Hannah Coupe
UNIV 112
Brookman
7/21/2015
Student Lead Discussion #8
Listen to a This American Life podcast called “Retraction” (Full
Episode):http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/retraction?act=1#play
Please listen closely to this. You may stop at 42:41 minutes, or continue to hear what other
journalists observed in Chinese Apple factories. This is a student lead discussion. Assignment:
Instead of doing the standard written assignment for discussion, bring to class two lists. #1:
Other times journalists have been caught fabricating stories to some degree #2: Other companies
who have been in trouble for exploiting foreign workers in their overseas facilities. Use your
internet skills to search for both
Other companies who have been in trouble for Other times journalists have been caught
exploiting foreign workers in their overseas
fabricating stories to some degree
facilities
Apple
- “Apple shifted production orders in
China from Foxconn to cheaper
supplier Pegatron to offset Foxconn’s
rising labor costs”
- workers are paid just £1.12 per hour to
produce iPhones and iPads for the
West
- Factories covered in suicide nets to
stop workers leaping to their deaths
- 18 people have killed themselves at
the facility
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2103798/Revealed-Inside-Apples-Chinese-sweatshopfactory-workers-paid-just-1-12-hour.html
Bill O'Reilly
- (1992 Los Angeles race riots) “six of
O'Reilly's former 'Inside Edition'
colleagues who said they did not
recall an incident in which, as O’Reilly
has claimed, “concrete was raining
down on us” and “we were attacked
by protesters”.
“Mother Jones, alleged that O'Reilly
lied about being in "a war zone" and
seeing people "killed" during the
Falklands War in 1982”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/02/
oreilly-faces-fourth-fabrication-charge203184.html
Rolling Stone
Walmart
- UVA Rape Story
- Rana Plaza factory collapse because of
- Journalist over embellished and did
not fact check
no building ordinances
[4]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik- death toll of 1,129. Approximately
wemple/wp/2014/12/11/the-full-demise-of2,515 injured people were rescued
rolling-stones-rape-story/
from the building alive
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/world/asia/bangla
desh-rana-plaza-murder-charges.html?_r=0
Quick Reflection (thoughts and
comments):
Nike
-
Why is journal fabrication a negative thing?
I believe that fabrication has the negative
effect of making us lose sight of the real story
or issue.
Take the UVA rape story: Sexual assault IS a
problem. However that issue was lost in a
messy fabrication story and it turned the issue
from the rampant sexual assault to “greek life
isn’t as bad as you think” and honestly that
makes me sick.
https://www.organicconsumers.org/old_articles/clothes/ The exploitation of foreign workers IS a
nike041505.php
problem many have died and been abused it
needs to be covered many times and
Forever 21
accurately so the issues can be addressed.
-
700 factories that produce its footwear
and clothing, detailing admissions of
abuses, including forced overtime and
restricted access to water.
The company said it audited hundreds
of factories in 2003 and 2004 and
found cases of "abusive treatment",
physical and verbal, in more than a
quarter of its south Asian plants.
““sweatshop-like conditions” and has
a history of refusing to hand over
documentation of its labor practices. In
2011, the book The Glory and
Disgrace of UNIQLO was published,
condemning the company’s
“extremely harsh, slave-like labor
conditions.””
http://www.groundswell.org/forever-21-hm-zarauniqlo-whos-paying-for-our-cheapclothes/#sthash.VPC43Kl9.dpuf
Notes:
-
Daisy's coverage of Apple factory
My second comment is how we approach
news coverage. When did we stop telling the
facts and start going straight into speculation?
And when did we start letting media distract
us from real problems? and I really hope that
we discus this in class because I feel very
passionately about these two things and I
hope others see the fallacies in news media
that I do.
-
-
-
-
- guns (fabricated)
- factories worker who make 15 - 20 $ a day go to starbucks (fabricated)
Cathy Lee - she didn’t know what Daisy was writing about
- “but some of them he writes is true and some of them is not true, he not telling
the whole truth”
- He only talked to only 50 people outside of the Foxxcon
- He only visited 3
- Guards did not have guns “no definitely no.. guns are not allowed to be carried”
- 91 workers have been hired were caught
- blacklist without seal
- “nobody mentioned the hexane”
Daisy at the Union meeting
- man got hand caught - twisted claw - no medical attention
- “there are no ipads in China, he has never seen one on”
- Cathy says “he says it’s a kind of magic”
- “it sounds like a movie.. emotional but not true to me” - Cathy
- They never saw any dorm rooms
- Cathy’s memory isn’t perfect - didn’t take notes - “he is a writer… he is allowed
to do that right… he is not a journalist”
Mike Daisey Interview
- 10 - 5 - 3 factories visits
- “the girl I spoke with said she was 13 - that’s what happened”
- “people spoke in english they enjoyed testing their english”
- none said they were 12 - “you are just kind of guessing”
“story we broadcasted in january that we thought was factual was not factual”
- Fact checking process
- took us days long emails and days
- apple's report - watchdogs groups
- Cathy real name is anna - not true
- cell phone didn’t work - not true
- idea of being named in this monologue would frighten her
- were you afraid that we might discover something
- “no not really”
- Hexane thing
- not at foxconn or other plants - this is just something i inserted but instead
you lied further and said they were from wintech
- “I think I was terrified” “of what” “that .. I think I was terrified that if I untied
these thing that the work that I think is really good and tells the story…
would come apart in a way that it would ruin everything”
- “you understand we wanted to be accurate…. you knew that these things weren’t
true…. Did you ever stop to think”
- “I did.. I felt very conflicted… I felt trapped… After a certain point
honestly…. my nerve failed me… I can’t say it… After a certain point I
would have preferred the first option” (that we would just kill the story)
“I know that so much of this story is the best work I’ve ever done”
“it connected with the audience” - NY Times
“I feel terrible for you and I feel lied to… I vouched for you based on your
word”
- “make a monologue to make people care”
“Its not journalism and its theater” - “story isn’t true in the journalistic sense”
“there are parts I just don’t buy” - “I don’t believe you with the girls … the guy with
the twisted hand”
“I think you’re kidding yourself”
-
-
Thoughts:
● I think the fact checkers have a lot of blame in this situation as well and I think they are
using him as a scapegoat and it honestly makes me very mad
● Here are the facts
○ they sent this writer (not a journalist to china)
○ they were suspicious about his story when they got the facts
○ hey didn’t check on on cathy even though it took all of two seconds for the other
guy to find her using three words and her number was the first to pop up
○ In this guys past he had been caught for over embellishing so his past lead you
to think
○ you sent multiple emails that implied you were dubious of the story
○ What facts did you check? because as a fact checker that is your job
○ you knew he wanted to make a monologue to make people care
○ he spent 42 minutes intergoating this guy and 30 seconds appologizing for
himself barely but not really