Apple Rumor "Journalism"

Sources have revealed that iPad 3 may have an integrated espresso machine

There's a remarkable journalistic genre that has surfaced over the past few years. This phenomenon is the web, magazine, and newspaper article that deals with what the writer thinks that Apple (AAPL) might be doing, making, updating or releasing at some time in the near future.

I like the quote from this week's Macalope column:

"It’s quite a feat, writing a review of something you haven’t seeIn, but that doesn’t stop some people. In this dog-eat-dog world of Internet publishing, expectations are high. Almost as high as the people writing the stories. 

Still, this has been going on for a while. If you recall, people were declaring the iPhone a complete failure before it was announced, too. When you have no self respect and do not garner the respect of others, well, why not? Nothing to lose, really."

In fact, the Macalope goes on to provide a format for writing Apple future failure columns:

"Seriously, these pieces are like Mad Libs: 

Apple’s new _____ is a modest upgrade that has many who were hoping for more disappointed. Sure, the Apple fanbois will buy it, but Apple has failed to keep up with the state of the _____ market. For example, just the other day at the _____ conference, _____ unveiled a _____ with a _____-inch screen and _____ with _____ that come flying out of the sides and _____ with _____ and _____ the _____ by _____ing the _____ with _____s. And it has a stylus. While it doesn’t get good battery life, Apple will have to respond to this threat as _____ Analysts projects _____ will sell literally dozens of these devices."

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True Lies -
Oh My! This goes beyond "What will Apple Do Next" Journalism and enters the realm of "Let's stick it to Apple by making up stuff about what they've already done." 

"What I do is not journalism. The tools of the theater are not the same as the tools of journalism. For this reason, I regret that I allowed THIS AMERICAN LIFE to air an excerpt from my monologue.

This American Life retracts hugely popular episode on Apple and China

By Nate Anderson | 

Well-loved radio show This American Life—spawned from station WBEZ right here in Chicago—has some "difficult news" about one its most popular shows, an episode on Apple and labor conditions in China. The episode "contained significant fabrications," writes TAL host Ira Glass today on the show's blog. He is devoting this week's entire episode, called "Retraction," to the story.

The original TAL episode, "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory," aired on January 6, 2012, and included portions of the one-man show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" by Mike Daisey. (We attended a performance last year.) It proved hugely popular, but recently a reporter for another public radio show tracked down one of the interpreters Daisey used on his own visit to a Shenzhen factory that makes Apple gadgets, a visit recounted in his show.

Glass writes:

The interpreter disputed much of what Daisey has been saying on stage and on our show... Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast. That doesn't excuse the fact that we never should've put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake.

(read the entire story)

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(I'm in the process of writing a post about that new genre of technology writing: Apple Rumor Journalism)