So exciting when a giant global corporation has a PR coup against its naysayers.
This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
91–100 of 240 posts
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#92From 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…
I agree, the question is simple -- If you think the conditions in Apple's factories are abhorrent, fair enough. But whose products are you going to buy instead of Apple's?
To me, this puts the lie to the idea that any of this has to do with concern for the actual workers in these factories. If you think the conditions in Apple's factories are bad, but then you buy something made in a factory just as bad or worse, what exactly has been accomplished?
All the arguments against what you and I are saying come down to branding. Apple's brand is this, but their factories are like that. OK, fine, Apple's brand misrepresents reality. But who seriously cares about brands?! Wasn't the concern here supposed to be humans?
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#93With the claims of using "dramatic license," it sounds like he's trying to have it both ways, especially since he was on Real Time with Bill Maher recently, and a lot of these things that turned out to be fabricated he mentioned in the interview as though they were fact: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iebnHvxKqlY
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#94An interesting coincidence - NPR is underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I wonder if Gates helped fund this show in particular?
This is not a dumb comment. B&M Gates foundation does put a lot of money into NPR. To think that the management and producers at NPR are not aware of this is ingenuous. Every editor in the country is aware of who's paying for the ads. There's certainly cases where MSFT has gotten prominent puff pieces placed into All Things Considered. Both AAPL and MSFT have "long arm" marketing strategies; don't put it past them to pull a stunt like this.
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
This American Life is not an NPR program.
Marketplace is.
Marketplace is produced by American Public Media.
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
An M.O. of many fabricators in the world of journalism is to first claim the source(s) can't be tracked down, and then to claim artistic license (this happened with Mike Barnicle of the Boston Globe in the late 1990s, and I recall seeing similar incidents at the New York Times and one of the Chicago papers over the years as well). Plagiarism is another problem area for publishers, but their excuse is often along the…
I hope you enjoyed your 5-min of fame Mike Daisey because your reputation is now completely and irrevocably ruined.
He's probably sold enough tickets over the last 5 months in NY to retire on.
Interestingly his show's run off broadway is scheduled through the 18th; anyone want to start a pool on that?
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#97While reading Daisey's response[1], something jumped out at me: as a defense for "embellishing the truth" he says: "What I do is not journalism. The tools of the theater are not the same as the tools of journalism."
Why does that defense (from a disgraced journalist) sound familiar? Oh yeah, David Pogue, when faced with serious charges of conflict of interest: "I am not a reporter. I’ve been an opinion columnist my entire career...I try to entertain and inform."
And where did I read that? The Atlantic Wire piece[2] on Dave Pogue. And how did I find that piece? Oh yeah, Mike Daisey linked to it from his indictment[3] of David Pogue on his blog.
Summary: Daisey endorses a critique of Pogue that calls the defense of "I'm not a journalist" ridiculous, then Daisey invokes the exact same (pitiful) defense. Yechh...
For the record I support Daisey's crusade and think Pogue is a fool on this issue, but it's really irritating to find out that the highest profile critic of Apple labor conditions is both a liar and a Class-A Hypocrite. Now those who want to dismiss critiques of gadget-makers' labor practices have a great new reason to do just that. The campaign to improve working conditions for gadget makers would be better off if Daisey had stayed out of it completely; his contribution was (imo) a net setback.
[1] http://mikedaisey.blogspot.com/2012/03/statement-on-tal.html [2] http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/05/david-pogue-... [3] http://mikedaisey.blogspot.com/2012/02/david-pogue-is-only-c...
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#98An interesting coincidence - NPR is underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I wonder if Gates helped fund this show in particular?
This is not a dumb comment. B&M Gates foundation does put a lot of money into NPR. To think that the management and producers at NPR are not aware of this is ingenuous. Every editor in the country is aware of who's paying for the ads. There's certainly cases where MSFT has gotten prominent puff pieces placed into All Things Considered. Both AAPL and MSFT have "long arm" marketing strategies; don't put it past them to…
Again, it's irrelevant. NPR is not involved in the production or distribution of This American Life.
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
An M.O. of many fabricators in the world of journalism is to first claim the source(s) can't be tracked down, and then to claim artistic license (this happened with Mike Barnicle of the Boston Globe in the late 1990s, and I recall seeing similar incidents at the New York Times and one of the Chicago papers over the years as well). Plagiarism is another problem area for publishers, but their excuse is often along the…
I hope you enjoyed your 5-min of fame Mike Daisey because your reputation is now completely and irrevocably ruined.
Not so fast.
Remember James Frey (tricked Oprah and her staff).
He's doing quite well, see "current work":
Re: This American Life Retracting "Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory"
#100An interesting coincidence - NPR is underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I wonder if Gates helped fund this show in particular?
This is not a dumb comment. B&M Gates foundation does put a lot of money into NPR. To think that the management and producers at NPR are not aware of this is ingenuous. Every editor in the country is aware of who's paying for the ads. There's certainly cases where MSFT has gotten prominent puff pieces placed into All Things Considered. Both AAPL and MSFT have "long arm" marketing strategies; don't put it past them to…
It's a dumb comment because NPR has nothing to do with This American Life even if you believe that the largest private charity foundation in the world is a shill for Microsoft.