Categories: Highlighted NewsOLD Media Moves

San Francisco Chronicle reports on fake press release about ex-PG&E CEO

The San Francisco Chronicle published a story about a fake press release stating that former PG&E CEO Geisha Williams was going to give her salary to victims of the wildfires before discovering it was a fake.

Roland Li of the Chronicle reports, “The website www.pgecalifornia.com posted a news release that claimed Williams was donating the money to help with relief efforts. The domain was registered anonymously on Jan. 20, according to internet records.

“After The Chronicle reported the false claim, a PG&E spokesman said the website was a fake. Later, a group called Climate Justice Crew took credit for it.

“‘Today, there were several social media posts about our former CEO that are simply not true,’ PG&E spokeswoman Kristi Jourdan said in an email. ‘The posts were connected to a fake website that, despite appearances, is not affiliated in any way with PG&E.'”

Read more here. The story includes the following note at the end: Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article repeated the website’s false claim about the donation.

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.