Steve Jobs Teaches Journalism 101: Please Leave Us Alone

Lonnie Lazar (6:16 pm PDT, Sep 17 2010)

Photo montage via Gawker

At least he was polite, but it’s obviously not customers for whom Steve Jobs has little regard — it’s journalists.

When Long Island University senior Chelsea Kate Isaacs, 22, emailed Jobs Thursday asking why Apple’s PR department wasn’t responding to her questions about about the use of iPads in academic settings, she claimed she wasn’t expecting a response, according to a report at Valleywag.

But she got one, several in fact, and in the end Jobs said, simply, “Please leave us alone.”

Ms. Isaacs should have emailed us about why Apple PR doesn’t respond to questions like hers; there’s a whole staff here with lots of experience in that area.

[Gawker]

Here’s the entire email exchange between Jobs and Isaacs:

(Read from the bottom up for proper chronology)

From: Steve Jobs
To: (sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:27:36 -0700
Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs – Student Journalist Concerned about Apple’sMediaRelations Dept.

Please leave us alone.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 16, 2010, at 5:32 PM, (sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)wrote:

> You’re absolutely right, and I do meet your criteria for being a customer who deserves a response:
>
> 1. I AM one of your 300 million users.
> 2. I DO have a problem; I need answers that only Apple Media Relations can answer.
>
> Now, can they kindly respond to my request (my polite and friendly voice can be heard in the first 5 or 10 messages in their inbox). Please, I am on deadline.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
>
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> ——-Original Message——-
> From: Steve Jobs
> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:10:12
> To: (sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)
> Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs – Student Journalist Concerned about Apple’s
> MediaRelations Dept.
>
> Nope. We have over 300 million users and we can’t respond to their requests unless they involve a problem of some kind. Sorry.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 16, 2010, at 4:37 PM, (sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)wrote:
>
>> Thank you for your reply. I never said that your goal should be to “help me get a good grade.” Rather, I politely asked why your media relations team does not respond to emails, which consequently, decreases my chances of getting a good grade. But, forget about my individual situation; what about common courtesy, in general —- if you get a message from a client or customer, as an employee, isn’t it your job to return the call? That’s what I always thought. But I guess that’s not one of your goals. Yes, you do have a creative approach, indeed.
>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>>
>> ——-Original Message——-
>> From: Steve Jobs
>> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:19:13
>> To: (sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)
>> Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs – Student Journalist Concerned about Apple’s Media
>> Relations Dept.
>>
>> Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade. Sorry.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Sep 16, 2010, at 3:22 PM, (sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Mr. Jobs,
>>>
>>> As a college student, I can honestly say that Apple has treated me very well; my iPod is basically the lifeline that gets me through the day, and thanks to Apple’s Final Cut Pro, I aced last semester’s video editing project. I was planning to buy a new Apple computer to add to my list of Apple favorites.
>>>
>>> Because I have had such good experiences as a college student using Apple products, I was incredibly surprised to find Apple’s Media Relations Department to be absolutely unresponsive to my questions, which (as I had repeatedly told them in voicemail after voicemail) are vital to my academic grade as a student journalist.
>>>
>>> For my journalism course, I am writing an article about the implementation of an iPad program at my school, the CW Post Campus of Long Island University.
>>>
>>> The completion of this article
>>> is crucial to my grade in the class, and it may potentially get published in our university’s newspaper. I had 3 quick questions regarding iPads, and wanted to obtain answers from the most credible source: Apple’s Media Relations Department.
>>>
>>> I have called countless times throughout the week, leaving short, but detailed, messages which included my contact information and the date of my deadline. Today, I left my 6th message, which stressed the increasingly more urgent nature of the situation. It is now the end of the business day, and I have not received a call back. My deadline is tomorrow.
>>>
>>> Mr. Jobs, I humbly ask why Apple is so wonderfully attentive to the needs of students, whether it be with the latest, greatest invention or the company’s helpful customer service line, and yet, ironically, the Media Relations Department fails to answer any of my questions which are, as I have repeatedly told them, essential to my academic performance.
>>>
>>> For colleges nationwide, Apple is at the forefront of improving the way we function in the academic environment, increasing the efficiency of conducting academic research, as well as sharing and communicating with our college communities.
>>>
>>> With such an emphasis on advancing our education system, why, then, has Apple’s Media Relations team ignored my needs as a student journalist who is just trying to get a good grade?
>>>
>>> In addition to the hypocrisy of ignoring student needs when they represent a company that does so much for our schools, the Media Relations reps are apparently, also failing to responsibly handle the inquiries of professional journalists on deadlines. Unfortunately, for a journalist in the professional world, lacking the answers they need on deadline day won’t just cost them a grade; it could cost them their job.
>>>
>>> Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Chelsea Kate Isaacs
>>> Senior
>>> CW Post – Long Island University
>>>
>>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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47 comments »

http://mrminimalist.nfshost.com Mark Szymanski
“Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile” That’s why ;).
Cameron T.
Actually I side with Jobs here. There is no reason why a journalism student should be emailing Steve Jobs to answer questions about iPads. That’s what Apple’s press website is for. http://www.apple.com/pr/
Also, the girl comes off as a whiney undergrad. I certainly wouldn’t hire her! She constantly complains about how she needs this info for her grade. Well guess what, girly? In the real world, a Journalist would be expected to do work regardless of whether or not Apple responded to their inquiries.
Alexandra
Why would he have to answer her? Nobody is obligated to answer to a reporter. This girl is being being very tactful. She is asking for a favor and she is not asking nicely.
If she chose to interview Obama for her class project, would she be angry if he didn’t talk to her as well? She thinks everybody is available for her at all times.
Alex
Welcome to the entitled generation, Mr. Jobs. Funny how she tries to turn herself from a journalist into a customer, so she can get her journalist’s questions answered. You almost outsmarted Steve Jobs there, heh heh! Almost!
Brandon
“Sent via blackberry” Hahahaha…
Steve Jobs Rocks…
He answered the mail… and then he told her to fuck off, not exact words… but damn!
Do your homework little girl.
http://radiochas.blogspot.com Charles Martin
I’m curious to know what she could POSSIBLY want to know about iPads that ONLY Apple Media Relations — who have already gone way out of their way to provide releases, white papers and stock photos — could answer (and are withholding from general release!).
The real problem here is that she is LITERALLY asking Apple to do her homework for her.
I’d happily wager a substantive sum of money that if she asked her questions to any well-informed Mac guru, she could have gotten the answer either verbally within seconds, or pointed to a public URL of the answer within minutes.
Peter
Uh, Cam? Did you actually read the e-mails?
She contacted Apple PR. She received no response. Since her deadline was close, she figured she’d try dropping Steve Jobs an e-mail.
I think it’s tacky behavior from Apple PR. Depending on her questions (“Will the next generation iPad have a video camera?”), she should have at least gotten some kind of response. While I see Apple’s excuse–there are lots of people calling themselves journalists nowadays–as a student journalist, it would have been nice if someone got back to her.
Still–in the real world, people don’t always get back to you. Another lesson of journalism: Have a Plan B.
Darwin
This site is a joke. How do you even know this was a real exchange? Because the doped at Gawker said so? Please.
Drew Caster
So this is fact now? Like the $.99 to rent a series for a month rumor you guys ran and then threw down the memory hole?
William Carr
You recall the last “email exchange” you reported? That was a hoax too.
It’s easy to tell once you’ve read Job’s REAL, confirmed emails. Short, punchy. Never more than one message.
This is fake.
It’s designed to make the “journalist” look like a loyal Apple customer who’s being ignored.
It’s a setup, people ! And only idiots like those at Gawker would fall for it.
But hey, if it sells advertising… they don’t care if it’s true.
Lynch
hahaha this is awesome
and steve was right, it’s not his job
charli
This student contacted Apple Media for a favor. It is not their job to deal with students. Period. Sorry girl if you are going to fail school cause Apple didn’t respond to your request for a favor. A professional journalist gets that companies are busy etc. So if a company can’t respond by a deadline they change things up and work around it. They do NOT call back 5 more times begging, whining and demanding a reply.
Professional journalists also do NOT contact the CEO and whine about a lack of reply and then get into an attempted pissing match with said CEO.
And seriously what were the 3 questions. Knowing that might answer why they didn’t respond. Perhaps they were questions basically asking for advance info about future ipad plans (which will not be told to anyone), perhaps it was b****ing about why the ipad wasn’t on the Back to School promo or why there is no student discount on them. Or perhaps they were questions that have nothing to do with Apple and were better directed to students, professors, textbook companies, whatever.
Rude Bellman
I think his response was very nice.
He said please.
Cody
I have a minor in Journalism from a few years ago, and had do stories to deadline for assignments with the hopes of getting into the university newspaper (which just doesn’t happen – basically unless you’re direct friends with the “newspaper crowd”, they couldn’t care less about your submission).
So I’ve been there.
And having read the outline of the story, I did think, “Wow, Apple has been a real jerk.” Then I read her overly verbose, whinging, demanding, complaining, self-righteous and downright unprofessional emails, and realised she has no clue about what it takes to be a Journalist.
Anyone who has done even one assignment in Journalism knows that you can’t depend on ANYONE for a story, let alone demand it. It takes time to build the connections required to make the stories you want, otherwise it’s about juggling a bunch of stories and hoping that one turns out.
Apple PR doesn’t owe you anything. Submit a SHORT request for something, without the attached whining, and if you get a response, great. But like any story, have second, third, and fourth options because you can’t expect a response.
I guess they don’t teach Journalism to the same standards as we do in Australia. BTW, if my University lecturer heard about the kind of unprofessional behaviour she’s exhibited in this email, she’d have been expelled from the unit.
bridged
Totally with SJ on this one. Students who want information in a potted form for cutting and pasting straight into their essay/dissertation are the bane of people’s lives.
http://cultofmac.com Lonnie Lazar
@Darwin @Drew Caster: Gawker quotes Isaacs as authenticating the mail herself and also claims others with technical savvy deemed them credible. Take it up with Adrian Chen. Or we’ll send Ninja Steve after your asses.
AdamC
Valleywag and ‘what have you done that is so great’ Tate are just hit whores, wasted 5 minuted reading this trash.
anna bonna
For the time I took to figure out the layout of this exchange I could have
actually read it. After 3 minutes I stopped and decided to complain
Please read me. haha.
Seriously. Couldn’t someone have cleaned this up to make it logically
able to be followed?
Sites that present stuff like this, interesting but requiring too much time, are
debilitating and wasters of more time in our world than we get back from
them. Sorry.
I’d still like to know what was said in context.
http://Haztea.com Tyson
She sounds like a whining bitch.
I guess she can get a few pointers of the real world if any of this was true. If she is expecting sympathy she’s not going to get any. She should have known to use sources other than Apple PR. It’s not as if Apple is the only source for information on how the iPad can be used in a educational setting.
David
This girl needs to get a life. I can’t believe she had any questions that either aren’t already answered or that Apple isn’t going to tell anyone, regardless of who they are.
And a professional journalist who needs a response for a grade? Come on. I’d send the same one liner.
Helius
Look at all you lot on here defending Jobs; get a grip. He’s not the Messiah. Jobs could do anything and you lot would defend it. You’re falling over yourselves to find out ways to excuse what is nothing more than bad manners. It’s not a big deal for him, or for Apple. It’s about manners and courtesy, or maybe those of you defending Jobs spend so much time on-line, sat in front of your Macs that you don’t come across anyone often enough to need to use manners?
She started out being polite and complimentary, she left messages and nobody called her back. Frankly, she’s entitled to at least a call or an e-mail from the PR guys? It’s not like Apple are short staffed in that area. That’s why she complained to Jobs. So she wanted a bit of help getting her grades; Fuck, how many people on here wouldn’t ask for help if they thought it might get them a better grade? Calling her a “whining bitch” etc. just shows how fucking juvenile some people on here are.
Been using Macs for around 15 years now and I remember when Apple couldn’t give their shit away; now they’re so far up their own arse it’s not even funny. They satisfy many of the criteria that we all used to bash M$ for. Jobs is great in so many ways, but his contempt for customers has been shown over and over again; it’s nothing to be proud of. I wonder what your responses would have been had the words “Steve Jobs” and “Apple” been replaced with “Michael Dell” and “Dell”……
bubbakush
i dont know but i agree with this statment
“Been using Macs for around 15 years now and I remember when Apple couldn’t give their shit away; now they’re so far up their own arse it’s not even funny. They satisfy many of the criteria that we all used to bash M$ for.” – Helius
Diego
“There is no reason why a journalism student should be emailing Steve Jobs to answer questions about iPads.”
: Exactly, that’s the job of Apple PR, only they didn’t even bother to respond, if they had have done then none of this have happened in the first place.
“Why would he have to answer her?”
: He shouldn’t, Apple PR should.
“Nobody is obligated to answer to a reporter.”
: The PR department is, that’s their job and that’s who she contacted and that’s who failed to even bother responding to her, they couldn’t even be bothered to politely tell her to fuck off.
“hahaha this is awesome
and steve was right, it’s not his job”
: Hahahaha you are right, hahahaha it’s not his job, hahahahaha it’s the job of Apple PR, hahahaha who repeatedly ignored her, HAHAHAHAHAHA.
“This student contacted Apple Media for a favor.”
: No she didn’t.
“It is not their job to deal with students.”
: No, but pretty much every other company in the World do when contacted by a student regarding a school/college/university project.
“They do NOT call back 5 more times begging, whining and demanding a reply.”
: Oh really.
“Professional journalists blah blah…….”
: She’s a student studying journalism.
“She sounds like a whining bitch.”
: Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are.
“This girl needs to get a life.”
: She’s got one, she’s a student. What do you do?
@ Helius *Claps, Claps.* Exactly, I think most people on this site are children under the age of 18 who have no idea or even care about the Macintosh, they are kids who are late to the game who only care about the latest shiny iToys and being Steve Jobs fanboys. Some of the casual playground misogyny of calling a young woman, who they do not even know, a bitch, is pathetic too.
http://retromaccast.ning.com/profile/JamesWages James Wages
Pushy, brash and don’t know when to shut up. All characteristics of your typical journalist.
After being properly implicated in the criminal purchase of a known stolen iPhone 4 prototype, journalists from Gizmodo created the so-called Antennagate merely to get back at Steve for having called the cops on them, and such is still fresh in Steve Job’s mind. If I were in Steve’s shoes, I wouldn’t give any journalist the time of day, student or otherwise. Go Steve!
dboy
Siding with Steve here – sod the whiney trike.
king
I think the journalist wants attention in the media , thats why she publicly published this email. She also added her picture too to be recognized by the public.
Although her e-mail’s look authentic, I don’t think Steve jobs took the time to reply to her 3 times.
Also people should stop e-mail steve jobs about stupid stuff. At his age and the huge company under him, not to mention other human responsibilities we all have, he really doesn’t have time to reply to thousands of e-mails a day. I am amazed he replies at all.
Rob
The most interesting portion to me is that at the point she did get the response, she failed to ask her questions. I question her priorities, it seems that once she was upset, that became a higher priority than getting the answers.
http://deoclicianocgiportfolio.wordpress.com Deocliciano Okssipin Vieira
@Rob, on September 18th, 2010 at 5:20 am
…I question her priorities, it seems that once she was upset, that became a higher priority than getting the answers.
Precisely!
Perhaps journalism is not her call.
Rob
In a word… pretentious.
Chris UK1
He was too nice to her.
The world doesn’t owe her a living! annoying git!
He shouldn’t have answered her at all.
Thib
Issacs wrote in one of her email:
” I was incredibly surprised to find Apple’s Media Relations Department to be absolutely unresponsive to my questions, which (as I had repeatedly told them in voicemail after voicemail) are vital to my academic grade as a student journalist.”
Well, that’s a total hallmark of an undergraduate whose only what to “persuade” (if you can call it that) a person to give information is because “if you don’t I get a bad grade.”
I’ve taught at the university level before and have heard such excuses used. Over and over again, I think, well, that is NOT a compelling reason for a third party to give you information because a) they don’t care about your grade, b) you have not given them any reason which compels them to respond to your question. In other words, what is at stake for them to respond to you?
NOTHING!
The 22-year old Issacs is probably just a bit young and therefore not able to at the moment put herself in the shoe of the other person and see that her grade has absolutely no bearing on the other person. They could care less. It was even a courtesy that Jobs responded.
Thib
And finally, I would like to add that Gawker has it wrong in using the exchange between Jobs and Issacs as necessarily indicative that Jobs wants journalists to leave Apple alone. You can’t come to that conclusion as a definitive conclusion. You can say it is a possible way to interpret the exchange but instead a more solid analysis is to say that there is nothing compelling for Jobs to respond to Issac’s request. Issacs set herself up in a situation where she says the reason she needs a response is because she needs a good grade. Well, from the other person’s perspective, that’s not a reason to respond AT ALL!
http://www.diarmy.net Diarmaid O Conchubhair
Steve is dead right. “short but detailed messages”… this girl sounds like a real pain in the ass. Ergo, vis-a-vis, that’s why she’s not getting a reply.
No way would I have been so courteous. And the cheek of having a BB and emailing the Jobsmeister!?
The nerve of the young these days. Guess she’s setting herself up for a life of doors being closed in her face – welcome to journalism babe!
Kura
Obviously fake, coming from Gawker network confims it.
Peter Too
Anyone with half a mind would see that this girl is being unreasonable. She sounds like a complete brat. She isn’t owed anything at all. Apple PR probably get thousands of requests from all over the world every day, and while I am sure she’ll end up a Pulitzer Prize winning TV bimbo of some sort, she isn’t quite there yet.
Take it down a notch there, doll.
subversive
Coming from Gawker the first assumption is that this is a hoax.
But, even if it isn’t a hoax, this brat is throwing a tantrum, and basically called Apple a bunch of hypocrites because they wouldn’t give her what she wanted. Good way to get on Steve’s good side doll — call him a hypocrite and then stamp your feet and demand that he pay attention to you because you have an iPod?
Get real.
imajoebob
And she then decides this “candid” photo projects a professional journalism image?
Maxx Wyler
If this is a real email exchange then I have to side with Jobs. She did get an answer…NO. The email exchange does not go into detail what her questions were. Maybe she wanted “confidential” information, who knows…maybe she was really trying to gather inside sales data for the competition. She sounds like a whiny brat who will end up on a reality show because of a sex tape scandal and her whining that she had to do it to get a good grade.
Mike
The most amazing thing about this story is not the rude response from Apple, the most amazing thing about this is how people on the comments are so protective of their dear leader they justify him being a dick to a kid. Seriously, I don’t care how much you love Apple, there is no excuse to be a dick like that.
Nathan
I find it amazing that people are so gullible that they still believe these correspondences with Steve Jobs are authentic.
LGgeek
I doubt this was an actual email exchange with Jobs, more likely someone does it for him. As for her getting a response , she did it was NO. What it really comes down to is she didn’t like the response she got. Welcome to the real world.
Now stop whining and next time plan better instead waiting to the last minute before your deadline. Or did you actually think Apple’s PR dept would drop everything just to help you get a better grade.
GadgetGeek25
I have a funny feeling that this is made up. In the past, People were lucky enough to get one response only, but this girl got 3? Something doesn’t seem right. And who knows, maybe she slammed the PR dept so much they made an auto filter… To the trashcan. Sometimes being a pain in the ass doesn’t pay off
Crusader
She obviously does not belong in journalism. Journalists are supposed to have very thick skins, not whiny little brats.
McRuer
She might be a whiner, and Jobs/ Apple may not owe her a good grade, but they do owe her a response. It sounds like she tried to contact Media relations several times, and they didn’t respond back. They could have at least said “This is beyond our qualifications; we’re afraid we cannot help you. Here are some already published resources to help.” Instead, they blew her off. It’s unprofessional of Apple to blow anyone off. If you say no, you’ve responded. Having no response earns you someone looking for an answer.
Jobs response may have been warranted given her tone, but customer service rule numero uno: always, ALWAYS respond to an inquiry, even if the response is simply “No.”
S.Ron
Well, while everyone here is moaning about what a terrible journalist this girl is, it seems that an incredible number of you actually read what she had to report. Sounds like a successful bit of journalism to me, hoax, no hoax, Jobs being a dick or not, her being whiney or not, all opinions of those who have read this story. Ultimately she has accomplished her goal I think. So, now that that is out of the way, Apple is for the spoiled, Windows is for the sheep, and Linux is for the rest of us who actually know how to use a computer. LOL.
Ictus75
Ands this is news? Must be a slow day for Apple news…
Brandon
Actually, the PR department is never obligated to respond to menial requests like this one. I run a marketing and PR firm and it’s little time wasters like this that kill your productivity. If you have the time, sure, answer a question or two. If not, let the little reporter wannabe do her own research. If it’s not common knowledge already, they certainly aren’t going to tell you!

About the author

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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