Uber Exec Proposes Smear Campaign on Journalists to Stop Bad Press

Smear campaigns are always bad business, but are becoming all the more common the Internet. The latest attempt at a smear campaign comes from Uber’s senior vice president of business, Emil Michael.
The Uber exec – at a dinner party with several journalists present – said he would pay “one million dollars” for a smear campaign on PandoDaily editor-in-chief Sarah Lacy, who wrote an article crediting Uber of “sexism and misogyny”, after a report showed Uber were offering “hot chick drivers” in France.

Michael has since come out and said this was a private conversation, out of frustration for the news site. Uber has responded as well, claiming this is not a view the company reflects.
Uber has received a lot of bad press over the past few months, with poor business practices leading many off the taxi service. Most of the customer reviews for Uber appear to be fine and  the majority of drivers say Uber has brought them more income.
However, Lyft, a rival service, claims Uber has been trying to push them out of business. Uber reportedly order up to 5,000 cabs on Lyft’s service, but cancelled them at the last minute, to slow down Lyft’s service. Uber also tried to poach Lyft drivers to Uber, by sending recruiters to the driver’s cab and pitching while getting a ride. These “pitches” would include free gifts, like an iPhone.