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Steve Job Fake Heart Attack Punked CNN

 The single biggest news that could top that of Steve Jobs heart attack is that of him not having one, This fake news report spread with lightning speed from CNN’s citizen journalism site known as IReport.

The fake report on CNN citizen journalism site posted by a person of the user id John TW reported that Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack. Of course Apple rushed to claim otherwise almost instantly. But the point is, can citizen journalism be as trusted as before ? No it can’t.

Then came another problem: how do such incidents affect the reputation of one of the biggest news provider such as CNN ? Its credibility suffered a serious blow and a sec investigation could take place to find out the IP address of the person who posted the story.

The issue at hand is however CNN’s decision not to verify or edit the reports posted on the site thus having a breach open for those wishing to stir a little panic among naive readers.

But then again, who are the people behind the virtual identities of such sites and what actual interests do they have in being a journalist ?

To become one is as easier as signing up for a free internet service, requiring nothing more than a basic user name, a real name and an email address. Only if you want your stories to be actually considered by CNN you would leave a phone number.

The fact is that most citizen journalists take their hobby serious, feeling very responsible about what they report and acting as such. But like every other website today there is always someone who just wants a laugh on the expense of others. It’s likely that this John TW could be just another teenage kid making fun of people who fell into his trap and felling good about himself after having wrecked CNN’s credibility. Although we asked him why did he report something that was not true we haven’t received a reply and most probably never will.

No the question is how the CNN handle the situation. Will it take a stance and try make up for the damage done by separating itself from iReport while trying to restore its credibility, or will it simply enjoy the huge number of hits the fake news received on their website? And how other news outlets react ? Will they think again before launching such citizen journalism sites ? Quite possibly. In the context of our current economic crisis, such news could hit hard the companies they aimed specifically and the market generally. It could have made Apple’s stocks hit a record low. Luckily the story was quickly dismissed and everything came to a swift end, but next time things might not turn the same way and harsh consequences may rise.
By: Chris Irvine
Published: 10/07/08


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7 Posted Comments:

@ 8:16 am 10/08/08 by Jay
"It’s likely that this John TW could be just another teenage kid making fun of people who fell into his trap and felling good about himself after having wrecked CNN’s credibility."

Maybe he was making fun of people that use only one source to get their news. Who in the right mind would read one article and believe it? Especially a story that comes in such a short time after the last hoax of Mr. Jobs being dead. Story didn't even come from a credible source so why would it even get attention?
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@ 6:40 am 10/09/08 by Chris Irvine
The thing is, the fake report did generate some attention , especially in the stock market.

For all conspiracy theorist out there, the fake report was posted at 6 AM EDT, which is just before the stock market open. Good timing or just pure coincidence?

So the drop in Apple's price that day resulted in a good chance to enter the market at a low price and make some profits.

Perhaps John TW had some other thing in mind beside a harmless prank after all.

@ 8:40 am 10/08/08 by JRichard
Who cares? Stories about people like Steve Jobs are crap stories anyway. Honestly though the writer of this column needs to quit using spell check and grammar check and reread his own articles before he submits them. There are grammar errors everywhere.
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@ 11:37 am 10/08/08 by Willow Sidhe
I didn't know citizen journalism could ever be trusted. Nice article, though.
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@ 9:34 pm 10/08/08 by Ette_Rual
in all fairness, there are ordinary citizens who can (and will) deliver news to raise awareness. i saw this guy who reported about their situation during hurricane ike. he was all drenched and i think that if he wasn't holding into the post, he'll get blown away,

this John is but a distorted dude wanting to get his 15 minutes of fame
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@ 6:51 am 10/09/08 by Chris Irvine
Yes, the good thing about citizen journalism is that you can get news from normal people on the streets, especially first hand account instead of just relying on a group of reporters. The bad thing is the lack of credibility or accountability for citizen journalism in certain media outlets, such as in the CNN example.

@ 1:05 pm 10/10/08 by Mr. U
It's amazing that such a simple prank could have a dramatic effect on the world news, and a (slightly less dramatic) effect on the stock price.
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