'Fake Steve Jobs' attacks CNBC in on-air tirade

Clarification at 7:02 a.m. PST: This article originally noted Silicon Alley Insider's report that Dan Lyons has been banned from CNBC. A CNBC representative disputes that assertion.

Newsweek columnist Dan Lyons, whose anonymous "Fake Steve Jobs" satire blog took the tech world by storm in 2007 went on a blunt rant on cable network CNBC that questioned its journalistic tactics--but contrary to a blog report, CNBC says he has not been banned from appearing on the network.

Lyons was facing off against CNBC's Silicon Valley bureau chief, Jim Goldman, in a segment about the sudden news on Wednesday afternoon that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would be taking a medical leave of absence following conflicting rumors and reports about his health.

Here's what happened: Gizmodo, a well-established gadget blog owned by Gawker Media, had reported that Jobs' health was "declining rapidly" and that his medical state was the reason that he would not be giving his traditional keynote address at the Macworld Expo. Goldman quickly shot down the rumor, citing sources; Jobs underwent treatment for pancreatic cancer in the past, but Apple had repeatedly insisted that he was now healthy.

Days later, Jobs said he had been diagnosed with a "hormone imbalance," implying that it was the reason he stepped down from the Macworld appearance. Goldman had been wrong. Then, on Wednesday, Jobs announced that he was taking the aforementioned leave of absence and that Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook would handle management in the interim.

"You can try to backpedal and say that what you reported was true," Lyons said to Goldman on CNBC, adding that the broadcast journalist had been "played" and "punked" by his sources at Apple, "but look, you should apologize to Gizmodo for having criticized them and apologize to your viewers for having gotten it so wrong."

He also took a direct dig at the credibility of CNBC, asking, "Why have a bureau out in Silicon Valley?"

Silicon Alley Insider later reported that Lyons had been banned from the cable network for life. CNBC spokesman Kevin Goldman told CNET News that this is not true and that Lyons has not been banned from the network.

Lyons, while an editor at Forbes, started the anonymous "Secret Diary of Steve Jobs" blog and continued writing it, even after he was outed as the author. He spun the blog off into a book, Options, and later left Forbes for Newsweek. Around the time he made his job switch, he stopped writing as "Fake Steve."

An additional correction was made at 8:40 a.m. PT. Dan Lyons used to be an editor at Forbes, not Fortune.

[bugfreezer]

CNBC was "big enough to take the criticism" Ha!

Oops, now I will be banned for life...Darn!

[mhickins]

Steve Lyons is a hypocrite and a serial dissembler. He called the offices of PC Week in the 1990s, after having been fired, and, pretending to be an outraged source, threatened to put a hit on his former editor. Later, as we all know, he hid behind the skirts of Fake Steve Jobs until he was about to be unmasked, at which point he fessed up in order to be spared ridicule. He has used his lofty perch to attack the integrity of rival reporters--such as Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols--to make himself feel better. Meanwhile, Lyons isn't capable of doing real reporting, and his fake crusade for journalistic integrity is a veil to conceal his own well-deserved inferiority complex.

[J. Blow]

Puuleeezzeee - FSJ was awesome. Lyons did and has done at Newsweek, a great job tearing down some of the massive pomposity not only within Apple but other companies.

Go Dan!

[Penguinisto]

It gets better... when Lyons was taking up SCO's cause (in SCO v. IBM) over Linux, Lyons blasted Pamela Jones of the website Groklaw, who turned out to be right.

Lyons' response after SCO's case got nuked by the courts? A snivelling semi-flaccid paragraph or two pretending to be a mea culpa, buried nice and deep in his blog.

Lyons has zero credibility in the tech community these days, as evidenced by his appearance on the little-watched CNBC, and not, say, CNN or Fox. He can make his home in the trash heap of tabloid journalism, one that's also occupied by Rob Enderle and Laura DiDio...

/P

[jusben1369]

Goldman was punk'd. Get over it.

[descottdc]

Banned for life for that??? Come on, I've seen bigger arguements on Sponge Bob.

[themainbreeze]

Dan Lyons is a sick puppy. CNBC should not lower the standards of journalism and their credibility and reputation by giving him a platform to spew venom

[miles4444]

Jim just got it wrong and he should say so!

[rmva]

Don't think anyone here is pure as the driven snow. Always thought that Goldman was a blatant Apple fanboy. One sure way to get bounced from CNBC is to make a stink in front of Matheson. He's the boss.

[affinity13]

What the hell....these people are looking at medical issues like they are technical issues....idiots...Jobs is sick...and they are worried about when and how this was told to the world...Leave the man be and hope he has a full recovery...these talking heads are idiots...

[rapier1]

It makes a difference to the shareholders. Like it or not the common perception is that Apple is Steve Jobs and Apple won't be Apple without him. This may not be true but that's the perception especially amoung investors. As such issues that affect his ability to lead the company have real world impact. How he disclosed this information makes a difference to these people which is why they are discussing it.

[pbradleyii]

Not that it makes a difference to the story, but Dan worked for Forbes, not Fortune. I know all those magazines for rich white guys are hard to tell apart.

[ralfthedog]

Sometimes health problems are like Russian dolls and onions. You start with one problem, think you have it fixed, then there is another problem under the first. Mr. Job's doctors may have thought the weight loss was due to complications from the surgery. Then they might have found that he did have a hormone imbalance. Now they MIGHT have found a problem causing the hormone imbalance.

It is quite probable that Apple has been completely accurate in there descriptions of Mr. Job's problems at the time of the press releases. It is also quite possible that he just needs some stress free time to get well. All any of us are qualified to say is good luck and best wishes.

[ecotopian--2008]

While I'll admit that Apple's, and Jobs', decisions may have contributed to the problem, I hate to see this petty squabbling over what should remain, IMHO a private matter. It is always difficult for a public personage to maintain privacy, but Jobs' health isn't to be investigated like a crime: What did he know, and when did he know it? Come on, Steve Jobs may be dying. He's not the President, and he hasn't committed any crimes. He is a creative innovator who has changed the world over & over. He doesn't owe these journo punks the time of day. The world without Steve Jobs will be a sorrier place. And for those who insist the health of AAPL is tied to Jobs, and therefore he somehow owes us something: You are disgusting. Talk about placing Money above Morality. Give it a rest. AAPL will be fine without Jobs there every day. He assembled the best team in the world, and I'm sure he has confidence in their ability to remain at the top of their game. I do, and I'd buy more AAPL soon if I could come up with the dough.

[neumann103]

How do you pick a favourite in a pit full of vipers?

Apple has always made some good products but ridiculously overpriced and overhyped them and the religiosity of the MacTards and their veneration of Saint Steve doesn't help. Google MacWheel and find the Onion's on target satire.

CNBC set a standard for "stock analyst" puffery and promotion disguised as news in the run up to the dotcom bubble and the Enron/Worldcom/Tyco/Global Crossing fraudscape and governance meltdown.

The real and shameful failure of corporate governance has led to many attempts to improve this through sideshows of reporting like Sarbanes Oxley, or public viewing of the CEO's stool sample. It is a ******** distraction that ties companies up in reporting nonsense and frees them up to continue massively imprudent mismanagement (Wall Street) or obsessive focus on day to day fluctuations of the stock price (any publicly traded company). It is hard to criticize corporate governors or management for not having an executive succession plan that looks ahead 6 months when everything encourages them to not plan their business past today's market close.

The fake steve jobs blog was hilarious but Dan Lyons is scum. I find it hard to believe that he attacks CNBC for falling prey to the sophisticated Apple PR machine when this asshat referred to independent analysis of the SCO vs IBM lawsuit published on Groklaw as "to bash software maker SCO Group in its Linux patent lawsuit against IBM, producing laughably biased, pro-IBMcoverage". His foundation for treating a completely baseless absurd constantly changing greenmail lawsuit by "SCO" was essentially "some guys from SCO told me they have some really really good evidence but they can't show me." Or anyone. Ever. As it turns out.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Maybe he has "fake pancreatic cancer".