[Macworld]

Post your comments for Steve Jobs heart attack post highlights citizen journalism perils here

[macFanDave]

The bad news about jobs today was about those things people go to to make money, not our dear Steve!
Citizen journalist is a euphemism for "unaccountable, unedited, amateur journalist whose only qualification is access to the Internet."

[jmincey]

Amazing what some people will do in order to feel important. This citizen "journalist" just made this up -- and for what?
I wonder if this is prosecutable.
Jeff Mincey

[jaspermac]

Maybe the SEC should investigate if someone made a lot of money short selling Apple stock recently.
That's assuming the SEC actually does its job anymore. Or maybe there are just bigger fish to fry in the Trillion Dollar Meltdown investigations.

[mdawson]

Herein lies one of the inherent problems with the Internet. Anyone can make a Website. Anyone can post false information. Anyone can make their information seem true. Add the general gullibility of Joe Public and we see this type of impact. It is this inability for people to filter the BS on the Web that prompted my faculty advisor to permit only me, his graduate research assistant at the time, to use Web sources for our research. Being older and having learned how to conduct research pre-Internet, he knew that I was far less likely to cite dubious sources. The undergrads were only permitted to use the Web in terms of accessing the University?s periodicals databases to find refereed academic and scientific journal articles or gather specific information from company sites for equipment that we were either using or considering for use.

What this situation also shows is the problem with Wall Street and economic analysts. Granted, Jobs plays a major role in today?s Apple, but to drop the price of stocks based on an unsubstantiated rumor is irresponsible particularly when the state of the economy is already so bad. It shows just how reckless stock-based investments can be because you can ultimately lose big due to capricious activities. Stock prices should be based solely on proper inference from statistical analysis based on solid numbers and hard math, not supposition, rumor and whatever way the wind blows.

[JDENERGY]

Only if this guy just made a bundle buying stock!!

[WarrenS]

Conspiracy alert.... the spokes person said he didn't have a heart attack, didn't say if it was a stubbed toe.

[jmincey]

I wonder why CNN itself would not be responsible for this. If it allows its imprimatur and web site to be the repository of whatever self-appointed journalists choose to post, then I should think it bears responsibility for the consequences of that recklessness.
Jeff Mincey

[bastion]

mdawson said:

What this situation also shows is the problem with Wall Street and economic analysts. Granted, Jobs plays a major role in today?s Apple, but to drop the price of stocks based on an unsubstantiated rumor is irresponsible particularly when the state of the economy is already so bad. It shows just how reckless stock-based investments can be because you can ultimately lose big due to capricious activities. Stock prices should be based solely on proper inference from statistical analysis based on solid numbers and hard math, not supposition, rumor and whatever way the wind blows.

Basically you're hitting on the difference between investors and speculators.

[Martian]

Apple, like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, is exceptionally dependent on the image of one person. Therefore like Martha Stewart Living, Apple will continue to be vulnerable to these fictions for now, and ultimately to the reality of Steve’s departure.
Under these unique circumstances, Jobs should at every opportunity be loudly and publicly demonstrating an orderly transition or contingency plan, team or individual. At the Apple media events, he should share the stage with plausible successor(s).
But NO, Steve’s turtlenecked ego dwarfs his sense of stewardship.

[krizoitz]

jaspermac said:

Maybe the SEC should investigate if someone made a lot of money short selling Apple stock recently.

That's assuming the SEC actually does its job anymore. Or maybe there are just bigger fish to fry in the Trillion Dollar Meltdown investigations.

Meh, the SEC is overrated, I mean Florida's allready lost to Ole Miss, Tennessee got WHALLOPED by a crappy UCLA team....

Whats that? Not THAT SEC you say? Really?

Nevermind...

[PugetBill]

If there are absolutely no checks on CNN iReport content, I'm surprised CNN would risk allowing their brand to be tainted by association with CNN iReport. CNN is a news organization that, one would presume, wants to be known for having high journalistic standards. CNN iReport could be perceived as an affiliated news 'organization' with very low / no journalistic standards. I'd be a bit miffed if I was a 'real' CNN journalist.

[leicaman]

The other half of this equation is the stupid fools who buy and sell stocks, whose complete loss of reason has caused so much of this mess. Not to mention everyone at Wall Street and all the millions of people who expect big profits with little risk.

[macphoto]

Ok first of all I have to say WTF. LIke the regular media doesn't post inaccurate stuff. How many times over the last few years have "citizen" journalist found flawed info on corporate media outlets? Does this highlight the lack of any real journalism in this country or does it just show how foolishly we believe everything we are told. There are people that make their entire living off the belief that "we" the masses need to be controlled through propaganda and the marketing of ideas. They feed off the ignorance and apathy of the general public. Is it sad yes. But does it rate a title like the one that was chosen for this article? NO!
This has little or nothing to do with citizen journalism. And all to do with "journalism" in general. I don't think it was but 4 weeks ago that a paper mistakenly posted Steve's obituary. Even if this was purposely done, I don't know, there was plenty of excuses how papers make up obituaries in advance and that is why it slipped into print. It was just a test? But I didn't see any titles talking about the "perils" of the mainstream corporate media. Maybe we don't need those to know that what is on the news is not always fact checked and true. Heck I remember a band called negativland that used to put out fake press releases as media stunts just to see how far it would go. This was 10 years ago. So accuracy in reporting is nothing new. And for the record has little to do with "citizens" and all to do with lazy people.

You could say that this was false and ask for a retraction and that would be sufficient.

And for those that are taking the "high" road and talking about all the BS on the web and everyone can make their BS sound true. I have to point out that even the official sites are like this. Every corporate advertisement that is selling a product, from health care to cereal, use sudo science and survey's to "prove" theircase to the people. Heck some even start official sounding organizations that put out favorable reports that are then quoted as evidence for their clams. So the comparison to he guy with a website and some "ideas" pales in comparison to the corporate giants that spend millions on advertising and public persuasion. The point being that every time you hear someone using the same language but appear from different sources you can be assured that someone somewhere paid them to say it.