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'This American Life' Retracts Show on Foxconn Working Conditions over Fabricated Claims

I heard the original program on This American Life, and pieces of it didn't seem consistent. I'm glad they had the integrity to follow this up.

Having said that, stories like this give people a flimsy excuse to deny any and all reports about bad or unsafe working conditions in developing countries - similar to how people use Al Gore's over-the-top hurricane claims to discount all global warming data.
 
This guy has gotten more than his share of media coverage - especially in the New York Times.

If you are interested in a more journalistic take on conditions in Chinese factories, I recommend reading Country Driving by Peter Hessler.
 
I think some good still came of it. Because of him an important issue was brought to forefront of news and discussions everywhere (even if it was really short lived) and lead to the Nightline investigation which lead to Apple paying closer attention to their own supplier. Lying or not, things COULD be better for the workers at Foxconn and what he did may have helped even if only in a small way.
 
ncaissie said:
Pretty bad when an owner of apple has to stand in line to get the new iPad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17401766

Woz is such a cool guy.
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With the iPhone 4S he stood in line, but he already had a 4S before it was released - being a cofounder I think he still gets a few perks.

He said he likes the experience of hanging out with people and talking about technology. And watching some of the videos of store openings I can see why - it just looks like a lot of fun!

And, completely agree, Woz is a very cool guy.
 
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This cheech is obviously an android fan. Losers...
 
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Disgusting
 
Westside guy said:
I heard the original program on This American Life, and pieces of it didn't seem consistent. I'm glad they had the integrity to follow this up.

Having said that, stories like this give people a flimsy excuse to deny any and all reports about bad or unsafe working conditions in developing countries - similar to how people use Al Gore's over-the-top hurricane claims to discount all global warming data.
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I agree 100%. Mr. Daisey's lies could actually hurt his cause, and that's a shame. He manipulated honest human empathy for his own ends. We should care about factory workers, but we should know truth.
 
FrizzleFryBen said:
This American Life is one of my favorite shows on NPR. I heard the episode and thought it seemed a little extreme. I am a bit disappointed that they didn't fact check extreme claims like his before airing the show. I will definitely be listening tonight. I'm really curious how it will play out in their "Acts".
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It gets released Sunday nights each week.
 
Real honest-to-god journalism, the kind where they follow "rules and expectations" to ensure that accurate news is released, seems to be a rare thing these days.

Kudos to the folks in the media who dig a little deeper and ask the right people the right questions... it's far too easy to just take things at face value, which is always dangerous when the folks you are talking to are looking to make a buck.
 
Good for This American Life

They got sold a bill of goods. They had a very successful and popular episode. And then they got some indications that maybe it wasn't true. So they investigated, and now they publicly apologize. This doesn't make them less credible, but more.

I'm surprised at Daisey, but looking at what he fabricated, it's a bit surprising that people believed it.
 
Love to see this guys stock portfolio and how it connects to his broadcasts. Anyone that shorted Apple on this negative PR took a huge bath.
 
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A name AND a buck

samcraig said:
More a name than a buck. If he was soley after money he wouldn't have offered his monologue for free (to download) on his website.
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He "open-sourced" his lies after it became clear that Apple's conduct regarding its supply chain was revealed to be best-in-class and that his production became (more) irrelevant. It was a theatrical smash-and-grab that I hope bans him from the stage for life.
 
macnerd93 said:
Just like the video we watched at school about animal testing showing all the awful things they do to animals they forgot to mention in the video that the footage was from the late 1960s and conditions in Labs in the UK have improved vastly since then. To me this and that animal testing film is nothing more than propaganda designed to give people instantly negative opinions on already touchy subjects.
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This was true of my middle school, too. It's never going to change - even that whole KONY 2012 thing used the tactic to get lazy people to shell out money before doing any research.

That's what happens when you live in a twitter generation - all you get is 140 characters worth of information at a time. Its just the evolution of the "sound bite".
 
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