Steve Jobs survives another health rumour

Poor old Steve Jobs. First Bloomberg prematurely kills him off and then CNN’s iReport claims he’s in hospital after a “major heart attack”. Except now they’ve stopped claiming that, after Apple said quickly and unambiguously that it wasn’t true.

iReport, which carries the slogan “Unedited. Unfiltered. News”, allows anyone to publish stories, photos and videos. In this case, the unedited, unfiltered rumour gained enough traction to bring Apple’s share price down (it rebounded with Apple’s denial).

Two factors gave the rumour wings. First, Mr Jobs has recently been unwell (although not with heart trouble). Secondly, although CNN has no direct control over iReport’s content, its affiliation with the site may have given it more clout than in this case it deserved.

As Silicon Alley Insider points out, the SEC, which regulates US stock markets, will want to know who posted this story on iReport, and whether anyone profited from the resulting share-price movements. As the Bloomberg mix-up proves, such problems are not the preserve of citizen journalism, but editors and news executives will also be casting a critical eye over this kind of reporting.

Other Apple news: So iTunes won't be closing after all