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Global Ethics Corner: Daisey and Foxconn: Is Exaggeration Acceptable When Raising Awareness?

From: Carnegie Council
Series: Global Ethics Corner
Length: 02:02

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Mike Daisey has admitted to fabricating parts of his story on Foxconn for "This American Life." But, perhaps partly due to the attention his story received, the Chinese factory is undergoing a labor audit and plans to raise wages. Is it ever ethical to lie for a larger truth? Read the full description.

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Global Ethics Corner is a weekly 2 minute segment devoted to newsworthy ethical issues. It presents both sides of an issue, asking viewers to weigh the information and make up their own minds.

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Piece Description

Global Ethics Corner is a weekly 2 minute segment devoted to newsworthy ethical issues. It presents both sides of an issue, asking viewers to weigh the information and make up their own minds.

Transcript

In March, the popular weekly public radio show This American Life retracted its most downloaded episode. The episode, titled "Mike Daisey and the Apple Factory," was adapted from Daisey's one-man show called "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs."

A Shanghai-based journalist for another public radio show discovered that Daisey had fabricated key details about working conditions at a Chinese factory that manufactures iPads and iPhones for Apple, the highly profitable American computer and software company.

Daisey had described meeting and speaking with workers at Apple-supplier Foxconn's plant in Shenzhen, China.

Some of these workers, he claimed, were as young as 12 and 13 years old.

Daisey described meeting other Foxconn workers with severe disabilities resulting from exposure to dust and chemicals at the plant.

Many of his claims proved to be false, or composites of several...
Read the full transcript

Additional Credits

Deborah Carroll – Executive Producer
Julia Kennedy - Content Editor
Robert Smithline - Editor
Terence Hurley - Editor
Gusta Johnson - Production Assistant

Related Website

www.carnegiecouncil.org