New Hippo Techie: The price of gadgets, part 2

You may have heard about the radio show This American Life dedicating an entire show to retracting and clarifying the details of an earlier show about Apple and its Chinese assembler, Foxconn. It’s important and right that they diligently corrected themselves, but it’s also vital to note that it was only the personal narrative aired that was fictional, not the underlying situation.

When The New York Times did its own investigation, also in January, it told stories of a dust explosion that killed and injured workers on an iPad production line; “toxic chemical exposures” that left employees permanently sick; violations of Apple’s policies that had people working more than 70 hours per week; and riots and suicides in overcrowded factory dormitories.

None of these facts are in dispute. Daisey incorporated them into his monologue, but presented the incidents as if he met the people involved. In most cases, he did not.

Read the full column at The Hippo.