Did CNBC Ban "Fake Steve" Over Goldman Rant?

In response to the announcement of a medical leave by Steve Jobs, a group of analysts was assembled to discuss the issue on CNBC. Key among them was Jim Goldman, CNBC's Silicon Valley Bureau chief, and Dan Lyons, who formerly played the "role" of "Fake Steve (Jobs)," on a satiric blog. The exchange between the two was contentious, and included Lyons asking Goldman to apologize to Gizmodo, whom he mocked when they said Jobs' health was "rapidly declining."

You can watch the video below; the exchange starts about 3:30 into the video.

What Lyons said was:

There are two kinds of reporters who cover Apple: the kind who realize they're getting snowed and and they're getting bullied and they're getting blocked out, and realize that a lot of what they're being told is not true, and the other kind who suck up in order to get access, and end up getting played and punk'd, like your Valley Bureau chief has been played and punk'd by Apple. And you can try now to backpedal and say what he reported was true, but look, you should apologize to Gizmodo for having criticized them, and you should apologize to your viewers for having gotten it so wrong. And let me say one something else, you said a week ago you started hearing that Steve was in denial. Why didn't you report that? You came out a couple of weeks ago and said, 'this is the day the shorts have dreaded; everything is fine,' and the stock went up. You got played, you got lied to.

One thing that Valleywag brought up is that Goldman's new revelations about Jobs come as a result of talking (finally) to non-Apple contacts. Goldman said that he didn't release the information himself because he "wanted to give it just a little more time." Naturally hindsight is 20/20.


BTW, Silicon Valley Insider first reported that "Fake Steve" had been banned for life from CNBC; later they said CNBC told them that was not true.

Lyons, while an editor at Fortune wrote the anonymous "Secret Diary of Steve Jobs" blog. He was eventually outed by the New York Times, but he continued to write it, even making a book out of the posts (Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs). He later left Fortune for Newsweek. At that time, he stopped writing as "Fake Steve."