The article of interest is a CNBC post titled “Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world, passing Jeff Bezos,” posted on 7th January 2021. The post is worth evaluating for credibility because it almost sounds alarmist (attention-seeking). More so, we would like to ascertain the credibility of the information, given that the bold claim must have rigorous proof.
The credibility of the website/company
The article should be believable because it was posted on the website of a well-established news firm and therefore legitimate. CNBC is a news media company based in America with over 30 years of service to the public. Apart from the website, CNBC also operates a handful of television channels that are widely accredited for truth, objectivity, and hence believable. Thus, inferring from the legitimacy of the website’s parent company, the article is arguably believable. This would be contrary if the website’s ownership was unclear or if the company had a history of controversial news posting.
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As an afterthought, I consider websites ending in “.com” domains generally believable, compared to personal blogs or websites. Ordinarily, it is recommended to give preference to legitimate commercial and organizational domains such as “.edu,” “.gov,” and “.net” as opposed to alternative ones like “.biz,” “digital,” etc., which may largely present personal opinion over objective information. Similarly, the article would be more involving to prove legitimacy if it was obtained from a personal account on a social media network.
The credibility of the author
The news on Elon Musk becoming the richest individual globally was authored and posted by Robert Frank, who has a portfolio on CNBC’s website. On digging deeper, I observed that Frank is an award-winning journalist and a remarkable book author. Additionally, the author’s journalism work is biased towards the economy, wealth, American class dynamics, and global financial trends. That makes him possess the authoritative opinion to present a reasonable commentary on the topic of interest. In his journalism career, Frank has worked with The Wall Street Journal reporting on financial matters and has received a couple of accolades from Time Magazine , all within the past twenty years. Evidently, the reporter has the right credentials to present such a weighty matter (considering the financial and economic implication that implies for global markets).
Apart from the story, Frank has also reported significant financial events in the US and beyond. These include the course of Warren’s wealth tax, a high-profile auction of renaissance art in Washington, and many expose on firms conspiring to cheat on Wall Street rankings. He also reported when Elon Must surpassed Bill Gate’s Net worth in November 2020. All these indicate that Frank is conversant with the kind of affairs related to the article.
Chronological Legitimacy
The post went live on 7th January 2021, when Tesla’s share prices were on a steady rise in global stock markets. Given that Tesla is Elon’s most valued asset, it makes sense to relate its market value rise to his net worth rise.
References and links
Frank’s article provides multiple supplementing and complementing sources to support his claim. One of the most authoritative sources is a hyperlink to Tesla’s share price listing on NASDAQ, the authoritative stock market entity providing listings for traded companies and individuals. For context, the article also provides links to Jeff Bezos’ NASDAQ profile for convenient comparison. Another credible source is a snapshot and link to Elon Musk’s official Tweet reacting to the development. The tweet acknowledges the news - that he is the richest person, and admits how ‘strange’ it is. Similarly, Frank avails two references - Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes Real-Time Billionaires to ascertain the news’s credibility. The above-mentioned references are concrete proof that the communicated information is not just the author’s opinion but of factual nature and held by different independent entities.
Multiple sources
The news of Elon Musk becoming the richest person on the planet is available from different sources. Even more, the data and statistical figures in CNBC’s article agree with the information from the other sources. For instance, Forbes posted on its website that Elon Musk’s net worth had surpassed Bezos’ to make him the most valued billionaire. Forbes’ estimate of Musk’s net worth, USD 182.9 Billion, was only a few figures from CNBC’s, USD 185 Billion. Similar headlines were run by BBC, NBC News, Financial Times, The Verge, among other top financial and media outlets within the week. Not surprisingly, most of these independent sources refer to the same references Frank makes in his CNBC’s post.
Overall judgment
The article is factual and believable because it meets four fundamental elements of a trustworthy news article – the credibility of the source, credible URL, corroboration by multiple sources, and objectivity. Unlike a click-bait or a fake news article, the CNBC post presented accurate data and did not raise any alarmist views. From my view, the author maintaining a reasonably objective statement of facts rather than meddling with his opinions and viewpoints significantly contributes to the trustworthiness of the post.
I also consider the plenty of statistical data provided in the post advocacy of its legitimacy. The reason being, illegitimate news articles often shy away from stating accurate figures in fear of loss of consistency with the actual events. Another rationale for my approval of the post’s credibility is the absence of misleading ads claiming eye-catching offers, subscriptions, and discounts. These are typical with fake sources because the intention is to hoodwink the reader into buying a malicious product or service. Thus, I consider the CNBC article factual.
References
Frank, R. (2021). “Elon Musk is Now the Richest Person in the World, Passing Jeff Bezos.” CNBC. Retrieved https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/07/elon-musk-is-now-the-richest-person-in-the-world-passing-jeff-bezos-.html
