workplace disasters in U.S. history.

I think journalists have largely lost their ability to develop a story in steady eddie fashion. It's either wall-to-wall saturation coverage or nothing. These folks seem to have a very hard time finding a middle road. And obviously, a high threshold for saturation coverage, and perhaps even more so for an anti-corporate story. Even if not a potential advertiser, might spook other advertisers.

Plus, as someone astutely pointed out in a discussion on Chat, this is precisely the kind of scare stories which parents use in various attempts to motivate their kids to take school more seriously. Hey, if you're not going to buckle down for 10th grade chemistry, these are kind of jobs you may end up with. So yes, a public discussion of this story would have major elements of moral desert and all that. Of course it would.

All the same, what if this had become a really major story?
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