Comments on: Who's to blame for spreading phony Jobs story?

Silicon Alley Insider and CNN are at center of controversy surrounding false report that Apple CEO Steve Jobs suffered a heart attack. Citizen journalism may not be solely to blame.

[dean2354]

CNN and accurate news? *** ! It is fake news now produced by CNN, BSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS.

Instead of reporting news, CNN and other news corps are inventing news. I hope CNN and them will go down in flames SOON.

The socalled pundits are paid political animals. The real news era is over.

[Anonymonk0]

"Make an educated and informed decision based on what you know, not just what someone has told you"

Drat, I only know what people have told me. Oh well, back to my iPod which has fixed my life, my Mac which is better and more secure and quite reasonably priced compared to other options and the large spike through my head which, combined with my organic soy-based low carb non-fat low sodium drink (with whipped cream and sprinkles on top) will solve my ongoing inability to find identity.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Apple is the "Sharper Image" of the computer industry.

[bob1xxxx]

LOL ! Ha ha ha! LOL

[SpiritWater]

Jobs didn't look very healthy at the iPod special event. In fact he looked worse than at the WWDC event. I just hope he'll pull-out of his health issues and gain so weight.

Bottom-line, when it comes to his health running Apple is not important. Maybe he should go back to being iCEO and take a year off or more.

Break the Wedge!
www.breakthewedge.com

[Walt Connery]

First, consider the nature of the stock market. It is a primarily rumor-oriented institution. Among people who invest, it is very well known that lots and lots of companies actually pay brokers and other people to spread rumors "on Wall Street" that are good for the sponsors and bad for the competition. Investors often behave like herds of wild animals in that it doesn't take much at all to spook a majority of investors, or else to encourage them to buy. It's greed, of course, on the part of investors who invest not to invest, but rather to turn a quick buck. Pretty much, they're easily convinced of anything because they are perpetually chasing the quick buck. Therefore, what is true is of less concern to them than how their fellow investors are acting at a particular time and with a particular stock.

A very simple regulation could stop this kind of behavior in its tracks: that is, regulating buying and selling so that once you buy a stock you *must keep it* for at least 30 days. I would favor that regulation as it is long overdue.

The Internet is only tangential to this discussion. Rumors abound both on the Internet and outside of the Internet, and "rumors on Wall street" did not begin with the deployment of the www. Not even close.

People who invest are often not too bright, unfortunately. There are some people dumb enough to think that George Bush "runs the government" and that everything they read on the Internet or in a newspaper is the Gospel truth. Not true in either case. Bright people, otoh, have always known this...;)

[humanssssss]

More regulations will hamper the free market. The more you have government controlling your money, the more you will find yourself less interested in working harder. There are a number of studies that show how people behavior when government dictates a person's financial interest. It hinders economic growth.

Fewer government intervention, more detail disclosure will solve a lot of the financial problems we have today. Banks should disclose how much they have on reserve, how much they loan out, their velocity of capital coming in and out on an hourly basis. This will help consumers make better decision and the stock the company will be less volatile. Apply the same methodology to all public companies and you will see the stock market converging to the economy.

[themainbreeze]

"If people believed there were other capable executives and thinkers to keep the company going after Steve dies, this would never have happened. "

Anyone who follows Apple and has any knowledge of the company and it's history knows how capable it's entire executive team is - Moron

[bob1xxxx]

Uh no apple fan boy, thats why the stock took a the tumble, the vast majority of the world has bought in to the apples PR campagin Job= the god of apple, god dies apple dies. And recent history shows this view does hold some water remeber those faboo years of the ex pepsi guy at the helm? Apple folded almost twice in that era. So if Apple real cares about there name and what to protect there shareholders they need to get there crap together show to the world theres more to apple than the wizard of jobs. Then the stock scare will stop.

[Macbrewer]

"How is it possible that a single fraudulent Internet report can wipe away millions or even billions of dollars of market value from one of the world's most powerful technology companies?"

I can't believe you are asking this unbelievably inane question. First of all, people tend to believe CNN, and the Bloget's site runs with it, as if it were a real story, when it was only an internet COMMENT, essentially.

Blodget doesn't exactly have the best track record for integrity, from what I have read.

[Macbrewer]

Almost forgot, this happened LAST WEEK.

Uh, there were some stocks going down last week, even without rumors. Apple's stock is always volatile, but it's seen more growth than the overwhelming majority of all stocks. If you buy and hold for a couple of years (any year in the past 12 years or so, you would have doubled your money. So what if it goes up and down a lot if it mostly goes up.

[gjl229]

Short version: "Citizen Journalism" in this context is an oxymoron. CNET knows that.

The "report" here is precisely the equivalent of an anonymous phone call to the news desk of any mainstream media outlet.

People who publish on that basis are not journalists. They're silly people who relish passing along rumors, particularly the rumors with bad news. We knew them in middle school. Some simply never grew up.

That means you, Mr. Blodgett.

Please don't misunderstand ? I like ireport.com. I've submitted to it and CNN has even picked up some of my photos there.

But we should never mistake it for journalism.

[Heebee Jeebies]

It really doesn't matter who spreads these things. What matters is it is a good thing they are while he is still alive. This just points out how totally screwed Apple is when Jobs does kick the bucket and it should make people wonder why of all of the people at Apple only one man seems to be able to keep the afloat. After watching what happened with their stock from these inaccurate stories I wouldn't touch Apple stock or products to save my life. When Job goes Apple is a dead duck, this just proves it. Hard to believe one single man can keep a company alive but apparently that is the case. The proof is in the stock drop.

Robert

[gjl229]

Henry Blodget = "barred from the securities industry for life", per CNET news elsewhere.

The SEC sez: " "The regulators charged that, among other things, Blodget, of New York City, issued fraudulent research under Merrill Lynch's name ..." They also nicked him for $4M as a penance.

And THAT'S the guy we want making prudent decisions about what's newsworthy when the markets are trembling at each zephyr in the night.

For a good time, see: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-56.htm and look for the phrase (applied to Mr. Blodget's actions) "...contained opinions for which there was no reasonable basis."

What's past is prologue ......

[victor_sf]

I award five stars to CNN and the kid for freedom of speech and five stars to everyone who bought it for stupidity.