Jobs Report

10/27/2008

Speaking of checking your sources, Bloomberg has an article relating the recent fiasco surrounding Steve Jobs’ health and a related precipitous drop in stock price (not related to the actual recent drop in the market). Essentially, a CNN site reported that Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computer, had a heart attack and the share price of Apple stock dropped. It turns out there was no truth to the report, which had been posted as coming from a reliable source.

Apparently the entire event is calling into question the value of “citizen journalism” and whether it is a worthwhile endeavor. I could argue that point, but it seem to me that a mere distinction resolves the issue: journalism is a job, not a hobby. It seems that if the field would simply hold itself to those higher standards the situation would resolve itself. There seems to be some notion that the most important element is to be the first with the story. That might have been the case when newspapers ruled the day. But I would argue that with the advent of the Internet and the fundamental change in medium, this concept is fundamentally flawed. The issue now should not necessarily be speed - anyone can get the story quickly - the issue should require reliability. That means verifying stories and checking sources rather than publishing hearsay.