Amazon Coverage Gets High Marks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Talk about man bites dog: I caught the media committing good journalism on Amazon (AMZN). The online retailer turned communication behemoth is taking a turn toward original comedy production.

It's not that the company made any big-stage announcement. Quite the opposite. Amazon, like Apple (AAPL), tends to be tight-lipped about its plans. That, of course, leads to trouble for journalists, who mostly wait around for companies to tell them their plans. But the passive tact is often problematic, especially for companies not apt to flap their gums.

That's why GigaO did such a good job to inform traders of Amazon's apparent move. How did they find out? A secret leak? A little birdie? Telepathy? Nah, they read the want ads, where Amazon was posting new positions. Expanding into comedy production in a relatively modest way won't help or hinder Amazon's earnings anytime soon. But it is added evidence that Amazon is set on a collision course with Neflix (NFLX), which is doing the same.

On a larger note, you can learn from this admirable effort from GigaOm. Rather than wait for a company to tell you something they may never tell you, journalists--and traders--can get creative. Best of all, creativity can take the form of something as simple as flipping through the Help-Wanteds.

At the time of publication, Fuchs had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this column.

Marek Fuchs was a stockbroker for Shearson Lehman Brothers and a money manager before becoming a journalist who wrote The New York Times' "County Lines" column for six years. He also did back-up beat coverage of The New York Knicks for the paper's Sports section for two seasons and covered other professional and collegiate sports. He has contributed frequently to many of the Times' other sections, including National, Metro, Escapes, Style, Real Estate, Arts & Leisure, Travel, Money & Business, Circuits and the Op-Ed Page.

For his "Business Press Maven" column on how business and finance are covered by the media, Fuchs was named best business journalist critic in the nation by the Talking Biz website at The University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Fuchs is a frequent speaker on the business media, in venues ranging from National Public Radio to the annual conference of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

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