Steve Jobs' liver transplant: The second-day stories
When major news breaks, like the report that Steve Jobs' got a new liver, there's always a scramble among competing reporters to find what they call the second-day lede — an angle they can use to spin the story forward ("lede" is by tradition deliberately misspelled).
Our modest contribution Saturday was a medical piece describing the liver transplant procedure, but there were plenty of other threads to follow. Here are the second-day stories that got our attention:
- Where was Steve Jobs hiding? Leander Kahney, former managing editor of Wired.com and author of Inside Steve's Brain, did some first-rate legwork and identified what he believes is the Memphis mansion where Jobs has been convalescing. You can trace the detective story at his Cult of Mac blog and even take a Google-map street view drive down the cul-de-sac where Kahney thinks Jobs spent much of his six-month medical leave.
- Who leaked the story? Daring Fireball's John Gruber, remarking on how unusual it is for the Wall Street Journal to run a front page news item without offering any information about its source, suggests three theories: 1) A healthcare provider, without Jobs' permission, 2) Apple's (AAPL) public relations department, with Jobs' permission, or 3) someone on Apple's board of directors, without Jobs' knowledge or permission.
- Did the press get played? Several reporters are pursuing this. The Loop's Jim Dalrymple believes Apple moved up the release of the iPhone 3G S from mid-July to mid-June in order to draw attention away from Jobs' health problems with "a bright and shiny object." Joe Wilcox's "Steve Jobs' Return Is Still Vaporware" takes it one step further. "The timing," he writes, "helps protect Apple’s share price and deemphasize an important fact: Steve isn’t really coming back this month."
- Where are the Memphis media? Rex Hammock pointed out that 12 hours after what should have been a huge local story, no Tennessee newspaper or TV station had done anything with it. I can confirm that 30 hours after a New York City paper broke the news, there was nothing about Apple or Steve Jobs on the websites of the Memphis Daily News, the Memphis Commercial Appeal or the the Memphis Flyer. The Memphis Business Journal's site does have a Steve Jobs item, but it's just their "Partner News" link to a Fox Business story.
It says something about the state of the news media today that it was a blogger in San Francisco, not a reporter in Memphis, who seems to have tracked down Steve Jobs' Tennessee whereabouts.
If you spot an interesting second-day story, let us know and we'll add it to the list.
See also:
All I'm wondering now is whether we'll see a personal donation from Mr. Jobbs towards some form of cancer research.
I'm not sure why the local media didn't pick up on this story a lot sooner. They were tipped off multiple times from Memphian's who saw Steve Jobs at local restaurants and in a wheelchair at a local park with his nurse. Hell, I even saw his plane N2N landing the morning of May 7th at the airport when I was taxing on the runway. In March, I had a friend who was alerted that a house in Memphis was having some huge bandwidth installed. Turns out it is the house that Steve has purchased. So this has been no secret in Memphis. There is no good explanation to why they wouldn't follow up on these "sightings" and evidence of his presence here.
It is certainly sad for anyone to be sick and have to go through pain, stress and perhaps depression as Steve Jobs from Apple did. He is an example of courage for fighting for his life like that and at the same time making the most of his time working for a great company that makes lives easier, more productive and entertaining.
However Steve´s return to Apple (as a public personality or even spokesman) from his medical leave of almost 6 months is unnecessary or even just plain gross. The thing is, Jobs used to be the cool figure in front of the cool Apple. In the recent years Apple nutrured a cult personality around him. That image has been built on personality and showmanship, richness, success, intellect and cool gadgets that all contribute to some degree of sex appeal. The fact that Jobs went through cancer then publically lost weight and then went through a liver replacement is NOT cool at all. Perhaps it would be too challenging for the average customer to look at and beyond the facts. Perhaps it will be to costly for Apple to present a fit and healthy image of Jobs again.
Yeah I'll bet he patiently waited in line and in no way jumped ahead of the 'nobodies' who have waited years for a liver transplant.
I'm sure ALL of the rules were followed, just like they were for Micky Mantle.
Really, Jobs is just more important than you all waiting for a transplant. If you die waiting, your last thought can be how happy you are that Jobs got your liver.
Adding a little further to the crucial issue of that apostrophe, may I invite the naysayers to revisit their options after a little further research? In particular, I recommend the Chicago Manual of Style.
Notwithstanding the wild apostrophe in the opening paragraph – in a clause that does not use Jobs in the possessive – the claimed Fortune house style is jarring to those of us familiar with The Elements of Style or indeed with the house style of The (London) Times, wherein this form is commendably reserved for figures of religious significance or historical antiquity. viz. Jesus', Socrates', Hercules' et cetera illustrating a category of individual into which, despite his considerable contributions to date and the notoriously vocal intrusions of his supporters, I must venture to suggest that the estimable Mr Jobs does not yet fall.
Hope this helps. Always keen to see better style in print, or the electronic cousins thereof.
I have to say everything I am reading about this is increasingly disgusting to me. The guy has cancer folks. Give him some space. Give him some respect. He's already saved Apple. He's made many people into millionaires. He's given us great gadgets, computers and even movies (through Pixar). In the meantime everyone is concerned with the share price. You know what? He doesn't have a responsibility to shareholders beyond what he has done. There is a succession plan at Apple. There is years worth of product queued up for release. The share price has risen 65% during his illness. You are all selfish blood-suckers, representing what is truly wrong with America.
"It says something about the state of the news media today that it was a blogger in San Francisco, not a reporter in Memphis, who seems to have tracked down Steve Jobs's Tennessee whereabouts."….Yes! You are so correct. It says National Enquirer-style "journalism" has not yet permeated the Memphis news media. How refreshing.
This story was announced 2 months ago, so not sure why "now" it becomes a wild rumor. Steve is a force of nature, he'll be fine.
Conspicuously absent from the list of second-day stories is any mention of anyone applying some actual journalism to track down a source who could actually, you know, CONFIRM THE ORIGINAL STORY. Until then it's just a highly-placed rumor, isn't it?
Wow. Don't know who Joe Willcox is (beyond just being a dog turd in a baggie), but something isn't "vaporware" until AFTER the stated point of execution has passed.(it hasn't)
He then goes on to state that it's a "fact" that Jobs will not be returning this month?? Wow.
Guess we'll see.
Why are there so many Apple and Steve Jobs haters?
Posted By KenC, Gardiner, Maine : June 21, 2009 10:21 am
Take your pick below:
1) AAPL short or Apple competitor stock holder
2) stock blogger wrote articles betting against AAPL
3) tech blogger who wrote and believes Windows is better than OSX
4) owns anti-virus stocks or works for one
5) owns Sprint, Verizon, RIMM, PALM, Nokia or another celphone maker or service provider stocks or works for one
6) worried about loosing their job as MS support
7) jealous of anyone that can afford an iPhone or any Apple products
got dumped by an iphone/Mac user
Did I miss any? 
Rex's last name is HAMMOCK, not Hammond. Some of us are his friends and want to make sure you get his name right.
ex ped: Aarrgh. My apologies to Mr. Hammock. Fixed now. Thanks for the catch.
I find it a bit of a slap in the face this webpage chose to use a photo of Jobs' home taken from bing.com. Have a heart people!
Glad he received his transplant but have to question if he did not receive preferential treatment. There is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?p=1887
The local Memphis paper The Commercial Appeal is understaffed and Run by Mental Midgets. They would not know a big story if it moved in next To them (which it did).
"CVK" is the moron's moron. (And I got the apostrophe correct.) As an Apple employee, I can tell you that Jobs has done a helluva lot for his employees, be it stellar benefits and salaries, a work environment unlike any other on the planet, or be it a spectacular stock price, which translates into big bucks for everyone who works there. Does CVK devote his life to "the community" and take no salary? Who among us doesn't "make money for himself"? That's what normal people, the antithesis of CVK, do. I can testify that all of us Apple employees anxiously await his return. It is idiots like CVK whom we wish would go away.
Maybe the Memphis Media Supports its state of the art medical centers and wants people to know that they respect their privacy when they come to memphis to live not be stressed by prying media.
According to the WSJ article, wait times in TN are 48 days and there are no residency requirements, so it would not be surprising then that Jobs would go there and get transplanted relatively quickly. Not sure why there's a suggestion that he used his money to get a liver, seems absurd.
As for whether or not the liver would keep him alive, that's a grey area in Medicine but there are many things that physicians do without absolute certainty as to efficacy – doesn't necessarily mean one shouldn't make an attempt.
@Mike K,
Steve did NOT buy his liver. Unless you know otherwise, why propagate this lie? Why are there so many Apple and Steve Jobs haters?
It actually says a couple of things about the state of the media. 1) most news orgs have cut their investigative budgets to near zero and are actually smart enough not to spend what they *do* have on trivia like this
2) most bloggers have way, way too much time on their hands
Leave Britney … I mean *Steve* … alone!!!
We wish him well. As long as the stock is higher no problems. But if it tanks then…. Lawsuit is the name of the game. The zealots as usual will put a positive spin and will believe whatever the apple printing press says(well as long as the stock price is higher). I don't think there is any positive when Jobs has a cancer.
If anyone has doubts who leaked the news, it is none other than Apple PR. They have degraded themselves to get cheap publicity to sell their 3g soap and why should we care about jobs when he has not done anything to the human community in general, but for making money for himself, not even care his employees.
Why is this so important to know?… Leave the man alone, he is a business man recovering from an illness not a hollywood celebrity, that owes its fans that kind of information..
Josh,
Actually when a word ends in s you don't add another s, and apostrophe is all. I learned this from my affordable web design company ConnectGO
How many people were ahead of Jobs on the liver transplant list, and what role did his billions of dollars play in this? Is this liver likely to keep him alive, and if not, why didn't it go to somebody who needed itto stay alive for a longer period? Aren't livers supposedly not for sale?
Note to your sub-editors: "Steve Jobs" is not a plural term and therefore a corrected headline should read "Steve Jobs's liver transplant". There are similar overzealous uses of the rare dangling apostrophe throughout the article.
Some of your references are making the same error, but we expect better from FORTUNE.
ex ped: Steve Jobs' (the possessive) is Fortune's — and for that matter many other publications' — style. But thanks for caring enough to write.
It's easy to understand the secrecy before the transplant. News of the procedure could affect stock price and encourage insider trading. It's not easy, however, to understand the secrecy following the transplant. Lack of disclosure of the donor only fuels speculation. Was the liver from China, or was it obtained through rabbis in New Jersey.
Investors need transparency, so it would be appropriate for details to be disclosed at this time.