Certainly that sort of thing goes on, but just for the record, the specific story is a hoax.

For example, the name of the company "United Calumny" is a joke, if you look up Calumny.

Here are two references:

http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=27908&t=01009063290283398430

http://blog.valuewiki.com/2007/04/26/the-myth-of-the-paid-basher/

Definitely there are guys like "the Street" (that wacky guy) pushing things around, and boiler rooms on both sides (pumping, bashing), but the story was written to be illustrative and amusing.  No need to blow a fuse.

There are even stocks on Agora (I promised I would shut up about them) that do this (pro and con), but the market has its own wisdom too.

Enjoy / cedar