Reporting on CEOs health issues

The Toronto Star examines the very sensitive topic of reporting on CEOs health. The article questions whether journalists and the public have the right to know when a CEO becomes ill or is forced to deal with serious health problems. 

The focus is, of course, on Apple CEO Steve Jobs who recently announced he will take a leave of absence to deal with health problems that are, according to Jobs, "more complex than...originally though." The move prompted an SEC investigation into the matter to determine if investors were deliberately misguided by Apple's public relations team who assured the public Jobs, a cancer survivor, was fine and merely experiencing a "hormonal imbalance." 

Professor Laura P. Hartman agrees that while reporting on Jobs' health creates a potential ethical problem, Jobs' "public profile" might actually make him fair game. According to Hartman, because Jobs is such a large part of Apple's identity and culture, "our ethical and legal requirement to respect [his] privacy bumps up against the company's onus to disclose information material to shareholders and employees." Because the speculation over Jobs' health sent shares of Apple "on a roller-coaster ride" in recent months and because Jobs temporarily stepped down, his health issues were material and "impacted his ability to serve." 

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