News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

May 17, 2007

internet

Knowledge is power…for real

Posted May. 17, ’07, 8:25 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Internet

Apple Stock DipIf ever you’ve needed proof that rumor can circle the globe while truth is still lacing up its designer kicks, you need look no further than yesterday’s chart of Apple’s stock. See that big dip right around noon? In a matter of minutes, Apple’s stock dipped more than five dollars, on trading of more than 2.2 million shares. Usually a drop of that magnitude would results from some sort of unhappy, momentous news: Steve Jobs getting mauled by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, for example.

As far as we know, no dinosaurs reared their slavering jaws yesterday. But about ten minutes before noon, tech blog Engadget reported that they’d gotten their hands on an internal Apple email stating that the iPhone and Leopard had been delayed to October and January respectively. Within ten minutes, AAPL was sliding as the news rebounded around the Internet like a five year old hopped up on Pixy Stix.

Then the catch came. Roughly twenty minutes later, Apple contacted Engadget to let them know that the email was in fact a hoax, despite the fact that it apparently had been sent out via Apple’s internal email. Apple reiterated that the iPhone and Leopard would ship on time and the stock slowly began to recover, though its position at the end of the day was still almost a dollar lower than it’d been at the start.

It would be easy to point a finger at Engadget for jumping the gun here, but the truth is rarely easy. Clearly they thought they had the inside scoop on breaking news, which to all intents looked like it came from a legitimate, authoritative source. The temptation to be the first out of the gate with big news is a strong one—a good scoop can put a news organization on the map.

That said, Engadget is one of the biggest and most respected tech blogs on the Internet. The initial report should have somehow been marked as unconfirmed, rather than given the weight of gospel truth, and independent corroboration should have been sought. But on the net, the line between journalism and rumor-mongering has become increasingly blurry—especially when a company as secretive and prestigious as Apple is involved. Sites like Engadget are not just preaching to the average tech user anymore; people are actually making financial decisions based on the news reported there. Admittedly, it’s tempting at times to think of the Internet as divorced from reality, but that’s less and less the case. Engadget and similar sites need to realize that they wield great power in this arena, and—at the risk of losing what shreds of dignity and credibility I have left—with great power comes great responsibility. That’s right, Engadget, you’re just like Spider-Man.

For our part, we have a strict policy of not reporting rumors. While this means we do oftentimes miss out on being the first source that you read of something, we’d much rather rely on providing you with rock solid, truthful information on the first go round than have to constantly update posts. We’re hardly perfect, of course, so lest it seem as though we’re calling the kettle black, we know that from time to time things slip through the cracks. In such cases, we try to update and bring you the correct information as quickly as possible. Though our power may not be as great as that of Engadget—we’re more of an Ant-Man—it in no way reduces our responsibility to you, our readers.


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