News agency errs releases Steve Jobs obit

News agency errs, releases Steve Jobs' obit

Financial information provider withdraws news item immediately

CMN Bureau

Friday, August 29, 2008

BANGALORE, INDIA: Financial information provider Bloomberg News on Wednesday inadvertently published an incomplete obituary for Apple Inc.'s CEO Steve Jobs and immediately retracted the item once it realized the mistake.

The incomplete obit was marked “Hold for release – Do not use.”

Bloomberg released a retraction later on Wednesday without a direct reference to the bloomer.

"An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m. New York time today," the retraction read. "The item was never meant for publication and has been retracted."

Almost all news organizations prepare obits for prominent personalities in advance.

There were speculations about Apple CEO's health after a thin-looking Jobs appeared at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June this year. Earlier in 2003, he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer.

Bloomberg "remembered" Jobs as one "who helped make personal computers as easy to use as telephones, changed the way animated films are made, persuaded consumers to tune into digital music and refashioned the mobile phone."

According to a Bloomberg spokesperson, "This was a routine update of a biography by the obits department, meant for the internal system and not meant for publication. It was momentarily posted on the external wire, in error, and immediately deleted."

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