Categories: OLD Media Moves

Fake news release makes it onto Dow Jones

A news release saying Samsung was purchasing a Swedish tech company for $650 million was published on Dow Jones before it was discovered to be false.

Sven Grundberg of The Wall Street Journal writes, “Dow Jones & Co.’s newswires republished the release from the Cision news release service. The release was removed from the Dow Jones service and a correction was published. Dow Jones, owned by News Corp., is the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

“It is the latest in a string of bogus releases. In April, a fake news release was distributed that said Chinese search giant Baidu Inc. made an offer to acquire social-gaming company Zynga Inc. And in November last year, a fake news release posted on PRWeb.com said that Google Inc. had acquired wireless provider IOCA Inc. for $400 million. Both companies quickly debunked the news.

“In an interview Friday afternoon, Cision CEO Magnus Thell said ‘we’ve got a control system, but in this case it was breached.’ Cision’s shares closed down 5.4% on Friday.”

Read more here.

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.