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This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

thisamericanlife.org

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Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#151

Post by fleitz »

larrys wrote: post #108
tptacek wrote: post #2

I'm a Chicago Public Radio member and just got this in my email. Wow: I’m writing to tell you that tonight, This American Life and Marketplace will reveal that a story that we broadcast on This American Life this past January contained significant fabrications. We’re retracting that story because we can’t vouch for its truth, and this weekend's episode of our show will detail the errors in the story, which was an exc…

"We didn't think that he was lying to us. That was a mistake." It's scary how easy it is to socially engineer people and get what you want. While some of this comes from experience I feel that some people are just wired in a way that makes them easier to dupe independent of their education and intelligence.

People don't fact check what they want to hear and which supports existing narratives.

The largest company in the world making their money on the backs of exploiting the very poorest is a common trope so it's one that doesn't get much fact checking.

People aren't wired that way, it takes a good 12 years of teaching them to regurgitate 'quasi-facts' to get them out of their more curious fact checking nature. Every kid wants to know why the sky is blue, but by the time they get to history class no one wants to know why Columbus discovered America.

Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#153

Post by mmaunder »

earthviaradio wrote: post #66
mmaunder wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, Planet Money rocks my world. Check out the Econtalk podcast with Russ Roberts for where they get some of their inspiration and data. It's a much deeper economics dive, hour long and tends to be Hayekian as opposed to PM which is firmly Keynesian.

I got into Planet Money during the GFC meltdown but more recently I've found the quality of their shows waning. They seem to be dumbing down topics (a recent show on the Greek debt crisis made out that the problem was essentially "office politics" between the ECB and the Greek government with no mention of the structural economic problems of the Euro experiment). For a deep dive on economics and politics from the lef…

Truth is I've found the same re planet money's quality waning. For the first time I actually stopped a podcast 2 thirds through because I found myself yawning.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of Behind the News, found it on iTunes and it sounds awesome. Link for those interested:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-news-doug-henwood/...

Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#154

Post by brudgers »

ceejayoz wrote: post #134
brudgers wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardly a worth a "Wow." Apple was a sponsor of NPR in FY 2008 and 2009, and 2010. I suspect they continue to be one. Money is the best explanation for the PR push behind your email. http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/annualreports/NPR_AnnualRe... http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/annualreports/2009_NPRAnnu... http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/annualreports/NPRSponsorsD...

> Apple was a sponsor of NPR in FY 2008 and 2009, and 2010. That's nice, but This American Life isn't made by NPR. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Radio_International > PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources, competing with National Public Radio and American Public Media to provide programming to public radio stations.

Chicago Public Radio, who is purported to have sent the email, does have an ongoing relationship with NPR. So does their parent company, Chicago Public Media which produces This American Life. NPR coproduces Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me with CPM.

PRI, as you note, is in competition with NPR (and CPM). They are producers of the journalistic expose' about a one man show not meeting the standards of investigative journalism. A strawman argument indeed.

Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#156

Post by cgoddard »

Jun8 wrote: post #26

From a naive viewpoint: Why is all this reporting about factory conditions focus on Apple, i.e. Foxconn? Is there proof that factories operated by Foxconn are worse than the typical Chinese factory? Or is Apple pushing them to Draconian measures, e.g. guards with guns, child workers, etc.? How's this any different from any other Made in China electronics product? EDIT: The replies are aligned with what I was thinking…

Keep in mind Apple has some of the highest profit margins in the tech industry too. It can afford to make conditions better, but chooses not to, given company awareness of the practices of its overseas suppliers.

Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#157

Post by pfraze »

rhizome wrote: post #148
beatle wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do you think about James Frey and Henry Blodget? exactly.

That they're making their way in the world just fine despite their histories, rendering any imaginary cosmic retribution impotent?

The voice of the people is the voice of God.

Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#158

Post by Bud »

ceejayoz wrote: post #53
twoodfin wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. I'll just say that it would be a rare major journalism outlet in this country that wouldn't post a retraction like this when this kind of fabrication came to light. I don't think PRI has behaved particularly impressively here.

Posting is one thing. E-mailing every member is another.

They didn't merely post or email people.

They are devoting THEIR ENTIRE SHOW this weekend to the retraction.

If you honestly think Fox News would do this, I want some of your drugs.

Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#159

Post by Retric »

jbooth wrote: post #103
earthviaradio wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got into Planet Money during the GFC meltdown but more recently I've found the quality of their shows waning. They seem to be dumbing down topics (a recent show on the Greek debt crisis made out that the problem was essentially "office politics" between the ECB and the Greek government with no mention of the structural economic problems of the Euro experiment). For a deep dive on economics and politics from the lef…

NPR isn't supposed to be leftist, it's supposed to be journalism. That's what separates them from other outlets, they're either focused on advocacy (fox, currentTV) or entertainment (CNN, MSNBC).

In journalism circles you can often hear that the truth leans to the left. When things like Evolution and Climate Change are brought up you can either go with the facts which leans left or teach the controversy which leans right but there is no safe middle ground. The left has plenty of less than rational views, but when you simply speech the truth your far less likely to seem to lean to the right.

Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"

#160

Post by bilbo0s »

tptacek wrote: post #90
megaduck wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know because I've seen it. My wife and I used to live in China, and we did traveling in both the high and the low places. I can't speak to the particulars in Daisey's story (since I don't know which ones were made up), but the overall picture he painted sounded familiar. It's unquestionable that there are horrible working conditions in Chinese factories. That's the tragedy here. There's millions of awful wonderful…

Your story would be a lot more valuable than Daisey's, which is worthless.

His is worthless as well...

Unless you can fact check it.

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