Daily Mail bases iPhone recall on Twitter parody
Over the weekend, the Daily Mail published a story that the new iPhone handset was going to be recalled, big news indeed. Unfortunately for them, it was based on a Twitter account that is clearly marked a parody.
The reason for the reported (and way wrong) recall was the problem that some people are having with how they grip the phone and a small gap in the built-in edge antenna. There have indeed been some reports of people having a hard time with reception because their grip causes them to close the gap with their skin, thus reducing the strength of the iPhone signal in the middle of a conversation. The problem is detailed in this Blorge post. There has even been a software fix rumored, as related by this Blorge post. Apparently, the truth of the matter is that the user can solve the problem with the simple application of a bit of sticky tape.
Anyway, that was the issue that the Daily mail said was going to cause the recall of the iPhone 4, according to a CNET story. The problem is that their information about the recall was based on a Twitter post from an account that is clearly marked a parody of Steve Jobs, Apple CEO. The account description says, “I don’t care what you think of me. You care what I think of you. Of course this is a parody account.” The Daily Mail apparently missed that not-so-fine-print and ran off to press with the story that all of those lovely iPhones were going to be recalled by Apple because of the “death grip” problem with the built-in antenna.
One wonders how anyone can argue that the death of real, old-fashioned journalism would be a bad thing when face with a situation like this one. One reporter, obviously devoid of any news-gathering talent and apparently working without benefit of an editor, published a clearly erroneous story that was picked up by several other news outlets before sanity finally prevailed. This might be a good time to head over to your favorite news site, one that is backed by actual journalism, and fork out a few bucks to get behind the wall to the professionally gathered news. Don’t let journalism die on your watch.
Related posts:
