Like Jesus and FDR, Steve Jobs was put on this earth to do good. In fact he’s doing so much good that scumbags like Joe Nocera are getting rambling, expletive-laced calls from him in the middle of the night denying all allegations that Steve-o won’t be around next year to release another line of thinner, more wow-filled PMPs.
It went down like this: Joe Nocera, an NYT veteran reporter, wrote a story essentially positing that Apple was hiding a serious illness from the shareholders, essentially lying to ensure that iPhone 3G mania doesn’t dampen because of news of pancreatic cancer. The story runs on Saturday and Joe gets a call from Steve: “This is Steve Jobs. You think I’m an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he’s above the law, and I think you’re a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong.” He then had an off-the-record discussion with Nocera about his health, essentially shutting Nocera up for good. As Dan Lyons points out, Nocera can no longer speak on the subject and when/if the SEC subpoenas him, he can’t and won’t talk. Nocera is a skilled reporter who could probably suss out the truth over time. By heading him off at the pass, Apple has essentially silenced him. He’s bound by ethical considerations to essentially be an Apple PR organ.
Lyons writes:
The CEO calls you up out of the blue and you’re knocked back on your heels, scrambling to find a pen and wondering what you should ask, and when he says he wants to talk off the record or he’ll hang up right now you think, Jeez, I’ve got the guy on the phone, I might as well let him talk, I’ve got him halfway over the gunwale and into my net, I’m not going to risk throwing him back.
So maybe that’s a factor. But Joe Nocera is a veteran. He’s a pro. He knows that the ambush call is a sure sign that something’s not right. These calls are never legit. They’re never truly an impulse call. Guys like Jobs do not just pick up a phone and call a reporter on an impulse. Ever.
Nocera also knows why guys like Jobs play the off-the-record game, and he knows that it’s the surest way to get pwned by a source
So what is going on here? Steve is sick. Rumor has it that he was in the hospital during the iPhone/MobileMe launch and, as a result, the company lost focus. Apple doesn’t know what the outcome will be and Apple is riding on good news right now and they don’t want to spoil the party. Shareholders, it seems, be damned: Steve’s heath is a private matter. The company has, for years, tied its success to the powers of the great guru. Now that that guru is in danger Apple is probably pulling out catastrophe plans and trying to convince Jonathan Ive to come on as CEO. Their market share is high, their products are beloved, and, in a sense, the shareholders are happy. Why spoil it with health news?
Shareholders are a skittish lot. When you have no information you act on everything. After all, the red-eyed rantings of some kids at AOL could knock $4 billion off of Apple’s valuation. It’s the price of capitalism.
Ultimately, this will blow over. The world gives Apple a pass because, in a sense, they’re the only game worth covering anymore. They are the exotic car in the parking lot at Denny’s – worth a second look simply because the Corollas and Chevy Malibus next to them pale in comparison. Just don’t ask the driver how often that exotic breaks down and how much it costs to fix when it does… it would ruin the magic.
Jobs is a scum, nobody will miss him other than dumbass Mactards.
This is one of the lamest attempts to cover this story I have read yet.
One, this author has no sense of the history of Jobs’ relationship with the press (it’s always been painful at best for reporters, but that’s the way Jobs likes it), doesn’t know Jobs’ always been a tough talker. He’s arrogant and prideful and a control freak. And he loves colorful language when he’s mad.
Second, the New York Times is not going to be a PR mouthpiece for Apple. The guy doesn’t have to shut up about the topic. He just can’t talk about what Jobs said. Outside of the fact he alluded to what Jobs said and points out he’s convinced Jobs’ cancer has not returned.
Bloggers need not bother talking about how the press works when they clearly have no idea how it is they go about their jobs, what the issues are with talking “off the record” or the obligations and ethics that go along with such a relationship with a person or organization the person covers.
This anti-Apple screed is so over the top it’s laughable. As a journalist myself, I don’t like the way Apple treats the press. I don’t think it’s good for them in the long run. But they are doing fine, apparently. They’d do better if the press acted more like responsible journalists and ignored Apple ’til they acted more reasonable. But no, that’s not possible. Because there are few real journalists left who are willing to do the right thing, even if it means they don’t get the attention that makes advertisers happy. And I’m including pseudo-journalists like those who write for hyperbole-obsessed tech blogs.