“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the origin of a false report on a CNN citizen journalist Web site that Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs had a heart attack and was hospitalized,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Bloomberg.
“The agency’s enforcement unit is trying to determine whether the iReport.com posting was intended to push down the company’s stock price. CNN is cooperating with the SEC’s probe, network spokeswoman Jennifer Martin said. The report is ‘not true,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said in an interview,” Guglielmo reports.
“Concern about Jobs’s health weighed on the shares this year, contributing to a 51 percent drop. The stock swing caused by today’s erroneous report drew renewed calls for Apple, which has said only that Jobs’s health is a ‘private matter,’ to be more forthcoming,” Guglielmo reports.
“The shares fell as much as 5.4 percent earlier today after the post on iReport.com cited an anonymous source saying Jobs was rushed to the hospital after suffering a ‘major heart attack.’ The report has been removed,” Guglielmo reports.
“John Heine, a spokesman for the SEC, declined to comment,” Guglielmo reports.
Full article here.
Good. If true, he or she deserves jail time.
Wait, the SEC is actually DOING something??
*looks out window for flying pigs*
I don’t think the person who reported that should be in jail, I think CNN should be penalized/fined for allowing crap “citizen” journalism on their website. Their own “professional” reporters are bad enough.
“*looks out window for flying pigs*”
Ballmer at 30,000 feet? That’s one scary ass hot air balloon.
To Botvinnik:
Deliberately spreading false information to profit from shorting a stock is illegal.
To Botvinnik:
“Their own “professional” reporters are bad enough.” Same can be said for FOXNews.
Let’s hope whoever did it wasn’t smart enough to use a proxy or six.
To wtf:
CNN is responsible for the content of their website, CNN is who is liable for the “spreading of false information to profit from shorting a stock.”
To Modbus:
CNN is responsible for the content of their website, CNN is who is liable for the “spreading of false information to profit from shorting a stock.”
on the no short list!!!!
or
I will buy AAPL puts!!!!!!
Botvinnik:
So, if I shoot you and brag about it online the website is liable but I’m not? Interesting logic.
P.S. I’m not saying CNN shouldn’t be held responsible as well.
Expect a few REAL heart attacks to result from this!
MW: likely. Hmmm….
This is the problem with the Web, unconfirmed reports can quickly be perceived as the truth. Take the Huffington post for example, they publish a lot of false or misleading stuff, but few fact check it.
If you knew even rudimentary journalism, Modbus, you’d realize that the publisher of a newspaper, broadcast news, news site is responsible for what content its medium contains. CNN is responsible for allowing unsubstantiated, unverified reports on their site as “news.” One can’t get much more logical than that, you maroon.
Hey iReport.com,
I just heard from a credible source that someone’s put a hit out on Steve Jobs
QUICK, short the stock!
Botvinnik:
Lighten up. I agree with you. But consider the law. CNN is an accomplice (the medium, the vehicle) and not the instigator (the creator, the person that started this).
Can someone else explain this more clearly to Botvinnik?
CNN certainly could be held accountable for abetting the crime.
Any news wire needs to confirm the basics before running a story, no matter how much they want to “scoop” a breaking event.
“If you knew even rudimentary journalism, Modbus”
That’s more funny than you know.
But not the funnest.
Botvinnik?
That’s one thing that I’ve always been somewhat skeptical about.
I realize that there are two edges to the sword of anonymity. There’s the side that protects the source from retaliation from the company/organization/etc if he/she is a whistleblower or leaking things they probably shouldn’t be talking about to the press.
The other side of the sword also protects them from responsibility and, in a way, credibility. They can sit back and watch the effects of their comments, and just because they’re calling from a certain location, they’re granted false credibility. It’s false credibility because if what they say could help their career, they’re anonymous, and if it isn’t, they’re still anonymous and haven’t provided their name so backlash from the public can’t be directed at him, nor can any accountability be demanded. It’s harder to check facts and see if that person is in a position to know or be talking or if they’re just using someone else’s phone and talking out their ass. That’s why anonymous sources can be so problematic.
To amyhre:
Well said. I would swap sword for keyboard. Also, remember that some posters know each other.
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=obama&getit=Go&sp;-a=00062d45-sp00000000&sp;-advanced=1&sp;-p=all&sp;-w-control=1&sp;-w=alike&sp;-date-range=-1&sp;-x=any&sp;-c=100&sp;-m=1&sp;-s=0
And
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=mccain&getit=Go&sp;-a=00062d45-sp00000000&sp;-advanced=1&sp;-p=all&sp;-w-control=1&sp;-w=alike&sp;-date-range=-1&sp;-x=any&sp;-c=100&sp;-m=1&sp;-s=0
Looks like some short selling hedge fund is going to jail!!!
ampar
you go feral?
welcome back.