Ira Glass, host of the popular NPR radio program This American Life, discovered that one of the show's most popular episodes contained numerous fabrications. A second episode, called Retraction (aired 3-12-12), reveals the errors in Mike Daisey's story about visiting Foxconn, which makes iPads and other products for Apple in China. Marketplace's China correspondent Rob Schmitz discovered the fabrications. Here's a transcript of "Retraction". Daisey admits he fabricated parts of the story, but says that's because he's "performing a monologue," not reporting as a journalist.
aisey points out in his own blog post that the essential point--that Apple is ignoring appalling conditions in its Chinese factory--is true. But in a story on Huffington Post, he is quoted as addressing journalists who interviewed him about his Foxconn piece: "In my drive to tell this story and have it be heard, I lost my grounding," he wrote. "Things came out of my mouth that just weren’t true, and over time, I couldn’t even hear the difference myself."
You can still read the transcript of the original episode: Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory, on the This American Life website.
On Poynter Online, you can read Roy Peter Clark's piece, The Ira Glass Retraction: Half full or half empty? (3-19-12) and Andrew Beaujon's story This American Life retracts Mike Daisey story about Apple factory in China (3-16-12).
You can listen to archived This American Life stories here.
aisey points out in his own blog post that the essential point--that Apple is ignoring appalling conditions in its Chinese factory--is true. But in a story on Huffington Post, he is quoted as addressing journalists who interviewed him about his Foxconn piece: "In my drive to tell this story and have it be heard, I lost my grounding," he wrote. "Things came out of my mouth that just weren’t true, and over time, I couldn’t even hear the difference myself."
You can still read the transcript of the original episode: Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory, on the This American Life website.
On Poynter Online, you can read Roy Peter Clark's piece, The Ira Glass Retraction: Half full or half empty? (3-19-12) and Andrew Beaujon's story This American Life retracts Mike Daisey story about Apple factory in China (3-16-12).
You can listen to archived This American Life stories here.