Categories: OLD Media Moves

Dow Jones apologizes for fake Newswires story and headlines

Dow Jones & Co., the parent of Dow Jones Newswires, The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch.com, apologized Tuesday for sending out a false story and headlines about Google acquiring Apple.

The headlines and story were published on its Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday between 9:34 and 9:36 a.m. ET.

The items, which were never intended for publication, were accidentally published as part of a technology test.

“I take today’s inadvertent and erroneous publication of testing materials extremely seriously,” said William Lewis, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Journal, in a statement. “While immediate corrective action has been taken, I have also ordered a review of news and technology processes in this area.”

The story noted that Google was acquiring Apple for $9 billion. Apple currently has a market capitalization of more than $850 billion.

The headlines included:

“DJ UPDATE: Google, Apple Join to Create Tech Giant”
“DJ Google to buy Apple for $9 billion”
“DJ Google Says Yay”
“DJ Google Says Steve Jobs Suggested this in His Will”

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.