You have to remember Daisy and Cathy lee live in china where apple spends billions on manufacturing. So its no surprise that they've changed their stories probably after a visit from the government. They should get out of china while they still can.

So what about the other news agencies which documented similar conditions? Nowhere in this article does it state that they too fabricated the stories. I'm not defending Daisy in any way. He's a scumbag. But before everyone jumps on board and says, "Oh, there's no problem afterall", perhaps they should examine the credibility of pieces written by other sources on this topic.

I am with you because a major newspaper also ran a story which had same facts about APPLE but hey that hurt the APPLE BRAND & selling new Ipads today

zuksam, you're information is no more accurate than Daisy's. Mike Daisy lives in New York City, which last time I checked was not a part of China. Sorry, but fact checking is important (I thought the article made that abundantly clear).

Kind of kills that conspiracy theory you were cooking up there, doesn't it?

OH please! The first rule of journalism is have multiple independent sources corroborating a story. They openly said they took 'his' independent word for the story. Enough said. "They" need to fire themselves for disobeying their own cardinal rules.

When the first story broke about Foxconn I stated right here that is was a bunch of BS. I am an American and have lived in China for 20 years and have actually been to the Foxconn facilities many times and knew what was reported was a lie. Many of you chastised me for what I said at such time. Now what do you say? Americans just do not know the real inside story of the current China. Great people, wonderful place to live. The world is much more than just the USA. Too bad so many in our country have never travelled outside the USA and are left to be spoon fed by the media.

OH please! The first rule of journalism is have multiple independent sources corroborating a story.

That depends on how much money is to be made from the article.

I've traveled the world over and I'd like to say that a radio show like "This American Life" is an unique piece of gem you'll only find in America. It truly represents the originality of the American spirit and whatever mistakes they've made with their Apple report it's just a drop in the ocean of good that show has done.

Thank you This American Life for the amazing enterprise you've become to be!

Obviously lies but even if true, who are we to dictate that working conditions in any country must be up to our standards? Which other of our standards will we next seek to impose on other countries? Perhaps we won't like their legal system and demand they change it to be more like ours. It's funny though how this seems to be a one way street because when some other countries criticize us for still having and using the death penalty, we tell them to go pound sand.

You've got to love the way Change.org wanted better conditions for the Chinese workers (meaning higher prices) rather than jobs being brought back here for Americans. I smell liberals!

DunkinH, am not sure what you are referring to but why would it be a bad thing to want better working conditions for Chinese workers? Higher pay, safer workplace, no child labor, maybe even some medical coverage ... you see that as a BAD thing? Is there no room in your world for bettering the conditions of other humans? Is your world all "give me mine and screw everyone else"? And if it leads to higher prices for goods exported from China, would that not help bring manufacturing jobs back to America which appears to be the only thing you find important.

I used to count myself as a conservative on many issues but it is this kind of mentality that drives me and many others toward the left these days.

B@rad-2092941

DunkinH, am not sure what you are referring to but why would it be a bad thing to want better working conditions for Chinese workers? Higher pay, safer workplace, no child labor, maybe even some medical coverage

Demanding other countries live up to our standards is typically a bad thing because their economies won't support it.

And if it leads to higher prices for goods exported from China, would that not help bring manufacturing jobs back to America which appears to be the only thing you find important.

Gee look, you answered your own question without even realizing it. Which would you rather have, long hours and low pay or no job at all and living in the street?

I suspect most of the people around the world we feel the need to "help" would rather we just left them the hell alone.

Lying is bad.

However, having fact checked the story, it appears that most of it is true.

rrobeson, the idea of raising wages and improving working conditions would eliminate the desire to outsource work. We are all on the same team here!

Another attack on successful business without complete fact-checking. This is a major problem with the newest generation of journalist. They're here to "change the world." The premise is ALL WRONG. Be here to REPORT THE FACTS, we'll decide for ourselves what actions need to be taken. It used to be, "Who can get the scoop first," now it's, "Who will follow my opinion-laden blog, can I get the most views??"

Everything from this story is now tainted and cannot be trusted. Start from scratch with a worthy reporter, perhaps on take 2 we can get an idea of what is happening.

Any American company that manufactures in RED CHINA is scum and does nor deserve Americans business

It gets about 2% of its funding from the government. The rest is from membership drives, local sponsors, major sponsorships, and bequests (like the 200 million Joan Kroc left them).

Wow..what do you know...fabricated and false stories...go figure.

People better be apologizing to Apple ASAP for all this BS they started.

Then certainly they could make up that 2% and then with a sraight face be the democrat mouth piece!

Not sure how much money 2% is but it's more than they should get from our tax dollars.

Defund NPR

NPR is a great resource. It's publicly radio. What we should be asking our government for the profits televiion has made using OUR airwaves, which is also public.

All the more reason they should be defunded.

36% of all statistics quoted are made up, 25% of people know that.

I thought the progressive Left tilting Dems, wanted all substudies stopped. I don't care if NPR recieves only $2.00, cut them off. We need that money to pay for all the free stuff given to illegal aliens.

 

The majority of the activities reported by the author are accurate. China is a communist state, they treat their mainlanders like sh_t, they pollute the air, water and land with reckless abandon. The people at Foxconn do make more than a farmer but not much. Globalization of the labor force is intended to reduce the amount that first world nations pay for labor, not necessarily to raise wages in third world nations. To compete with China we would have to pay people 3.00 per hour but we don't hire people, we make robots.

As a taxpayer I say keep funding N.P.R.

In reply to Tim-459999

"I thought the progressive Left tilting Dems, wanted all substudies stopped. I don't care if NPR recieves only $2.00, cut them off. We need that money to pay for all the free stuff given to illegal aliens."

Yea Tim, and for subsidizing the poor Oil Companies and all the other corporate welfare programs.

I've traveled the world over and I'd like to say that a radio show like "This American Life" is an unique piece of gem you'll only find in America. It truly represents the originality of the American spirit and whatever mistakes they've made with their Apple report it's just a drop in the ocean of good that show has done.

Thank you This American Life for the amazing enterprise you've become to be!

There are very few news organizations left in America that would take the courageous step to publicly admit that they'd made a mistake and dedicate an entire episode to correcting it.

This is exactly the kind of responsibility and professionalism that Public Radio stands for. They are a shining example of what we all can be.

We should immediately stop subsidizing big oil and give all that money to NPR.

Certain other news channels would need a whole other channel to clear up their errors. This American life is a gem indeed.

And that's the news from Lake Woebegone, where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are all above average.

You mean that Garrison Keilor's stories aren't true either? :-(

Sorry, Keilor was merely a mortal. But of course all the stories in the bible(s) are true because God told somebody who told somebody who told you it was true. Thank God, reading the bible requires no silly things like thinking or interpretation. We'd all be in serious trouble if it did!

Mike Daisey is the man who fabricated the information regarding the working conditions at the Apple factories in China, he is a man. The "her" is regarding Li Guifen (Cathy Lee) who was his translator and who came forward to repute some of the claims made by Daisey.

The cell phone statement was regarding the fact that Daisey claimed that his translators cell phone wasn't working.

Very good question. Who or what is "Daisey" The story never explains it. It's as ambigous as "You know what THEY say. Ninth rate reporting. If I'm wrong, please blast me, but I can't see any explanition the key character in the stort.

Worth noting that Mike Daisey made his name with his one-man-show trashing Amazon, called "21 Dog Years". He's not a journalist in the traditional sense. He does one-man monologue shows. Not surprising to me that he stretched the truth to make his story more sensationalistic.

Hey GB Developer, I doubt the existence of a word such as "sensationalistic", but feel you would do better with "sensational".

Everyone, please proofread all your posts; you are looking like a bunch of ignoranting neocons.

Another Michael Moorre wannabe.

???? This story explains who "Daisy" is. There is nothing that is unclear if you read it.

Hey fatbee take a look.

sen·sa·tion·al·ism

(sn-ssh-n-lzm)
n.
1.
a. The use of sensational matter or methods, especially in writing, journalism, or politics.
b. Sensational subject matter.
c. Interest in or the effect of such subject matter.

2. Philosophy The theory that sensation is the only source of knowledge.
3. The ethical doctrine that feeling is the only criterion of good.

sen·sation·al·ist n.
sen·sation·al·istic adj.

Fatbee ,please do as you preach!

"Daisy" is who Morgan Freeman got famous for driving!

I also should have mentioned that there is one thing wrong with the article. They wrote that Foxconn employees make $1.78 an hour when it is more like $o.37. Pretty sad. It is good to know that Apple and Foxconn do care about children. They are only allowed to work half days now. Thanks Apple!

Lets see, a one man monolgue that stretches, bends and misrepresents the truth, hmm... Sounds kinda like our fat friend, rush limpdick.

Really? I seriously hope you are being sarcastic. They are retracting it because PARTS OF IT WERE FALSE. That is just good journalism, they made a mistake in running the story without full proper fact checking but are now retracting it and owning up to their mistake. I give them credit for having the integrity to admit their mistake and correct it (This American Life that is, I give no credit to Daisey who obviously fabricated bs to make his story more compelling).

Bill ,you call his action,integrity,I call them a blatant attempt to shake down the public,to make Apple look bad,to promote his left leaning attitudes, on the public airwaves which we all fund!Must be hard to hear with your head in that liberal sand!

mas - why don't you go live in one of those villages and swim in the water with your children. You would not be so ignorant if this was in your back yard. When it is thousands of miles away, your arrogance exposes your stupidity. In your world, one bad apple means you cut down the entire tree. Just because one person made a claim that was untrue does not eliminate the pollution, poor working condition and suicides that have occurred under these conditions which Apple can positively influence.

Are these people forced to go to work,stay at work under guard or are they free to quit if the stress is so great as to compel them to suicide?

There is in fact a 10,000 person waiting list to get a job at this "terrible" place. Why don't we pay more attention to our own backyards before we intrude into other peoples way of life and living. The money is obviously good if everyone is willing to work for it.

Bill ,you call his action,integrity,I call them a blatant attempt to shake down the public,to make Apple look bad,to promote his left leaning attitudes, on the public airwaves which we all fund!Must be hard to hear with your head in that liberal sand!

Apparently you didn't read my full comment. I called the actions of This American Life integrity, I even specifically pointed out that I did not feel that way about Daisey. Since you obviously missed it the first time I will repost it with that part in bold for you for you:

Really? I seriously hope you are being sarcastic. They are retracting it because PARTS OF IT WERE FALSE. That is just good journalism, they made a mistake in running the story without full proper fact checking but are now retracting it and owning up to their mistake. I give them credit for having the integrity to admit their mistake and correct it (This American Life that is, I give no credit to Daisey who obviously fabricated bs to make his story more compelling).

@Brandon Barker-5471895

There is in fact a 10,000 person waiting list to get a job at this "terrible" place. Why don't we pay more attention to our own backyards before we intrude into other peoples way of life and living. The money is obviously good if everyone is willing to work for it.

Liberals would unintentionally put all of these people out on the street in their desperation to "help" them. It's not about what the people of China want or need, it's about what makes liberals feel good about themselves.

Brandon, its all relative. China International Business Consulting, one of Beijing's businesses that assists in setting up western business in China, makes the statement on their web page below, "Average hourly compensation costs for China’s manufacturing sector remain around $0.81/hour, 2.7% of employees in the US." Work that out, even at 80/hours a week...

cibcglobal.com/s/sourcing1.html

Agreed, they really should have clarified who Daisey was, or at the very least included his first name in the story.

Thanks, Jane! I, too, was confused, but his name is spelled DaisEy. Also, I believe the "she" mentioned was his interpreter, who was conveniently unavailable for verification.

It says exactly who he is in paragraph 5 of this story:

The piece vaulted Mike Daisey into the role of Apple's chief critic, the post on NPR.org said, and also inspired a Change.org petition that collected more than 250,000 signatures demanding that Apple better the working conditions at the factories. According to the statement, the program did not commission the piece, but grabbed it from Daisey's one-man performance, "The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs."

Not only that, they are man enough to come out and admit a journalistic mistake. Unlike certain other news outlets that go to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend their right to lie on the air.

This guy came out and admitted to exaggerations, presenting what he heard as if he witnessed it, and outright fabrications. Why didn't Apple- who has a very good idea indeed of what happens at Foxconn and other manufacturers in the third world- sue him into oblivion? Because so much of it was still true that they couldn't afford to have that validation become part of the public record.

There's a pretty good related article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/03/17/why-didnt-apple-sue-mike-daisey/

There's an add, but if it's too annoying (will vary by user) you can click past it.

sorry to break it to ya, bub, but liberals are no smarter or dumber than conservatives. Those of you you pretend that one side is better than the other are just the kind of easily-manipulated putty that the media loves, because they know you'll drag out the same old tired BS no matter what. They also know that if they have an ad somewhere in a story that you get emotional about, you're more likely to read about it or even buy it than if a story doesn't catch your attention. So you're just another fish, on the end of a hook, getting dragged out and put where they want you.

I guess that is why you smart conservatives wasted trillions of dollars and killed thousand of Americans and innocent civilians over a castrated leader and numerous lies. The path to hell is paved with selfish intentions - make sure you bring your fire extinguisher.

China is not our friend. China is anti-American. I don't know why conservatives are so eager to get into bed with the communist Chinese (who are NOT AMERICAN) all while calling liberals communists. Seriously, my head is about to explode. Ow.

Good point Pragmatic, but communism is only a bad thing if it isn't increasing your bottom line right?

o'really-1470447- Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.

Is that unless or because it's left-wing radio show?

I think he's suggesting a general idea regardless of the source.

Good point - Rush does this everyday and yet the dittoheads fall in line.

Rush loves Apple and shills all of their products during his show every time that they come out, but then said that he was not necessarily either endorsing or criticizing the working conditions at their plants, but that they were blameless for outsourcing everything because they could never get clearance or find a skilled workforce or plant rapidly enough to do what they do here in the volume in which they do it, and said it in a way that sounded exactly like he was giving them a pass.

And That's The Way It Is!

Oh wait, I forgot, Cronkite is gone.

Somehow I think journalism died that day also.

The rest is just life imitating art. Specifically, the James Bond Film - Tomorrow Never Dies.

Except of course in our real life, Bond doesn't win, the media mogul does.

Keep screaming jaywalker while you rob the bank.

you really have no idea what you are talking about

just running your mouth

Are you off the meds again or did Rush steal them?

There is something to be said for running an entire show to establish what was false instead of using the fast moving small print credits at the end of the show to "make corrections" to a story your show just broadcast-ed knowing it was false.

First of all, you've never listened to This American Life once in your life.

Second of all, Jouralistic Standards?

MSNBC is running this story front page. This American Life ran a whole show on the false information they were provided...

Fox News lies every single minute of every single day and never says anything about it.. and you DARE call NPR out on bad journalistic standards?

What exactly is your view of journalistic standards? Constant blatant lies, and always interrupting the guy trying to talk on your show with opposing values? Cuz, that's the kind of standards you Fox Zombies seem to like REEL GUD!

carbon tax of death

Ira Glass said: "Our program adheres to the same journalistic standards as the other national shows, and in this case, we did not live up to those standards."

My ASS IRA !!! You and NPR were Salivating SOOOOOO Hard to broadcast this.

NPR HAS NO Journalistic Standards, other than Being SOOOOOOOO Far to the Left

I Wonder IF Ira will do a 39 minute segment on Journalistic standards AND Keep on apologizing during this 39 minute segment.

Excellent point,kacs. People are being whipped into a frenzy by misrepresentations from both liberals and conservatives. And while most peoples attention is being diverted, these frauds are using the opportunity to enrich themselves. In the long run, it boils down to the almighty dollar. A sad statement on a "civilized" society.

Protest? You mean protest all the worker shootings in the US? Why are there so many instances of workplace violence in the US?

Overwork? You mean how like in the US, millions of white collar workers put in 50 or 60 hours a week without getting a dime's overtime pay?

Where's the protest? Where are YOU protesting the filthy abuses of your own country? Why China only? Why Apple only?

Hypocrisy is a uniquely American art, it seems.

The above post was brought to you by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the People's Republic of China.

@ Sunspotting: Overwork? You mean how like in the US, millions of white collar workers put in 50 or 60 hours a week without getting a dime's overtime pay?

That is absolutely true. Pare down your workforce and force the remaining employees to pick up the slack, or be replaced. When I got a job in 2010 with the US Census ((my job had been offshored) as a team leader, I know I worked in excess of 60 hours a week, at an hourly rate, and was allowed NO overtime or any kind of pay beyond 40 hours. My employer was the United States Government - don't they have rules against this sort of treatment? I guess they needed to keep the money to give bonuses to the execs at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

You don't have to live in a third world country to get screwed.

Caught by self admission. How will we know if they are lying about that?

Obviously they're lying about this as well, as all they do is lie right?

It's okay with me if NPR is "defunded". I never thought subsidies were a legitimate function of government. My idea of government is to make laws and enforce laws that let the rest of us play together without harming each other. The farther we get from that the more tangled web are encumbered with. (yeah, grammar sucks)

Are you sure? I thought Jobs and Wozniak personally built each one by themselves. Does this mean Bill Gates doesn't really...?

Bill Gates did personally write the original code for MS-DOS. Maybe Richard Allen helped.

Rlquall.........Gates wrote the MS-DOS code? Nope, don't think so. He bought it and tweaked it when CP/M wasn't available from Digital Research.

Is he going to have a seance and have Steve Jobs conjured up so that he can apoligize directly to him?

Limbaugh was going to go on the airwaves and call Daisy a Man Whore, but with the loss of all his advertisers wasn't able to.

I hear he's working on a deal with a Vicodin Manufacturer for a product-in-return-for-commercial-airtime deal.

Should be a Win-Win for Rush!

Are you talking about that political activist who went there strictly to challenge their birth control beliefs? If so, she went there to attack their system and not for education! She wants others to pay to protect somebody else while they are having sex. It does not matter when where or how, if I must pay to protect you while you are having sex then you are a prostitute

Sounds like you are a bitter Microsoft customer. And I can understand because each one of their products is American-made and Bill Gates is nearly poverty-stricken because of the high wages he pays. Am I close?

Sounds like China could use a good union!I think the SEIU should go over there and set up shop!

You people should learn to read. Most of the broadcast is true. What Apple and Foxconn are doing to people working there is horrible. People waiting in line to buy new ipads and iphones are just mindless tools for Apple. Try thinking for yourself America. Get your head out of your ass for once.