This American Life on Friday retracted its searing exposé of conditions at Foxconn factories that manufacture Apple gear. The statement reverses damage to one of the most-respected brands in the world.
Acclaimed Public Radio International program This American Life has retracted an entire episode about working conditions inside Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer that builds much of Apple’s most popular hardware, after learning that a major contributing source “partially fabricated” information about his visit to the factories.
In the episode, PRI aired a monologue from Mike Daisey, a self-proclaimed performer whose one-man show, The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, detailed alarming labor practices which he claimed to witness during his time visiting Foxconn. Among the many facts Daisey fabricated, according to PRI, were the number of Foxconn factories he visited, the number of workers he spoke with, as well as a meeting with a number of workers who claimed to have been poisoned by chemicals used on iPhone assembly lines.
"Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast," Ira Glass, host of the show, said in a blog post Friday quoted by Wired. (I can't currently access the post. I expect it was overwhelmed by traffic).
I stand by my work. My show is a theatrical piece whose goal is to create a human connection between our gorgeous devices and the brutal circumstances from which they emerge. It uses a combination of fact, memoir, and dramatic license to tell its story, and I believe it does so with integrity.
Apple is going to come off smelling like a rose. Its brand has been restored. The only thing most people will remember about this story in six months is "Problems at the Apple factory? I remember that. That was faked."
That's a real shame, because, as Daisey notes, reports by the New York Times and human rights organizations corroborate that working conditions in China's factories are awful. The problem is not limited to Apple. Every electronics brand and consumer is complicit, you and me included.
Please post links and updates on this breaking story in the comment thread below. And let us know what you think. Will Apple's brand suffer any long-term damage? How about This American Life, also a well-respected brand -- will it be able to recover?
Mitch, I think your explanation is dead on for the present day. But around the corner, in the future, it's by no means clear that the distinctions it relies on will be meaningful to anyone.
This American Life was a plum target for being taken in in this fashion because they essentially do two different kinds of stories: Personal memoirs, where a certain amount of embellishment is perfectly appropriate. We all know that David Sedaris's life probably bears only a little bit of resemblence to the stories he tells, and we don't really care, because that's not the point.
More recently, This American Life has been doing real journalism, where strict adherence to the fact in every detail is mandatory. Even the smallest error of fact undermines the credibility of that kind of story.
The Apple story was both kinds of story -- a personal memoir by a man describing how he went on a project of real journalism.
This American Life was essentially fooled by a performance artist who, like many perfornance artists I have known, has a different concept of "Facts" and "Truth" than those of the stricter world of journalism. Today ,the distinction is visible, real, and meaningful, but it might not be in another generation; the recent career of Andrew Breitbart, or the older one of Hunter Thompson, shows how perfornance art and journalism can overlap and fuse. Like it or not, eventually "what it could look like" may well overtake "what could be proven" (as it has in many areas of corporate life).
" this has created an opening for research, someone's going to go out there to dig out the truth."
@ Kicheko
Not only Apple but I think all the organizations that have some untold stories that could rule them out as "bad guyz" will be thinking that they may be next. I hope this trend doesnt stop as it is for the good of humankind and it may force corporations to learn and realize that profits from business need to be shared with all who dropped their sweat.
The sad part about all such stands against injustice is that people seem to forget too often. However, we can hope that people remain focused on identifying companies that are busy in violating labour laws and other unethical activities. The more we see investigative journalism adopting social media, the more we will see companies getting careful in their activities.
Indeed life is a soap opera....now a retraction? well this could buy apple some time, but for the sceptic that is the consumer out there today, it may not cut it yet. One, there are corroborating reports like you mentioned. I'm not saying i think the guy was bought to retract his story, but i wouldn't rule out the possibility either.
Secondly this has created an opening for research, someone's going to go out there to dig out the truth. Apple may rest now but if the story is true, they know it and they better not get too comfy yet.
WaqasAltaf - I don't know that Apple has standing to sue. Individuals can be libeled, but not brands. On the other hand, I am not a lawyer -- but I've never heard of an American company succeeding in such a lawsuit in American courts.
It's a case off out of site out of mind. The abuse is not happening in American factories but thousands of miles away. I'm sure the electronics industry and the governments of the US and china spend a lot of time and money keeping these issues under the radar
@Sohaib, you're right. I've seen a lot of HR laws and policies formulated in our country, but are they implemented in most of the places? I doubt. However, if the developed countries manage to regulate the big companies, I'm sure the effect will trickle down as well.
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