Steve Jobs: Still Not Dead. Film at 11.

Bloomberg seems to be having an extremely slow news day. Its obituary update for Steve Jobs has turned awry. The obituary, a copy of which was sent to Gawker, contains a list of contacts that could be used for an extended story.

Soon after the obituary was published, Bloomberg issued the following retraction:

Story Referencing Apple Was Sent in Error by Bloomberg News
Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) - An incomplete story referencing Apple
Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m.
New York time today. The item was never meant for publication and
has been retracted.

-Editor: Joe Winski, Cesca Antonelli

It should be noted that many major newspapers/magazines keep a preliminary obituary write-up for prominent public people. However, these reports are normally not published before someone actually dies. We can only guess that whomever published this article no longer has a job.

Thanks for the tip, Adam!

[via CNET]

Update: Steve Jobs is still not dead. More as this story develops.

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Source: http://gawker.com/5042795/bloomberg-runs-steve-jobs-obituary

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Bloomberg seems to be having an extremely slow news day. Its obituary update for Steve Jobs has turned awry. The obituary, a copy of which...

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David Gerard

"They don't call it the Jesus Phone for nothing."

August 29 2008 at 2:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iBoy

Oh thank god i even started crying

August 28 2008 at 1:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Brian Burns

I guess this year's iPod event title will again be "the [heart] beat goes on."

August 28 2008 at 1:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

lmjabreu

...Still Alive

August 28 2008 at 12:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Chris

I'm anxiously awaiting the jokes he's going to have about this, at the next "Steve Note."

August 28 2008 at 12:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Bobby

This reminds me of that SNL skit from the early 90s where they are prerecording obituaries for Former President Gerald Ford, who was still alive at the time.

I had no idea things like that were actually done. :-)

August 28 2008 at 12:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

breadwild

"I intend to live forever...so far, so good"
--Steven Wright

August 28 2008 at 12:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jeff

Well, as of noon ET, Apple stock is up (just slightly) so that's proof Steve is still alive.

August 28 2008 at 12:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iBearTouch

Elvis has left the building... for good... but not Steve! Maybe if Steve starts eating some fried chitlins and grits...

August 28 2008 at 12:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lars

It's encredibly stupid, but a firing offense? Hardly. I work in journalism and when someone dies, people expect a fairly substantial obit in minutes, not hours.

You can't do this without working ahead (this is common in tv / print / online). These stories get filed more often than not straight in the content management system, undated for release when, well, the subject shakes off the mortal coil.

We don't know anything about the publishing system at Bloomberg - it could be a very human error that this got out.

You should look at Google News some times: one wrong key and empty pages, halfbaked articles and temporary headliners get pumped to all kinds of feeds.

So stupid: yes. Unfeeling: yes (but only because it's an obituary and reveals that the media prepares these things while people are alive).

Apologies: yes (and Bloomberg did apologize/retract, sorta). Should someone loose their job over it: no.

August 28 2008 at 11:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply