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

Good and Bad

The fact that this guy misrepresented things is not surprising. He's a theatre guy... whatever, you still tried to keep the news guys from contacting the translator and you let them use a portion of your monologue in a way that was deceptive. However you want to package it, you're a liar. I'm not surprised.

I figured the show, This American Life, would have a minor note on their website and quietly delete the show with the errors. Take only the minimum responsibility.

But... what? They are devoting a show to talking about it and trying to get the real truth? No sweeping it under the rug? This surprised me a very great deal. I've never heard of or listened to TAL but I will take a listen to this show, and maybe I'll listen to more. Making mistakes happens, but knowing that these people making this show are sincerely trying to present the facts honestly makes all the difference. That's real integrity.
 
CFreymarc said:
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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I have a hard time believing any experienced investor would short Apple based on this negative PR. Nor do I think novice investors mess around with shorts. And if they do, I hope they learn from the bath.
 
zwida said:
I have a hard time believing any experienced investor would short Apple based on this negative PR. Nor do I think novice investors mess around with shorts. And if they do, I hope they learn from the bath.
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I don't expect we'll hear a similar statement from TAL regarding David Sedaris' "true" stories.
 
The whole thing is a who cares... people didn't stop buying Apple products when the story broke, in fact they've had record sales. The sad fact is that people don't give a rip about the working conditions in china or anywhere else as long as the price of consumer goods stays down.

:apple:
 
Bravo to TAL for devting an episode to set the record straight. Newspapers and blog sites like gawker don't do that. At best they have a "corrections" section hidden somewhere. At worst they simply don't acknowledge it.

TAL is owning it, apologizing for it, and trying to set things right. That is exceedingly rare these days.
 
I have followed this story closely. Kudos to This American Life for continuing their fact-checking on their report and for following up when it didn't pass the smell test. It's not easy to publicly clean up after errors like this.

Earlier this year, the NGO sumofus.org launched an "ethical iPhone" petition campaign based largely on the false n-hexane claims. Apple Insider covered those false claims in the SumOfUs petition. The NGO changed their petition, but took no effort to notify petition-signers that their original petitions contained falsehoods.

An "ethical watchdog" must themselves be acting ethically. So far, SumOfUs.org is not acting ethically.

I have been calling SumOfUs.org out on their FB page. I encourage anyone else who is bothered by their behavior to join me there.
 
Apple now needs to ask the question "Where do we go to get our reputation back?" ...and file a slander lawsuit against Mike Daisey. But somehow I think Tim Cook is above that sort of thing.
 
PeterQVenkman said:
TAL is owning it, apologizing for it, and trying to set things right. That is exceedingly rare these days.
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Could not agree more. I love how so many other media outlets (e.g. Fox news) go on the occasional "NPR is an evil waste of tax dollars" rampage, yet we will never see them not only retract incorrect reporting, but bust their ass to get to the bottom of the lies. Kudos to Ira and the TAL crew!
 
I'd recommend people take a look at the entire This American Life press release on their retraction.

It becomes clear that, while many of the details related in the Daisey story actually happened, for "artistic license" or "dramatic effect" he chose to change details to better suit his narrative. Foxconn workers were poisoned by N-Hexane, but not at a factory in Shenzhen, as Daisey said - but rather at another facility a thousand miles away.

Any journalistic organization can make a mistake. We might wish that thee things didn't happen, but they do.

As others have noted, kudos to NPR and This American Life for having the honesty and integrity to admit their mistake, and to devote airtime to setting the record straight.
 
samcraig said:
On the flip side - a theatrical production is just that. I don't excuse what he did - and it was definitely misrepresented - but he wasn't testifying at a town hall meeting. He was delivering a monologue. In a theater. For people who paid to be entertained.
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He was also preaching his BS on the CBS Sunday Morning TV Show (national)
 
When you are the best with no one remotely close to your success, naturally things like this will happen.
 
dingamahoo said:
I don't expect we'll hear a similar statement from TAL regarding David Sedaris' "true" stories.
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David Sedaris is a different beast though. His stories are personal, small-scale and don't involve multi-national companies and thousands of jobs worldwide. His stuff goes back to when it was called "American Playhouse" and still plays to that theme.

Sedaris' stories are not to do anything but make people think socially at best, laugh for a few minutes at lowest - Daisy's story was deliberately constructed and made to throw Apple under the bus and get as much money for Daisy as possible.

You can't possibly compare David Sedaris and Mike Daisy. David Sedaris is funny.
 
SHAME ON NPR FOR AIRING THIS........ Shame on this fat bastard too for trying to make a name for himself too.

:apple:
 
nconnella said:
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.
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Lying never helps cause now when the next person comes out with actual facts no one will listen. I think the CEO of Foxconn (complete a**hole) can now behead his employees knowing that he won't get any flack on it.
 
mw77 said:
Could not agree more. I love how so many other media outlets (e.g. Fox news) go on the occasional "NPR is an evil waste of tax dollars" rampage, yet we will never see them not only retract incorrect reporting, but bust their ass to get to the bottom of the lies. Kudos to Ira and the TAL crew!
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One note: "This American Life" is put out by Public Radio International (PRI) and not by NPR.
 
I don't listen to NPR (PRI as corrected above), and never heard of TAL or this fat **** before. That aside, I'm surprised Daisey hasn't had some lawsuits parked up his ass for defamation, etc since his "work" was reported as journalism.

Of course he's just going to argue them as theater, mind you. Somehow I don't see this fatass doing a single bit of acting. Something about his image just irks me. I can almost imagine his annoying bombastic attitude with probably an equally annoying voice. Maybe it's his double chin that bothers me the most. Who knows.
 
smokedart said:
But... what? They are devoting a show to talking about it and trying to get the real truth? No sweeping it under the rug? This surprised me a very great deal. I've never heard of or listened to TAL but I will take a listen to this show, and maybe I'll listen to more. Making mistakes happens, but knowing that these people making this show are sincerely trying to present the facts honestly makes all the difference. That's real integrity.
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You should listen to their episode on the "housing bubble"!
 
rpaloalto said:
BUSTED! The Apple goon squad will be keeping a close eye on him for sure.
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Apple's goon squad cashed in their company stock options and now are living on private islands off Costa Rica.

The task of keeping a close eye on this guy has been outsourced to the Best Buy Geek Squad.
 
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