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Apple Grants ABC's 'Nightline' Access to Foxconn Factories in China

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ABCNews reports that Apple has given Nightline anchor Bill Weir exclusive access to their suppliers' factories in China.
"For years, Apple and Foxconn have been synonymous with monster profits and total secrecy so it was fascinating to wander the iphone and iPod production lines, meet the people who build them and see how they live. Our cameras were rolling when thousands of hopeful applicants rushed the Foxconn gates and I spoke with dozens of line workers and a top executive about everything from hours and pay to the controversies over suicides at the plant and the infamous "jumper nets" that line the factories in Shenzhen. After this trip, I'll never see an Apple product the same way again" said Weir
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This special edition of "Nightline" will air Tuesday, February 21st at 11:35pm ET on ABC.

Apple and Foxconn have been under fire due to working conditions in the factories that manufacture iPads and iPhones. Apple has also allowed the Fair Labor Association to start auditing their factories. FLA has reportedly uncovered "tons of issues" that will need addressing. A full report is to be coming in the next few weeks.

Article Link: Apple Grants ABC's 'Nightline' Access to Foxconn Factories in China
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/18/apple-grants-abcs-nightline-access-to-foxconn-factories-in-china/
I'll never see an Apple product the same way again" said Weir
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Because only Apple stuff is made in China right? :roll eyes:

Gimme a break.
 
Apple "grants" access to the facilities of an independent company. That phrase alone calls for extreme cynicism: I wonder if this was a similar setup like the Red Cross visits to certain Ghettos in the late 1930s in certain Easter European regions. The Red Cross wanted to be fooled and only got to see what they wanted to see: Happy faces on a nicely prepared stage. Nothing was real, but nobody cared.

But maybe there are still some journalists with the necessary ethics left in this world who are willing to look beyond the stage and report the inconvenient truth that they find.
 
I wonder if Apple is hoping ABC will shed light on HP and other manufactures who use Foxconn.

It isn't just Apple, yet every article seems to slate Apple to bits over it. This might show it is an industry wide problem and Apple isn't alone.


Winni said:
Apple "grants" access to the facilities of an independent company. That phrase alone calls for extreme cynicism: I wonder if this was a similar setup like the Red Cross visits to certain Ghettos in the late 1930s in certain Easter European regions. The Red Cross wanted to be fooled and only got to see what they wanted to see: Happy faces on a nicely prepared stage. Nothing was real, but nobody cared.

But maybe there are still some journalists with the necessary ethics left in this world who are willing to look beyond the stage and report the inconvenient truth that they find.
Click to expand...

The whole Foxconn thing has been so publicly reported, and in comparison to your mention of the Red Cross visit to the Ghettos in the 1930s, is in a different world from then due to the internet. I think if ABC gave a biased report, the truth would come out via the internet anyway, and ABC would look bad. I'm sure ABC will be very in-depth and not take a blind eye to anything.
 
It's a shame that Tim Cook has to take the heat for a scenario orchestrated by Steve Jobs.

Yet that said, the report may be spin doctored in Apples favor.
 
Now we know how Apple treats bad press (New York Times) how can anybody believe this Bill Weir guy.
Like Poetin, Berlusconi etc. Apple want's to control the media. It's like a bad James Bond movie.
 
Apple is now too big to be a friend of the government-directed media.
Time for bribes, Apple. Like all the others.
Send more money to the two-party system and play the fence like any successful corporation in the top 100.
 
Tivoli said:
Now we know how Apple treats bad press (New York Times) how can anybody believe this Bill Weir guy.
Like Poetin, Berlusconi etc. Apple want's to control the media. It's like a bad James Bond movie.
Click to expand...

The New York Times article specifically pointed out the iPad and Apple, making the average Joe think Apple is the sole company using Foxconn and the cause of bad worker conditions.

It is an industry problem, and while Apple is part of that, it is bad journalism to just point the finger at one company when other companies are in the same situation.

And if you're referring to how Apple treated the New York Times in regard to the preview of Mountain Lion, their reporter said he had had it for a week, so Apple did not shunt out The New York Times like originally thought.
 
Were Foxconn employees making Microsoft's XBOX threatening to jump from the roof a few weeks back? Strange that went unreported.
 
Smart move by Apple. They need to get this out of the way and get control of the message. Otherwise it could turn into a significant issue down the road.

Second this is more on Cook than Jobs. Cooks was the operations mastermind and should have been on top of this.

Frankly with Apple making the profits they are, this issue never should have happened. Regardless of what competitors are doing, Apple is making obscene amounts of money. Take care of your employees (and subs).
 
This is a brilliant move by Apple if they can expose Foxconn for what it is.

This a great exposure of China manufacturing and how little control US Companies have over their HR/Environmental practices.

China refuses to allow US ownership of factories or land, or even to set labor policy in plants. This is a State Run society.

Apple can afford a bruise on it.

"I'll never see an Apple Chinese made product the same way again" said Weir
 
Change is coming

This is how change begins, folks. When people pressured Apple to make their products more environmentally friendly, they took action and made a change for the better. I think this is going to be the start of a process that's going to make life better for millions of Chinese workers. They've already gotten a pay increase just recently.

I truly believe that the folks at Apple see this as a necessary evil, and would do things differently if there was any way they could. I think that they are going to use this pressure to do just that. After all money talks, and Apple is by far Foxcon's biggest client.
 
The simple fact that it's "Apple" granting access, and not "Foxcon", shows that Apple is really in charge, they're just using a different name. Anyone who misses this and wonders "Why the outrage against Apple, it's foxcon's factory", should remember this.
 
jayducharme said:
Remember that ABC is owned by Disney, and Jobs was Disney's largest shareholder. I don't think it's an accident that ABC was given an exclusive on this.
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Jobs isn't around anymore though. You're probably right that Apple is still keeping connections that Jobs set up (such as any relationship with Disney), but no one at Apple is on the Disney board anymore.

EDIT: Though Disney CEO Bob Iger is on the Apple board (since November 2011), so I retract the above.
 
Last edited:
ixodes said:
It's a shame that Tim Cook has to take the heat for a scenario orchestrated by Steve Jobs.

Yet that said, the report may be spin doctored in Apples favor.
Click to expand...

Actually the production line is something that has been built and turned into a well oiled machine by Tim Cook. So no he's not taking the heat for Steve Jobs.

If you want to be fair about it he's taking the heat for a problem China has created, and China alone can fix. The country has created these working conditions and if it wasn't Foxconn it would be someone else. As a matter of fact I'm fairly certain working conditions in lesser factories with less attention are likely worse.
 
808? said:
A large Taiwanese owned employer that pays well above the average local wage, houses, feeds, clothes and educates their staff?
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Pays well above local average doesn't mean **** if you're stuck living in conditions that are, arguably, more overpopulated than sardines in a can.
 
Otaviano said:
As a matter of fact I'm fairly certain working conditions in lesser factories with less attention are likely worse.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Foxconn is a dream employer for many 100s of 1000s of mainland Chinese and Brazilians who have been lifted out of rural poverty.
 
Winni said:
Apple "grants" access to the facilities of an independent company. That phrase alone calls for extreme cynicism: I wonder if this was a similar setup like the Red Cross visits to certain Ghettos in the late 1930s in certain Easter European regions. The Red Cross wanted to be fooled and only got to see what they wanted to see: Happy faces on a nicely prepared stage. Nothing was real, but nobody cared.

But maybe there are still some journalists with the necessary ethics left in this world who are willing to look beyond the stage and report the inconvenient truth that they find.
Click to expand...

Could be, but you can't really just walk into a private business and start taking pictures. You have to get permission first. Just like someone can't walk into your home and examine your belongings.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Pays well above local average doesn't mean **** if you're stuck living in conditions that are, arguably, more overpopulated than sardines in a can.
Click to expand...

And yet thousands of people line up whenever they're hiring. Because they can't make wages like that anywhere else in their country.
 
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