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Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

Who is responsible for the false Steve Jobs heart attack report?

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira, The Industry Standard10.03.2008
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As the dust continues to settle today after the false report published on CNN's iReport that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a massive heart attack, investigation into the source of the story continues. iReport pulled the story almost immediately after the story broke across other media outlets, but the mystery remains: Who is "johntw" who originally submitted the story?

A quick check of the user profile shows no other stories submitted to iReport from that user. However, it's possible that iReport could have deleted all stories submitted after such a high-profile false story. A Google site search, however, seems to indicate that the user profile made its first appearance today, possibly set up for the sole purpose of posting the Jobs story.

johntw iReport profile screenshot

johntw Google search screenshot

There has been a bit of speculation on Twitter that the rumor was a prank originating with 4chan users. No confirmation could be found on the 4chan boards, however, the rumor does seem to follow a similar pattern to that of a similar rumor last month that claimed Oprah Winfrey had died. Following the iReport story, Jobs' Wikpedia listing was altered to claim he had recently died, even though the iReport story only claimed he's had a heart attack, not that he'd passed away.

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Comments

4chan undoubtedly gets more credit for things they don't do than those they actually do. It's like a terrorist org where they all want to claim responsibility, whether they did it or not, but others are making the claims for them.


Totally crazy if someone started the rumor just to try and scoop up some cheaper stock. I can't imagine why else anyone would do it (unless johntw is simply a malicious jerk). Amazing how much power an anonymous "citizen journalist" with an anonymous source can have in today's world.


1st Tweets ~ Steve Jobs Heart Attack ~ Timeline/Chart... http://tweetip.us/lkq3e


Word on the grapevine is it was ebaumsworld


For the lulz, obviously.


obviously it was ebaumsworld.
they are the only ones who would do it for just the thrill


yo dawgs, dave is right, it was all of us at ebaums, got ya good !


I can promise you 100%, that it was 4chan.
I was there when it started.

I had nothing to do with the ireport though, I just stuck with digg.


Hey was' happenin' here?!


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