Steve Jobs: Not the man that iThought

I’ve never really paid a great deal of attention to obituaries before taking the news writing class that I’m currently enrolled in, or maybe I just didn’t know it. I’ve always thought of obituaries as short pieces that are sort of confined to their own section of the paper, but the recent death of Steve Jobs has made me see that if the prominence of a person is great enough, their death can warrant an obit several pages long and can, in some cases, be considered front page material.

This was the case with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs of course. As a contemporary popular American icon Steve Jobs was, and still is, second to almost no one. Perhaps it’s fitting then, that news of his death should get top billing. He was front page in the SF Chronicle on Thursday morning and no doubt several other local and international publications did the same.

What got my attention the most though was not the fact that he made front page news, but rather the content in the Chronicle’s piece on Steve Jobs. When I think of the late co-founder of Apple Corp., I don’t necessarily think of someone whose career was mired in controversy or dishonesty, and as far as big-time CEO’s go, his record is practically blemish free. I think a lot of people (especially Apple enthusiasts) view Jobs as some sort of demigod. But the Chronicle obit definitely highlights many of Jobs’ personal shortcomings, making him look as human as any other man.