(Image Source: Flickr/Photo Giddy)
BY ELIZABETH RINEHART
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
This American Life has retracted its story on Apple’s FoxConn plant in China after discovering the report featured some quote ‘significant fabrications.’
In an episode called ‘Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,’ the show featured an excerpt from actor Mike Daisey’s “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” a monologue in which Daisey details harsh working conditions at the gadget-producing plant in China. (Video Source: Tech Crunch)
A reporter named Rob Schmitz, who works for America Public Radio show Marketplace, met with Daisey’s translator in Shenzen. The translator told Schmitz many of the details in the show were lies, including.. (Video Source: ABC)
“...claims [Daisey] met underage workers at Foxconn. He says he talked to a man whose hand was twisted into a claw from making iPads. He describes visiting factory dorm rooms with beds stacked to the ceiling.”
According to The Huffington Post, the podcast was the most popular in This American Life history with more than 888,000 downloads.
“The episode inspired a high-profile petition on Change.org that demanded Apple guarantee ethical treatment for factory workers in China and has thus far garnered over 250,000 signatures.”
This American Life hasn’t said which parts of Daisey’s story aren’t true. But The San Fransisco Chronicle points out...
“Other statements in the monologue about the conditions at Foxconn factories have been substantiated in other media reports, including an investigative series in the New York Times that ran after the episode aired.”
So how did the false info end up on the show? This American Life producer Ira Glass says — Daisey lied to producers during the fact-checking process.
“That doesn’t excuse the fact that we never should’ve put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake.”
As for Daisey, although he acknowledges that This American Life was the wrong platform for his story, he claims his show is a ‘theatrical piece.’
“I stand by my work … It uses a combination of fact, memoir, and dramatic license to tell its story … What I do is not journalism.” (Source: USA Today)
This American Life will devote this Sunday’s show to the retraction.
(Image Source: Flickr/Photo Giddy)
BY ELIZABETH RINEHART
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
This American Life has retracted its story on Apple’s FoxConn plant in China after discovering the report featured some quote ‘significant fabrications.’
In an episode called ‘Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,’ the show featured an excerpt from actor Mike Daisey’s “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” a monologue in which Daisey details harsh working conditions at the gadget-producing plant in China. (Video Source: Tech Crunch)
A reporter named Rob Schmitz, who works for America Public Radio show Marketplace, met with Daisey’s translator in Shenzen. The translator told Schmitz many of the details in the show were lies, including.. (Video Source: ABC)
“...claims [Daisey] met underage workers at Foxconn. He says he talked to a man whose hand was twisted into a claw from making iPads. He describes visiting factory dorm rooms with beds stacked to the ceiling.”
According to The Huffington Post, the podcast was the most popular in This American Life history with more than 888,000 downloads.
“The episode inspired a high-profile petition on Change.org that demanded Apple guarantee ethical treatment for factory workers in China and has thus far garnered over 250,000 signatures.”
This American Life hasn’t said which parts of Daisey’s story aren’t true. But The San Fransisco Chronicle points out...
“Other statements in the monologue about the conditions at Foxconn factories have been substantiated in other media reports, including an investigative series in the New York Times that ran after the episode aired.”
So how did the false info end up on the show? This American Life producer Ira Glass says — Daisey lied to producers during the fact-checking process.
“That doesn’t excuse the fact that we never should’ve put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake.”
As for Daisey, although he acknowledges that This American Life was the wrong platform for his story, he claims his show is a ‘theatrical piece.’
“I stand by my work … It uses a combination of fact, memoir, and dramatic license to tell its story … What I do is not journalism.” (Source: USA Today)
This American Life will devote this Sunday’s show to the retraction.
