Gift giving and saying thank you are integral parts of this holiday season. Like the twelve days of Christmas and the eight nights of Chanukah, the imbroglio that started on December 9 when Bloomberg News published what has been called “leaked” materials concerning U.S. government tests to see if LightSquared, Inc’s wireless services would interfere with GPS systems, is a gift that keeps on giving.

Yesterday, as I reported, LightSqaured struck back with a forceful rebuttal to the original Bloomberg (News - Alert) story questioning its accuracy and the motivation of the source who gave Bloomberg incomplete and misleading information in what the company says is an attempt to significantly damage its reputation.  

In today’s chapter, two interesting items have appeared that are worth a quick read. In the first, Scientific American blogger Larry Greenmeier posted a nice item describing the issues and also reported:

“The NTIA acknowledges that the testing of LightSquared’s (News - Alert) network is not yet complete. The current phase of testing focused on GPS receivers found in mobile phones and personal/general-navigation GPS and was completed by November 30. The NTIA has received the data from this stage of testing but has not yet analyzed the results, says Moira Vahey, an agency spokeswoman.”

The blog went on to point out that NTIA also said that it would not reveal the full test results until it has completed a second phase of tests on potential interference with GPS receivers for high-precision and timing applications, and has not given a date at this time as to when that might be. This in direct contradiction of Bloomberg’s reporting that results would be revealed at an NTIA meeting December 14.

The plot thickens with a curious piece from Bloomberg entitled, LightSquared Seeks Probe of Report on Government GPS Test. In fairness -- which seems to be something more than what Bloomberg can muster at this time -- the piece did report that LightSqaured was not happy with the story and was calling for an investigation of the leak. However, the posting went on to repeat the original assertion that brought this whole thing to a boil saying, “Testing conducted Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 indicated that LightSquared’s service caused interference with 75 percent of GPS receivers, Bloomberg News reported Dec. 9, citing a draft summary of the results.” This was without attribution once again. .  

It also added:

“Official results of the testing won’t be released for “several more weeks,” Anthony Russo, director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, said in an e-mailed statement. The NTIA asked that the tests be conducted under the auspices of Russo’s office.”

But wait, there is just a little bit more. The pièce de résistance was after the above quote —which at a minimum confirmed LightSquared’s assertion that Bloomberg had used sources that, putting aside the leaking issue, in the best light paint an incomplete and misleading view of the tests already conducted — went on to provide the following information: “’Bloomberg stands by its reporting,’ said Ty Trippet, a spokesman for New York-based Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News.”

I realize that many news organizations are not in the habit of printing retractions when they get things wrong and shame on them. Few, if any, ever apologize. However, reprinting as fact information from an unidentified source that is highly suspect at the top of a story and then standing by your reporting when the facts as you yourself have indicated are not fully analyzed by the responsible parties? That’s a good one.

Like I said at the top, this is the gift that keeps on giving. In fact, it just gets re-packed with a nice new bow on the top. Can’t wait to see what comes in tomorrow.

Peter Bernstein is a technology industry veteran, having worked in multiple capacities with several of the industry's biggest brands, including Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Telcordia, HP, Siemens, Nortel (News - Alert), France Telecom, and others, and having served on the Advisory Boards of 15 technology startups. To read more of Peter's work, please visit his columnist page.