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Pastimes : Business Wire Falls for April Fools Prank, Sues FBNers -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (3590)	12/6/1999 11:35:00 PM
From: John Sladek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3795

ragingbull.com I'm a UPCA investor based in Asia with a story to tell. While surfing the web in July, I came across a 'hot tip' on UPCA. It led me to a press release issued by BusinessWire reporting that a UPCA unit had an exciting discovery that could lead to a cure for AIDS. I'd .. The statement was also released thru BusinessWire which I thought was a reputable news agency. There were more releases in a spate of a few days, all thru BusinessWire, and all sounding really credible. Of course, it's now clear that UPCA management was nothing more than a bunch of second hand car salesmen. I'd been conned. Notwithstanding my folly, I'm interested to know if there's a way investors can get redress. ... can we take BusinessWire to court as well? If an agency carries news that it doesn't verify, it should be just as liable for consequences to the investing public. For example, let's say you wrote a damaging story on Ford Motor based on information supplied by an unhappy employee and an outside contractor, and it turns out that information was completely wrong. I think both the employee and the contractor will face a law suit from Ford. But you as the reporter will also be liable because you failed to check the facts while your magazine will also have to face the music for publishing your account. ...It worries me that with the explosive interest in stock investing thru the Internet, many parties are not held accountable for dissemniating bad information. Clearly, BusinessWire is a business and should bear responsibility for its action. ... Some sort of precedent must be set so that investors will get some protection from lies that can now be easily disseminated as facts by services like BusinessWire.