Foxconn won't sue Mike Daisey or 'This American Life' for bogus claims
Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn has said it does not plan to take legal action against the radio program "This American Life" or performer Mike Daisey for falsified claims about working conditions at its Chinese factories.
Foxconn Technology Group officials indicated they have no plans to take either Daisey or "This American Life" to court over claims of harsh working conditions, according to Reuters. Simon Hsing, a spokesman for the company, said they hope that "nothing similar will happen again."
"Our corporate image has been totally ruined," he said. "The point is whatever media that cited the program should not have reported it without confirming."
"This American Life" issued a formal retraction late last week after it learned that claims made by Daisey were untrue. The program aired an excerpt from Daisey's one-man performance, entitled "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in an episode earlier this year that has become its most-downloaded podcast in history.
"This American Life" host Ira Glass explained that Daisey lied to him and producer Brian Reed when they attempted to do fact checking for their story. However, Glass said Daisey's deception "doesn't excuse the fact that we never should've put this on the air. In the end, it was our mistake."
In his monologue, Daisey claimed he personally met with a group of workers who were poised on an iPhone assembly line, but that incident happened nearly a thousand miles away from where Daisey actually visited. He also said he met with underage Foxconn workers and a man whose hand was mangled while making iPads, but both of those claims were disputed by his interpreter.
Daisey defended his show as a "theatrical" endeavor not meant to be seen as a "journalistic," factual representation of what happened on his visit to China.
Following the retraction from "This American Life," Daisey modified his monologue to remove anything he said he couldn't "stand behind." The new performance, which premiered on Sunday, featured an added prologue, while some fictional elements were cut out.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
Daisey may have lied about a few details but Foxconn knows they have problems and I didn't think they would dare sue..
Not "may have lied." Daisey has admitted to lying. Ira Glass says, "the most powerful and memorable moments in the story all seem to be fabricated."
Daisey may have lied about a few details but Foxconn knows they have problems and I didn't think they would dare sue..
...and WinTek, the company that used N-Hexane against Apple and Nokia's express wishes, seeing as Daisey lied by claiming this event took place at Foxconn, what about them?
The New York Times did a lot to promote Daisey's broadway show, seemingly without having performed any fact checking. Very disappointing.
I'd think the Old Grey Lady would sue that guy for the falsehoods. If this represents the fact checking process and the quality of their named sources..... I shudder to imagine the unnamed who have nothing to lose.
...and WinTek, the company that used N-Hexane against Apple and Nokia's express wishes, seeing as Daisey lied by claiming this event took place at Foxconn, what about them?
Is there or is there not a labor abuse problems at Foxconn?
Still doesn't hide the fact that there are a lot of labor abuse issues. Again Foxconn knows it and best they can do is fix it and forget suing anyone.
Wozniak sides with Daisey's defamation.
The outrage at Apple's use of Foxconn has certainly reflected in the recent sales numbers.
Apple has a monopoly, it's on creativity and no amount of lying by some irrelevant glory seeking pseudo journalist can change that.*
While it will take some time for This American Lifes reputation to be restored, they made a good start in my eyes by being open and transparent about how they got it wrong, and explaining what they would do in future to prevent it happening again.
No, honestly, please take my word for it... it hasn't been
Wozniak sides with Daisey's defamation.
Woz is an idiot. The world has left him behind and he's looking for free publicity.
His statement is basically "sure, there are no facts to support Daisey's allegations, but I choose to believe them, anyway". Sorry, but Woz needs to get a job and stop with his grandstanding.
Is there or is there not a labor abuse problems at Foxconn?
Still doesn't hide the fact that there are a lot of labor abuse issues. Again Foxconn knows it and best they can do is fix it and forget suing anyone.
Really? Where's your evidence?
Apple's audits show that the problems are very rare. Independent audits show that Foxconn is better than most other suppliers. Not to mention, of course, that your hate mongering never mentions that Apple is only about 20% of Foxconn's business. It's a pretty good bet that when someone makes an attack against Apple without mentioning any of the other companies involved that they don't have a rational position to argue.
I don't think that Foxxconn want any more attention on this issue if they can help it. That's probably why they want this to die a quick death.
Well, they don't even have grounds to sue really. At least not Daisey.
They could possibly sue "This American Life" for putting out the radio version of Daisey's act and deliberately labelling it as fact but Daisey's original version is a stage show, put on in a theatre. You can't sue anyone over "facts" from in a fantasy or a drama as it's understood from the beginning that these things don't necessarily contain factual material.
The criticism of the NYT "fact-checking" is similarly misguided. You can't fact-check a play.
Legally speaking they couldn't do anything anyway, so it's easy for them to say they "won't sue."
The outrage at Apple's use of Foxconn has certainly reflected in the recent sales numbers.
The ends justify the means.
Odd.