Idiots: Slimy public radio's popular weekend feature program "This American Life" on Friday retracted its China story on Apple

Public radio's popular weekend feature program "This American Life" on Friday retracted one of its most popular stories — about conditions for factory workers who make Apple products in China — and prepared to devote its entire program this weekend to an account of how the report misled listeners.

"This American Life" founder and host Ira Glass said in a statement that performer Mike Daisey had lied to the "This American Life" staff when producers tried to fact-check his detailed, firsthand account of meetings with Chinese workers who make iPads and other products.

The radio host said Daisey manufactured characters and settings in his report, drawn from his acclaimed stage performance, "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs." Glass said the fabrications came to light when Rob Schmitz of public radio's "Marketplace" tracked down Daisey's Chinese interpreter.

The interpreter reportedly said that Daisey had concocted not only small details but some of the more dramatic moments in the piece, including reported meetings with child laborers and with a man whose hand was mangled as he made iPads for the Apple supplier Foxconn. The interpreter said those accounts were concocted.

Ironically, Daisey admitted in the radio program to a subterfuge: He told the interpreter he would pose as various American businessmen to gain access to factories.

"And she says, 'You will lie to them,'" Daisey said at one point in the monologue. "And I say, 'Yes, Cathy, I'm going to lie to lots of people.'" After initially balking, the interpreter, who went by the name Cathy Lee, went along with the ruse, Daisey said.

Daisey said his mistake was not the stories he told but the fact he presented them on a news program like "This American Life."

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20120317/GPG03/203170603/Radio-show-retracts-its-China-story-Apple

Idiots: Slimy public radio's popular weekend feature program "This American Life" on Friday retracted its China story on Apple

Idiots: Slimy public radio's popular weekend feature program "This American Life" on Friday retracted its China story on Apple

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