Trump should welcome negative press coverage, says Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos doesn't always look great in the press. He says that's the way it should be.

The billionaire CEO said Thursday night that President Trump is wrong to criticize news outlets for negative coverage, reports CNN Money. Speaking at an event at the Economic Club of Washington, Bezos condemned Trump's comments as "dangerous" to the country. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, which Trump has criticized.

"It's a mistake for any elected official to attack media and journalists," he said, noting that "there's no public figure who's ever liked their headlines. It's okay. It's part of the process." He said that he doesn't "feel the need" to defend Amazon against negative press coverage.

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"What the president should say is, 'This is right, I'm glad I'm being scrutinized,'" Bezos continued. “But it is really dangerous to demonize the media. It is dangerous to call the media lowlifes, it is dangerous to say that they are 'the enemy of the people.'" Trump has repeatedly used that phrase to denounce the media for spreading what he calls "fake news."

Bezos additionally told the audience that Amazon would select its location for its hotly-anticipated second company headquarters by the end of the calendar year. Read more at CNN Money.

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Summer Meza

Summer is news editor at TheWeek.com, and has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School and Santa Clara University, she now lives in New York with two cats.