Look before you leap — or allege Woz is cutting in line

Posted on: July 13, 2008

I was trawling popurls, and noticed several headlines speculating about  Steve Wozniak being an iPhone line-cutter. Not long after, false alarm flinched back, but the masses had already laid judgment. Much can be said about general human tendencies to overreact and underperform.

I’m not so concerned about this more appropriately being tech-tabloid fodder than actual news, but I do care when rubbish gets printed without followup. The original story appeared on CNET, and after Woz himself commented, nothing done to correct the error aside from a brief:

Updated at 10 a.m. PDT with comment from Steve Wozniak.

Greg Sandoval, the reporter, didn’t even link to the comment to clarify confusion, nor summarize what it was about. Saying “I’m wrong, sorry” would’ve taken a minute or two at most.

Jack Loftus of Gizmodo, which echoed the slop, went further, retitling their article and posting a concise update.

I hope Greg Sandoval, Doug and Patrice Broussard (the cited sources), and others have already reached out to Woz to apologize — he’s a friendly enough guy, and much as this gives him publicity, it’s for the wrong reasons.

If you’re willing to spend the time to get something wrong, you should be at least as willing to invest in making it right.

4 Responses to “Look before you leap — or allege Woz is cutting in line”

  1. Pandora Wrigglesworth Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 12:07 AM PDT

    Mainstream news has become so concerned with satisfying their advertisers by bringing in as many eyeballs as possible that they care more about sensational, exciting stories than actual fact. Is it any wonder that a self-proclaimed "fake news show" is currently considered one of the most trustworthy news shows on TV?

  2. Kara Spengler Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 4:23 AM PDT

    What the?

    So they actually thought they could improve their viewership by cutting down The Supreme Geek? Especially when when they had not checked facts?

    That would be akin to Fox snooze cutting down Bush over a rumor. Then being completely perplexed when their viewers did not agree with them.

  3. CabSav Lane Says:
    July 17th, 2008 at 6:41 AM PDT

    Eating watermelon has a similar effect on the body to Viagra, according to researchers in the US.

    Hey, Torley already knew this ???

  4. CabSav Lane Says:
    July 17th, 2008 at 6:43 AM PDT

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_7498000/7498061.stm

    Grr link for above post !!

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