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This American Life retracts Apple factory episode

This American Life is retracting its episode “Mister Daisey and the Apple Factory,” based on Mike Daisey’s monologue about Foxconn factories that manufacture iPhones and iPads, which contains what TAL acknowledges were numerous fabrications.  These fabrications were uncovered by Marketplace’s China Correspondent.

After learning of this issue, This American Life is retracting the story and will devote the entire hour of this week’s show to how they learned about the fabrications, discussions with New York Times reporters who also reported on Apple and a discussion with Mike Daisey about his misrepresentation of facts.  In the program, Ira Glass admits he made a mistake in not killing the story when they could not reach Daisey’s Chinese interpreter, who has now contradicted many of Mr. Daisey's claims.  

The episode on the story and its retraction will air on KALW Sunday at 1pm and Wednesday at Noon.  

Ira Glass, This American Life blog:  "Retracting 'Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory'"  

Rob Schmitz, Marketplace"An Acclaimed Apple critic made up the details"

Brian Stelter, NYT MEdia Decoder blog:  "'This American Life Retracts Recent Episode on Apple's Suppliers in China"

Matt Martin was KALW’s general manager from 2006 through 2018. Under his leadership, KALW grew into one of the most productive and innovative stations in public radio. Programs launched at KALW during Matt’s tenure as GM include the award-winning local newsmagazine Crosscurrents, the design podcast 99% Invisible, and the Spanish-language narrative journalism program Radio Ambulante. He helped create the station’s Audio Academy, a year-long program aimed at developing new talents in public radio, and led the first broad-based strategic planning process in the station’s history.