Apple’s stock took a temporary 10-point hit this morning after a false report surfaced on CNN’s iReport that Steve Jobs had a heart attack. The report has been removed, but only after Silicon Alley Insider and others confirmed with Apple that Jobs did not have a heart attack. And the stock jumped right back up to its opening levels. SIA captured the original report:
Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack. I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath. My source has opted to remain anonymous, but he is quite reliable. I haven’t seen anything about this anywhere else yet, and as of right now, I have no further information, so I thought this would be a good place to start. If anyone else has more information, please share it.
Was this just a short seller trying to make a quick buck, or someone trying to see how fast and far they could spread a false rumor? And what does it say about the value of citizen journalists?
Rather than fight the rise of citizen journalism, CNN decided to try to co-opt it by launching iReport. CNN’s iReport site lets anyone put up posts and videos about the news. Its tagline is “Unedited. Unfiltered. News.” Sometimes these reports get on CNN proper (presumably, after being vetted).
But as this incident shows even the an unvetted report carries more weight than if it had appeared on Twitter or a random blog because it is on a CNN site. And that may be purely because it gets distributed more broadly. It could also be because people tend to believe what they read on CNN-branded sites.
Let’s not let one bad apple ruin the whole experiment, though. Obviously, there are a lot of smart people out there who can contribute to general news gathering. There needs to be a better truth filter on iReport and other sites that allow the anonymous reporting of news. A better reputation system for contributors would help. They shouldbe encouraged to use their real names. And maybe a bigger disclaimer needs to be placed up top saying: “Read At Your Own Risk.”
Apple can also learn a lesson from this. The stock would not have dropped so much if there wasn’t already a deep level of concern for Steve Jobs’ health and if the market knew who might take over in case of an emergency.
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fun ^^
Yes, every time is Jobs …..
This is a precursor to reality. Apple’s success largely depends on Steve Jobs and his absence will have a dramatic downward effect on the company’s stock which might take months to recover.
Given the recent “misprint” obituary, the iReport and the strong correlation it has had with AAPL’s stock, its a good idea to hedge your portfolio by buying some long term PUT options.
I love the idea of citizen journalists but the dangers are pretty apparent. I wonder if the SEC will look into trades done prior to the rumor. Is AAPL on the No Short Sell List?
This news shouldn’t have affected Apple so much. Jonathan Ive already runs the show over there.
Dodgy news from an A-list news source is just what a twitchy, fear-addled market needs right now…
@ ian what?? you earned this
I hope they catch the guy that did it and prosecute. I bet he picked up some cheap shares and made a nice profit in just a few hours, while at the same time gave some people a bad case of indigestion!
morons. everyone.
some idiot spread a rumor!!!! DOWN WITH CITIZEN JOURNALISM! LONG LIVE FOX NEWS!
hahahahaha
Abolish all short sales and speculators, or at least add 72 hours delay. Profiteering from misery is a shameful profession anyway.
The prank is tantamount to calling in a bomb threat. While I respect the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of the Internet, his or her post was irresponsible, ill timed, and in poor taste. Joking about somebody’s health, especially a legendary icon who has contributed so much to technology and our culture, is plain rude. He should get his @$$ kicked.
Why does unedited news have weight at all? It should be considered entertainment - that’s all. People sold the stock based on an ireport? No investigation? Stupid.
BTW - If Steve Jobs having a heart attack would negate the quality of the company, then why would I own the stock at all?
I think that the one who said that apple could learn a lot from this had a great point. What happens if Steve Jobs really do get a heart attack?
I’m surprised things like this don’t happen more often.
Google News Search contributed to magnifying the false news. This was Henry Blodget’s original title:
Apple’s Steve Jobs Rushed To ER After Heart Attack, Says CNN’s iReport.
- and this is how it was displayed on Google News:
Apple’s Steve Jobs Rushed To ER After Heart Attack, Says CNN …
quite a difference…. and within seconds Twitter replicated the news “as reported by CNN”. See the full chronology here.
Wow, the rumor could become real after waching that graph!!
Even if Steve Jobs has a heart attack, there is no need to sell Apple Stock. People will still buy iPhone, iPod, MBP and other Apple products as per normal.
no they wont- it all goes with steve.
How stressful to know your life is perceived as invaluable to the health of a major American corporation.
The only heart attacks today were Apple stock owners.
Bingo.
Yes, right
CNN citizen journalists are fine if CNN is willing to own responsibility for their actions….
Must be April’s Fool today.
What a moron this “journalist”.
This is just the beginning. Pretty soon Steve Jobs is going to be telling citizen journalists to report “Breaking News” of him winning an Iron Man competition in Hawaii to make up for their last false reporting blunder.
Citizen journalism in the wrong hands is not only dangerous and inaccurate, it could give big business the stronghold over all news and how it’s perceived, from the television and newspaper articles narrowing their scope and coverage of a story, all the way down to the Internet, podcasts and blog reports of the news getting muddied. Nothing will remain factual or non-biased unless citizen journalists are held up to same code of ethics and professionalism that professional journalists are, or at least should be.
LOL. It was too good to be true.
How much Yahoo’s stock price jump the day that TechCrunch reported that MS and Yahoo were talking again?
So, false reports by “citizen journalists” are bad, but false reports by professional journalists are ok?
Really - how many times have we seen “legitimate” news sources report something totally bogus?
The problem here isn’t the reporting - it’s the fact that people (a) believe it so easily and (b) react like they do.
I completely agree. More often than not, these stories are quickly exposed as false by the countless electronic communities into which they are received. In this case, the stock jumped right back up again following the report being disproved. Although it is a scary reminder of the power that an individual can have over an organisation, there was no lasting damage in this instance. Such fictional stories will invariably be disproven, and if people decide to sell stock in the interim, then that is their decision. Cases like this should not be used as logic for comdemning citizen marketing in its entirety. That would be naive.
“LOL. It was too good to be true.”
Le monde est malade sur le net, c’est déprimant.
Suck my wet fart, frog muncher scum
The SEC should track down this scammer (or prankster) and prosecute the bozo. This is not funny. People’s hard earned money is at stake.
1st Tweets ~ Steve Jobs Heart Attack ~ Timeline/Chart… http://tweetip.us/lkq3e
This Prank was brought to you by Anonymous
Yeah ebaums did it. I was there when it happened.
All this just for a rumor? If this happen then some people they loose a lot of money…
Is this the power of citizen journalism?
anyhow,i love apple
Things like this shouldn’t be treated like a joke. Being a paramedic in some International Air Ambulance Service isn’t that hard.