No agenda? Impartial? Now that is funny.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...C-has-deep-liberal-bias-executive-admits.html
But even with built in bias, investigative reporting can still be performed.
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Tim Cook 'Deeply Offended' by BBC Documentary on Apple Factory Conditions
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No agenda? Impartial? Now that is funny.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...C-has-deep-liberal-bias-executive-admits.html
But even with built in bias, investigative reporting can still be performed.
Let's have the BBC do a followup story, about the FoxConn/Pegatron workers who moved back to their province, bought a house, and are now living large.
It'd be ultra-boring TV, which is why you'll never see that story. Stories about labor exploitation are an archetype that always plays well. Stories about people getting jobs and living their lives are boring to watch, and unbelievably tedious to think about - especially if you're in media.
"The people - they stink on ice."
It'd be ultra-boring TV, which is why you'll never see that story. Stories about labor exploitation are an archetype that always plays well. Stories about people getting jobs and living their lives are boring to watch, and unbelievably tedious to think about - especially if you're in media.
"The people - they stink on ice."
I think they are more evil in the sense that they have $165bn in cash. I'm not sure that any other tech companies have anything like that.
Apple charge an awful lot for their products and they're clearly screwing the manufacturers for everything they can, causing those manufacturers (Foxconn) to make the cost of manufacture ever cheaper, at the cost of working conditions. The result is massive profits and massive cash reserves.
Perhaps that whole sapphire glass company thing is an example of how Apple really don't care about their suppliers or how the goods are supplied. They just care about maximising their profit at the expense of others.
1) Read the email. It says "artisanal mining", not "artisan tin".
2) Invest in a dictionary:
artisan - A skilled manual worker who uses tools and machinery in a particular craft.
artisanal - Involving skilled work, with comparatively little reliance on machinery.
FYI - Partial list of companies whose products are made in that same factory, who likely don't give a rat's ass about the working conditions there, but somehow were not called out in this story:
Acer
Amazon
Blackberry
Cisco
Dell
HP
Microsoft
Motorola
Nintendo
Nokia
Sony
Toshiba
Vizio
Indeed it does.
Tim would've earned a lot of respect from me if he had instead said, "You know what, you're right. We're appalled by this too and we're going to get serious about this issue." He would've even earned a little respect if he had said, "You know what? It's not our problem, and we won't be so in-your-face about saying how ethical we are over the rest of the industry." Instead, he took the predictable path of corporate denial.
Fail.
Do you not read? Take a look at the entire email that Tim sent out, specifically this part:
But unfortunately haters are going to hate.
Everyone who blasts BBC needs to understand that Apple isn't being targeted because BBC has it out for them or even necessarily because BBC genuinely believes Apple is worse than other companies. It's because Apple claim to be so much better than every other company and build a significant portion of their customer relations on this claim.
Furthermore, even if Apple is much better than every other company doesn't necessarily mean they take enough responsibility, it only means that every other company is even worse.
Furthermore, even if Apple is much better than every other company doesn't necessarily mean they take enough responsibility, it only means that every other company is even worse.
Apple isn't more evil than others. It's more hypocritical than others. There's a difference.
As I said, Jeff Bezos or Walmart Inc. are pretty open about being completely anti workers' rights. They're terrible places to work (read Glassdoor) but they don't pretend to be anything other than ruthless cost-cutting factories.
For years Tim Cook was supply-guy king, which meant he knew how to make the trains run on time. He developed a great relationship with the manufacturers and drove a hard bargain to ensure Apple could retain its high profit margins.
Now that he's CEO he also wants to be a human rights champion, while also paying $5 per $1000 USD iphone.
You can't quote Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and then look the other way when your source of income is sweatshops and get called out on it and then get "deeply offended."
As I said, Jeff Bezos or Walmart Inc. are pretty open about being completely anti workers' rights. They're terrible places to work (read Glassdoor) but they don't pretend to be anything other than ruthless cost-cutting factories.
For years Tim Cook was supply-guy king, which meant he knew how to make the trains run on time. He developed a great relationship with the manufacturers and drove a hard bargain to ensure Apple could retain its high profit margins.
Now that he's CEO he also wants to be a human rights champion, while also paying $5 per $1000 USD iphone.
You can't quote Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and then look the other way when your source of income is sweatshops and get called out on it and then get "deeply offended."
I haven't seen this 'documentary' yet but can't help but wonder if the entire picture of Apple's supply chain is being accurately portrayed.
It's very easy for producers to cherry pick only certain points in order to skew the edited story in a particular direction that supports an agenda with the intent to create a 'message' rather than present a neutral and objective 'document' of the entire subject.
I bet that a look at many companies could show workers doing things they aren't supposed to be doing. Does this video investigate the supply chain of any other company? Does it show the improvements that have been made as Apple pressures companies to comply?
Again, I haven't seen this video, but wonder if Apple is being singled out as an easy target because they boldly announced their intent to monitor and revise their supply chain to improve conditions for workers.
It's very easy for producers to cherry pick only certain points in order to skew the edited story in a particular direction that supports an agenda with the intent to create a 'message' rather than present a neutral and objective 'document' of the entire subject.
I bet that a look at many companies could show workers doing things they aren't supposed to be doing. Does this video investigate the supply chain of any other company? Does it show the improvements that have been made as Apple pressures companies to comply?
Again, I haven't seen this video, but wonder if Apple is being singled out as an easy target because they boldly announced their intent to monitor and revise their supply chain to improve conditions for workers.
No Apple is "claiming" they are doing something about it. Very different there. Apple is making those claims and what this proves is Apple claims are false and incorrect.
On the same playing field, all should be liable for using the same slave type labor. So if somebody has $166 billion in cash, it's somehow worse? Is the amount or Apple charging more something that changes the conditions?
For years Apple fans were a constant victim of Microsoft's unethical behavior so that probably led to Apple acting the same way. During the height of the anti-trust proceedings against Microsoft, they were found to be profiting an unheard of 31% percent. There's highway robbery and then there's highway robbery. We have to keep this into context. It would be accurate to say that Apple was evil but "more" evil? I don't know about that.
But all that does not make Apple any less disgusting and I am glad that there's an expose. But to be fair, let's look at other companies (Wal Mart, AT&T, Microsoft, Ford Motor Company, etc).
Apple products are "amongst, or even the, most expensive" out there because Apple have high gross margins. Higher than their competitors. Apple didn't come to $155 Billion in cash by being generous and awarding lucrative and favorable contracts to their supplier factories so they could pay their workers handsomely.
I'm calling you out on this. This is utterly and completely false. It's thinking like this that spews out of mainstream media and vilifys business as a practice. Honestly, shame on you for perpetuating this ridiculous notion. You're being intellectually dishonest with yourself, because if you truly believed this, you wouldn't work another day in your life. That is unless you completely live off the land, which by you posting on an internet forum I can tell is not the case.
But, if you believe this and have the mentality of "It is what it is and I'm only doing what I need to do to survive" then that's too bad that you're willing to compromise your convictions for your own desires.... oh, but wait, isn't that what you're accusing these companies of doing?
Well Apple doesn't agree that the BBC proved anything. So how come with Apple it's "claiming" in quotes but with the BBC it's the truth? Has anyone audited this BBC report?
As Tim says:
....Tens of thousands of artisanal miners are selling tin through many middlemen to the smelters who supply to component suppliers who sell to the world. The government is not addressing the issue, and there is widespread corruption in the undeveloped supply chain. Our team visited the same parts of Indonesia visited by the BBC, and of course we are appalled by what’s going on there.
Apple has two choices: We could make sure all of our suppliers buy tin from smelters outside of Indonesia, which would probably be the easiest thing for us to do and would certainly shield us from criticism. But it would be the lazy and cowardly path, because it would do nothing to improve the situation for Indonesian workers or the environment since Apple consumes a tiny fraction of the tin mined there. We chose the second path, which is to stay engaged and try to drive a collective solution.
We spearheaded the creation of an Indonesian Tin Working Group with other technology companies. Apple is pushing to find and implement a system that holds smelters accountable so we can influence artisanal mining in Indonesia. It could be an approach such as “bagging and tagging” legally mined material, which has been successful over time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We are looking to drive similar results in Indonesia, which is the right thing to do.
How can be both statements hold true?
They either knew about this all along and hence "spearheaded" the creation of the ITWG or they didn't know about and were shocked? They state they visited after the BBC, i.e. in the last couple of months and were appalled with what they saw; why were they shocked, when they are a key member of the ITWG, that they spearheaded to try and stop such practices?
So it's ok as long as a company doesn't pretend to be otherwise?
I'd love to see someone independent audit this BBC story rather than just assuming its fact and assuming Apple is lying.
The BBC is a non commercial broadcaster. They don't make profit. They don't even sell anything. Whatever one might say about the BBC this programme wasn't made "for profit".
BBC Worldwide is a commercial subsidiary that sells BBC programmes around the world.
Dear Nick,
A large portion of the world is deeply offended by your homophobic and hateful remarks.
So how many of the people criticizing in this thread (and the other one) are going to toss out their Apple gear and not buy any new Apple gear? That would be the only moral thing to do, right? I mean if Apple is to blame for the plight of these Chinese workers then the people who buy Apple products are also to blame, right? If people didn't buy Apple gear there would be nothing to make and nobody to exploit, right?
I too am disgusted by people like Nick. I watched the disgusting and disheartening documentary and saw the inhumane and awful conditions of those factories and I wondered what type of immoral person could run such a factory with such disregard for human life? My coworker spent 8 years at the Hanoi Hilton after he was shot down over Vietnam and he told me of just how cruel humans can be and wondered what type of people can do this? Who lacks the human decency to be this cruel and see some as less than others. My vote is for Nick.
The same type of person who sees homosexuality as a deviance may find Catholicism as deviant, or being Jewish as deviant, or being a Gypsy as deviant, and Nick's comments are doubly offensive these days as we have troops on the ground fighting an intolerant group we call ISIS, also known for seeing homosexuals as deviant all while capturing and raping underage girls and seeing that as proper payment for taking over a village.
It's a free country we live in and Americans or westerners are used to having a whole host of opinions, including hating gay people, but in my eyes when they are as extreme to paint a wide brushstroke to a big group, such as homosexuals, they are pretty much the American Taliban or ISIS and an enemy of our way of life and indirectly the cause of why our soldiers come home in body bags. We didn't only attack Iraq or Afghanistan because of their military threat or terrorist threat, but ultimately because of their incredible intolerance to those different from themselves.
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So BBC = the truth? According to who? Was their program independently audited and found to be completely factual? People here have no problem assuming Apple is lying. Why should we assume the BBC is telling the whole truth?
seriously, why are people so personally upset that the BBC is trying to make working conditions more transparent? If anything, it would make Apple tighten policy more and maybe even ask Foxconn to come up with their own due diligence.
I get it that they are targeting one company, but it's one of the most profitable companies in the world. What do you expect? Next up, Nike.
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Amen!
I get it that they are targeting one company, but it's one of the most profitable companies in the world. What do you expect? Next up, Nike.
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Amen!
Not all of it. It's televised and sensationalized to be certain, and isolating Apple when really lots of manufacturers are to blame. But that's abstract, we need to start somewhere. And where better than Apple, where they are just sitting on an incomprehensible amount of money? That's what happens though when one company and its products are in the limelight and prides itself on morality.
It's interesting to see morals and profits buck heads and one win over the other.
But worker conditions need to improve. Apple should source tin from elsewhere, but factory conditions are really at the cross hairs of scrutiny right now.
Cooking the books won't do from a morality standpoint,