Rotten Reporting

I love your crisp, if necessary unpolite way of telling the truth. It's refreshing. Apart from the hardware aspect Apple is a fashion brand for men like Prada for girls - ever tried to argue with your wife about the priceworthiness of her new handbag?

This is full of contradictions.

When Apple was beleaguered, all the fans cried that the media were unfair to Apple. Now it???s successful, and its enemies say the media are propping it up. But I don???t see it. When the ipod came out, there were innumerable articles predicting its demise in the face of more open systems: ???It???ll lose just like the mac did???, they wrote over and over. Same thing when the iphone came out. And the press have never stopped writing about how Apple products are overpriced, even though direct comparisons often contradict them. Apple has plenty of naysayers in the press, including Dvorak, you, and plenty of others. If you feel ignored, maybe there???s a reason: people like what they buy from Apple.

What would be a reason for a media conspiracy either for or against Apple? The media is a business, and they write what people want to read. In the final analysis, it???s what a company does that determines its treatment by the press, and Apple has been getting things right lately. If it???s so easy ??? set prices too high, be secretive, seduce reporters ??? how is it so many tech companies fail? You of all people should be able to make billions acting just like Jobs, winning over the gullible media hacks, and selling snake oil to the public.

You (and more explicitly some commenters) complain about the hero worship of Jobs in one breath, and then worship him yourself by demanding his daily stool samples, because he is the hero of Apple.

You claim his illness is obvious to anyone with a pulse, and then complain that investors are being swindled because they don???t know that he???s sick. Jobs brush with death is well known; anyone who invests in Apple (including me) does it with open eyes. To my mind, investors have no more right to more detailed information about his prospects (if they are even known to anyone) than we have to detailed information about their future product plans (which also affect the stock prospects).

You blame the media for phony Apple press, and then write the phoniest Palm Pre review imagineable.

I think you just get far too invested in one technological ideology or another, and lose all contact with reality. The Ann Coulter of technology.

1.)It's true you called that spade for what he was, it could have been done with a little less snark. But the CNBC stooge's feigned outrage was definitely the most public case of, "Hamina, hamina, hamina!", since The Great One waltzed across the Kinescopic stage. His reaction to you is right up there with Claude Rains immortal line from Casablanca, "I'm shocked! Shocked that gambling is going on in these premises!" ("Your winnings, sir", Oh, er, uh, thank you!")
2.)A link to a layman's guide to Steve Job's previous illness (www.slate.com/id/2209408/). Personally, from my Apple sources (maybe I'm misinformed, too), Job's is suffering from ulcerative colitis and had been ignoring symptoms until six to eight weeks ago. He'll be fine enough for public appearances in six months, but he's not so sick he's going to pass up his seat on the Disney board.

Apple sucks big time. never did like there company and never i do hope it falls so hard again that it don't get back up. like i told jobs when he asked my company to make some software for there iphone. Forsaken software don't deal with apple and never will no matter how much they pay. there systems suck in value and price and only a moron will buy there over priced crap. that one of the main resons companys go down due to over priced *** they thow out. Oh wow there systems or white and shiny but if the system dies your out of $2,000 and up in hard cash. due to a apple system can't be updated. nore fixed due to there weilding of the parts.

It seems that Apple's success,and it's method of dealing with media/pr issues are one in the same. The reason why Apple has risen to such heights is because they keep a firm control on media access as well as corporate image. In a day and hour when companies like GM are crying for Government bailout, one's appreciation for an institution like Apple will only be heightened by those who posses a knowledge of business history pertaining to the art of computing. In other words, if a journalist chooses to critique Apple's pr methods, let him first examine his own field and their credibility towards reporting.

The abysmal press coverage of Wall Street, the state of the global/U.S. economy and "media darling" companies like Apple over the past decade or more are all part of the same problem--and Lyons hit the nail on the head when he characterized two kinds of journalists today. The problem is that for every one who "realize a lot of what they are being told is not true," we have three or more today "who suck up in order to get access" and avoid the wrath of the powers that be, whether in Washington or in exec suites and boardrooms. No one--not Apple shareholders, employees or customers--have been well served by the cult of all things Jobs. But when it comes to the business media's lousy track record of serving the best interests of readers/viewers/listeners over the last decade or more, Apple and Jobs are just a needle in a haystack of conflicts of interest.

The cult of Apple. I confess - I am an apostate. Worked at a major Mac software developer for 5 years. But questioned the orthodoxy. Cant you sycophants see it for the fascist organization it truly is? rules of the followers: You shall speak no evil. You shall not pry open your device to replace a battery. You shall never converse with a member of Apple support -Apple support is nonexistant, unless you call a two paragraph FAQ 'support' (you Mac zealots are to supply your services free to the State afterall). You do not need an iPhone keypad - we know better! A tactileless screen may be error prone but you will see - we know better what is good for you. Did I mention DRM? Control. Its all about control. Dan Lyons is right on but it is even more insidious than he cares to mention. Why cant you turn your iPod down immediately? My daughter was complaining "I have to wait till the screen comes back" while the sound blared on. Yep. Flawless design. Sure. And Jobs is a picture of health.

"...And while it's nice to get a peek behind the curtain, and it's exciting to feel like you've been allowed into the "cool kids club," the truth is that the cool kids who are pretending to be your friends are actually just using you to spread whatever disinformation they happen to need spread that week. You are, to them, nothing more than a useful idiot."

Still bitter over your days spent as a relentless shill for SCO? Substitute SCO for Apple and you could very well be writing about yourself except back then, rather than comparing Apple to the Church of Scientology, you wrote that Linux and open source users were "religious folk convinced of their own righteousness" and "crunchies".

Sorry Dan, but you sold your journalistic integrity down the river years ago by trading real, investigative reporting for nothing more than lazy, armchair speculation and name-calling, so please stop with the Fake Steve Jobs Outrage.

Dan, as much as I appreciate you stating the obvious fact that the media is made up of about as many morons as the financial services industry the fact of the matter is that Steve Jobs isn't all that interesting to 99.999% of the population of the planet. Sure there are a few "watchers" or stalkers as the case may be but it's really, really not that interesting.

I wish Steve well in his recovery and I hope he does truly recover. I wish the same for anyone afflicted with such a thing. Beyond that however I congratulate him making a footnote in the pages of history in this short life of ours. He's accomplished more than I ever will and I have great respect for his business acumen, strong will and giant kahones.

As much as I'd like to fault the media and business press for failing to correctly diagnose the extent of his medical condition I think that shame would be better directed at them for failing to predict or warn about the financial holocaust we now find ourselves in. Even today they parade an endless string of "experts", analysts and pundits in front of the toob to sell us dog *** as if it were gold. RBC downgraded Apple Friday to a sell and set a price target of $70. Where the f**k was this clown when the stock was $180? I'll tell you where, on CNBC telling us to buy the *** out of it because it was "cheap".

Fu*king up the Jobs story is a parking ticket of an offence and not even a serious one that might get you towed. Seriously. The fact is CNBC has been pumping and cheering us on as the bankers bent us over. The US economy is ***, big-time. Bernie Madoff and his co-conspirators have brought the entire country down and screwed over hundreds of millions out of their life savings. Madoff was the stupid one, he got caught. The others got the government, and the tax payers, to pay for their colossal fu*kups allowing them to fu*k over people who haven't even been born yet.

Where is your outrage about blowing that story?

Brian Lam editor of Gizmodo just posted a classic iBoi b!tchfit. It appears he resents being called out for the Mongoloid iTool that he is. Gizmodo got lucky but to hold them as some sort beacon of independance is laughable. Jesus Diaz and Lam have their tongues wedged far up Jobs' emaciating colon.

mr lyons. I'm upset that you stopped being such an *** as steve jobs in your blog and successfully became the biggest *** in tech reporting. Learn some manners. Hope your next run on CNBC goes better. Oh wait, thats right you've been blacklisted

Mr. Lyons, Thank you for your very thoughtful position and your courage to speak-out against the complicity of your journalist peers. It is truly unfortunate that today many media reporters sacrifice their integrity and commitment to maintaining a truly objective position with smart and thoughtful investigative inquiry. This commitment takes personal discipline and seems to be no longer a highly valued quality cultivated in journalism today ??? beginning with some journalism schools at the university level, and discarded at many fast-paced, for-profit corporate media outlets.

Mr. Jobs??? health issues require a sensitive, and yet, realistic approach by reporters. Pancreatic cancer is a very serious terminal cancer, and as a result, patients generally have a shorter time in remission than other cancers, such as prostate or breast cancer. In addition, patients with all types of cancer can go in-and-out of cancer remission in their remaining years/months of life. So while it is not a reporter???s place to speculate on exactly how long Mr. Jobs will live since Apple is not mentioning his cancer, many health care practitioners as well as family members of cancer patients see clearly the decline and toll cancer takes on others who struggle with any cancer diagnosis.

Since Apple???s global image and history is so intertwined with the maverick reputation, genius, and oversized ego of its founder, it is no surprise that the least inflammatory health explanations are issued by Apple. I suspect our government would handle media relations in the very same manner if a sitting president had the same very serious and very visible health issues. Therefore, a sensitive and thoughtful investigative inquiry is appropriate with this type of situation. Nevertheless, Apple???s corporate history of secrecy and media manipulation ???orchestrated by Jobs??? may not serve them well in this tender time of transition.

Enter Your CommentI agree that people's health is generally a very personal matter, but in this instance Jobs should have been more forthcoming. Ordinary citizens can maintain a high level of privacy re: their health and well-being, but Jobs is hardly an "ordinary citizen" and has a duty and responsibility to shareholders. Thus, the standard for him is nuch, much higher. Having recently worked for an organization that is very, very secretive (i.e. CIA level secretive) I understand what that corporate atmosphere does to people working in it....not healthy to say the least! It creates an atmosphere where staffers are scared to turn left or right and stifles good communication internally as well as externally. Does this rise to the level of shareholder lawsuits? Only time will tell, but Jobs looks so ill he likely won't be here to be part of the defense if someone does bring action.

Mr. Lyons, Thank you for your very thoughtful position and your courage to speak-out against the complicity of your journalist peers. It is truly unfortunate that today many media reporters sacrifice their integrity and commitment to maintaining a truly objective position with smart and thoughtful investigative inquiry. This commitment takes personal discipline and seems to be no longer a highly valued quality cultivated in journalism today ??? beginning with some journalism schools at the university level, and discarded at many fast-paced, for-profit corporate media outlets.

Mr. Jobs??? health issues require a sensitive, and yet, realistic approach by reporters. Pancreatic cancer is a very serious terminal cancer, and as a result, patients generally have a shorter time in remission than other cancers, such as prostate or breast cancer. In addition, patients with all types of cancer can go in-and-out of cancer remission in their remaining years/months of life. So while it is not a reporter???s place to speculate on exactly how long Mr. Jobs will live since Apple is not mentioning his cancer, many health care practitioners as well as family members of cancer patients see clearly the decline and toll cancer takes on others who struggle with any cancer diagnosis.

Since Apple???s global image and history is so intertwined with the maverick reputation, genius, and oversized ego of its founder, it is no surprise that the least inflammatory health explanations are issued today. I suspect our government would handle media relations in the very same manner if a sitting president had the same very serious and very visible health issues. Nevertheless, Apple???s corporate history of secrecy and media manipulation ???orchestrated by Jobs??? will not serve them well in this tender time of transition.

The people whinning about learning about Steve Job's upcomming sick leave make me sick.

For your information, with cancer, sometimes the overall outlook can and does change from week to week. In a close relative's case I know that in December there was hope and come January all hope was lost.

Even Steve Job's won't live forever, even if he beats his cancer. Every company's CEO or anone really can become ill or die unexpectedly. If you so fear this, I'd suggest saving a coffee can, putting your money in it, and burying it in your backyard.

Another way the media has done a bad job--focusing only on Jobs and his health, rather than what would happen After Jobs would step down, and what the outcome might be.

Yes, Jobs has been great for Apple, but all the focus on Jobs obscures the fact that he has worked with and been supported by a number of other competent people within the company. Who's to say that much of Apple's success could have come about Without their help? I've see a few articles profiling these people (Cook plus about 5 others), but that's it.

Dr. Tantillo ('the marketing doctor') did a post back in July on his branding blog - http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv - asserting that Apple and Jobs are two separate brands. Tantillo argues that Jobs should have a succession plan. I don't necessarily agree, but I do think he makes a good point about Jobs and Apple being two separate brands--Apple would be different without Jobs, but different is not always bad.

Another way the media has done a bad job--focusing only on Jobs and his health, rather than what would happen After Jobs would step down, and what the outcome might be.

Yes, Jobs has been great for Apple, but all the focus on Jobs obscures the fact that he has worked with and been supported by a number of other competent people within the company. Who's to say that much of Apple's success could have come about Without their help? I've see a few articles profiling these people (Cook plus about 5 others), but that's it.

Dr. Tantillo ('the marketing doctor') did a post back in July on his branding blog - http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv - asserting that Apple and Jobs are two separate brands. Tantillo argues that Jobs should have a succession plan. I don't necessarily agree, but I do think he makes a good point about Jobs and Apple being two separate brands--Apple would be different without Jobs, but different is not always bad.

Dear Lord, how amusing. Talk about a "reality distortion field" you media people really seem to live in one sometimes, and in your reality you're so much more important than you actually are. You'd be surprised that much of the public actually has functioning brains. We saw the still or video from Jobs's last few public appearances and guess what? We're not stupid; he looks very, very sick. Not only weight loss, but hair loss and graying and skin yellowing and graying. We understand that mainstream media is reporting what Apple tells them in the absence of any actual information and we figure Apple's covering for Jobs, who has a right to get his treatment in peace and without paparazzi staking out his doctors. This particular article amused me, as do all "Last Honest Man Standing" columns do. "Well I said..." The pronoun "I" has no place in news reporting, period, unless it's part of a quote from a news-maker, which by definitiion, reporters aren't. God in Heaven, get over yourselves already! When Albert Brooks said "don't forget, we're the story, not them" in Broadcast News, it was supposed to be a joke! Now a proper story would gather conflicting reports, point out discrepancies, track the timeline of Apple's statements vs. Apple stock value, use images of Jobs to make a point and let the readers draw their own conclusions. However, that's actual work. It's much easier to say "I was right and they're not, neener neener neener." Maybe CNBC doesn't want to have you back on because they don't consider you a proper reporter? After reading this self-aggrandizing drivel, I certainly don't.

Delreyjones: You have to be kidding me. The truth is Steve Jobs has a very serious illness that is more than likely cancer again and odds are it is terminal. He will not be back with Apple as its leader and that is more than likely the truth and he and Apple have known this for some time. You sound just like the reporters Mr. Lyons is talking about. Are you sure you are not on the payroll. This man has looked like he is dying right infront of everyone's eyes over the last several months and if it was anyone other than Mr. Jobs everyone would be reporting that he has only a couple weeks to live before having any hard evidence of the matter. Look at Patrick Swayze as an example. I can leave out some hope as back in September of 96 I came down with an illness that the doctors could not put a finger on. Six months later I went from 225 to 165 and looked like I was a week from my death bed. Good news is out of know where I started getting better and putting the weight back on and a year later the weight was back up to 210 and I had overcome whatever I had, that to this day after all of the medical testing and medical specielist I had to see out of Houston's Herman and Memerial hospitals is not known. CT's, MRI's, full body scans, every blood test you can think of, you name it. An infection that they could not figure out or treat and did not know the reason for the many problems it was causing me. As same as they did not know why my illness just went away and I started getting better. But if you are involved with Apple in a financial sense you must look at it your money as an Apple invester with no Steve Jobs and if he somehow comes back that will be a bonus for you and the rest of the share holders but do not count on it as Steve if probably fighting for his life. We can only hope for Steve and his family's sake that he is ok and will regain his health. For the rest of us (the business) world, who cares, his life is worth way more than his position at Apple.