The San Jose Mercury News has published an Associated Press article by Marcy Gordon, headlined “New study shows analysts getting favors,” that reports, “Conflicts of interest may still be rampant on Wall Street, with a new study showing that nearly two-thirds of investment-firm analysts received favors from executives of companies they cover and suggesting that the companies get favorable ratings in return.”
Gordon reports, “The academic study published Friday outlines a culture of blatant back-scratching on Wall Street as company executives bestow professional and personal favors on analysts—putting them in touch with top executives of other companies, recommending them for a job—and their companies receive positive ratings and evade stock downgrades. At the same time, executives punish analysts for negative reports by refusing to answer their phone calls or their questions.”
Nowhere in the article is Apple Inc. mentioned, yet, for some reason, The San Jose Mercury News has chosen a photo of an Apple iPhone as an accompanying illustartion. In fact, we can find no other publication carrying the same syndicated article where an Apple product is used as an illustration (probably because doing so makes no sense and seems to imply that Apple is somehow involved when the AP article does not mention Apple at all).
The San Jose Mercury News’ caption along with the Apple iPhone photo reads, “Apple customers look at the new Apple iPhone at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, July 24, 2007. AT&T Inc. wiped some of the glow off Apple Inc.’s iPhone on Tuesday, releasing numbers that showed fewer people than expected signed up for service in the first two days of the multimedia cell phone’s release. AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive carrier, said it activated 146,000 iPhones on June 29 and 30, a number that disappointed investors following some analyst forecasts that Apple would sell 500,000 or more iPhones in its first weekend.”
Full article here.
Daniel Eran reports for RoughlyDrafted, “The Denver-based MediaNews Group… decided to buy the Mercury News [last fall] and took a multimillion dollar loan from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to complete the deal…”
Eran couldn’t find another example of the same syndicated story being carried along with a photo of an Apple iPhone, either. “It is therefore outrageous that the Mercury News republished Gordon’s article with a photo of the iPhone to imply that the story related to Apple,” Eran writes.
Eran writes, “Gordon didn’t write about Apple, and wasn’t writing about analysts’ projections for device sales. The AP article covered earnings estimates. The Mercury News publishing this caption not only conflated Apple with an unrelated scandal–that’s libel by the way–but also repeated a false assertion that Apple’s iPhone sales over the last day and a half of June were far under expectations–that’s also false.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
Color us unsurprised that a “new study shows analysts getting favors,” but the depths to which some outfits will stoop in their attempts to take a chunk out of Apple never fails to amaze.
MDN’s take says about all that can be said in the fewest words possible.
You guys have a responsibility to stop mimicking articles and get on the damn horn and call up the SJM and ask them point blank why they did this. Do you responsibility MDN!
Too bad that an economic system could never be based on honesty and integrity. Human beings . . .
Daniel Eran is really very sharp about a lot of things. This was a particularly good analysis from him, I thought.
Typical Bay Area liberal media trash. If it’s not the SJMN publishing this garbage, then it’s the SF Chronicle. Stupid libs love to bash FNC when they get something wrong, but conveniently ignore when their own rags are even more biased.
Yeah. Nothing worse than liberal media trash, except conservative yellow journalism, of course.
Finally a news organization who has the courage to tell it like it is! Bravo San Jose Mercury News!
The picture of the Apple iPhone BELONGS exactly where it is: next to a story about trickery, favoritism and shenaniganery! Apple is finally being exposed for the half-truths and empty promises that us Windows fans have known about for years. You don’t even have to mention Apple in the article as everybody is coming around to the FACT that Apple builds copycat, expensive, proprietary crap that simply doesn’t resonate with the buying public.
Simply put Apple has to buy good reviews for the iPhone because in reality it’s a dud. And NOBODY is buying them.
Now take Microsoft. The have wrongfully been targeted in the media for years. Perhaps with the shining example from the San Jose Mercury News the media will get the real story out: Microsoft builds innovative, well designed and user-friendly products that consumers prefer. I know it’s hard to take, MAC lemmings and astroturfers, but it’s true.
Your potential. Our passion.™
@Reality Check
How is this a Liberal vs Conservative bias issue? This is a Greed issue. One that afflicts humans on both sides of the political arena. Please don’t insert politics into these threads, especially where there is no connection. Thanks.
I doubt, showing a copy of Windows or a Zune would have got the message through equally.
The iPhone is the tech-world equivalent of what an expensive designer-handbag is for a woman….
Surely the liberals here can point out the sins of this particular writer and discuss the facts of the case. Let’s not be childish, guys. If conservatives can do this with Neil Cavuto, then surely you can do the same with one of your own, right? Right?
Thank You, BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots, for endorsing the “us vs. them” boxing ring of politics that’s become so prevalent in our culture (especially in the safety of reader/commenter boards) and that has allowed our very own government to “divide and conquer” the very people it was designed to serve.
One of your own? You’ve GOT to be kidding.
I notice you didn’t identify your team. Coward much?
shenaniganery?
Zune Tang, the 1920’s called, they want you to stop giving them a bad name.
“Typical Bay Area liberal media trash.”
Binocular vision allows humans to perceive three dimensions.
Try it.
If you were paying attention you would have noticed that was an AP photo by Paul Sakura that the Mercury News included with the article. That is the link between the AP story and the article. The AP did link the two together.
I’ve attached enough AP taglines to my own photos to know that.
Typical liberal trash… Jobs and Woz… creating multibillion dollar companies that manufacture easy-to-use computer appliances… making every man’s dream come true… typical commie ploy…
Companies will give analysts free services and products not as perks, but to get the freaking morons to try a product before passing judgement.
Analysts will sit in their glass towers and come up with (as you know) the most asinine bs that has little or no relevance to the actual situation at a company for no other reason than they feal they have to say something.
Companies that are confident about products will be in your face with the product almost demanding that you use it. This isn’t about favors, it’s about getting fair recognition.