A fake news release claiming that Bank of America was seeking public input on how to run the bank was sent to business journalists at Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
A Dow Jones story states, “Dressed in BofA’s famed ‘flagstaff’ logos and color, the release was sent by email to a number of recipients at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. The release falsely indicated that the information was being disseminated via Business Wire, which routinely delivers press releases to news outlets.
“Dow Jones Newswires mistakenly published the fake press release and a headline about the release around 9:15 a.m. EDT Wednesday. A post from the Wall Street Journal’s Deal Journal blog later reported the press release was a hoax. That post was published on Dow Jones Newswires at 10:52 a.m. EDT. The fake press release and headline were subsequently removed from Dow Jones’s archival systems. Ashley Huston, a spokesperson for Dow Jones, said the company regrets the error.
“A spokesman for Bank of America, who confirmed the release was a fake, said the bank doesn’t plan to take action against the sender of the email.
“A spokeswoman for Business Wire confirmed that the release was not sent by Business Wire, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway, and had no further comment.”
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