Jim Goldman: Ethically Challenged

When Jim Goldman was a reporter for CNBC, he became somewhat famous for taking what Apple PR gave to him about Steve Jobs health and reporting it as news. When just a week later, Apple changed it’s tune and admitted his health was worse than they were saying, Goldman still stood by his original story and didn’t offer up much criticism of the company. He didn’t feel lied to, and even claimed it’s possible what they were saying was true at the time. Some suggested at the time that he didn’t want to threaten his close relationship with Apple by being critical of them, but of course that means he’s not really objective as a reporter.

Another time, he was on air saying things about Apple products that were just not true. He made claims about what software was bundled (free Photoshop when you purchase a Mac?), and how the products compared to competitors. Since anyone who is vaguely familiar with their products would know they are untrue, some at the time suggested he was just making things up to make Apple look good.

So it should come as no surprise I guess, that after leaving the world of “journalism” (which is intentionally in quotes here), he ended up working for a PR firm – Burson-Marsteller. He was basically working as a corporate PR rep when he was with CNBC.

And maybe again, no surprise that he is at the center of a scandal this week. He was caught trying to get USA Today to publish a “largely untrue” story about Google. Although this quite likely happens all the time in the world of PR (“Psst, did you know my competitor likes to kick dogs? That would make a great front page story!”), the fact that USA Today decided to print his name, his employers name, and make the company look bad for trying to do this is rarely seen. It’s an indication that this was one of the worst examples of this USA Today had seen.

Burson-Marsteller needs a PR firm to get their reputation back.

And Jim Goldman needs to readjust his perception of what is right and what is wrong. Reporters are supposed to be somewhat objective, not unapologetic shills for the companies they cover. And as a PR person, making things up to try to get media coverage against a competitor of a client is not doing that client any favors. Now there are hundreds of articles scattered around the web linking Burson, Goldman and Facebook to a smear campaign against Google based on Goldman’s half-truths to USA Today reporters. And Facebook is not blameless. Companies should focus on making their products better, and even getting positive press out of that, instead of doing political attack-ad style campaigns against competitors.

Maybe Jim Goldman should be a politician?

Advertisement