Hi All,
Please listen to this hour-long episode of This American Life; it is incredibly important for you, as journalists, to see the repercussions of fabricating stories. It kept my attention the full hour, I'm sure it will for you as well..
We will discuss this episode the first half of class on Thursday, please be ready to discuss. In order to prepare you, please post a response to the episode.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/retraction
I thought it was completely ridiculous that the fact checkers on the show didn't find out the truth earlier. I know things tend to slip under the radar sometimes but this was a huge mistake. I also thought that the pauses between Daisy's answers were completely unprofessional. He knows that he lied. Why doesn't he just own up to the fact that he misled his readers? I thought that it was a very interesting discussion though. I liked how they revealed the facts that Daisy fabricated and brought in the actual truths. I bet the eye contact between Gross and Daisy was even more awkward than the long pauses between Daisy's answers.
ReplyDeletebad representation of this American life. usually they have well-rounded and fact supported content but this is annoying. This mike daiesy guy is an ass. he clearly was riding on emotion. although he is not a "true" journalist he was told he was being held up to journalistic standards and he lied.
ReplyDeleteReally weird how the fact checkers on the show did not find out the facts the first time before airing it. The guy lied when he said he was going "undercover" as a business man to investigate when he already had appointments set up earlier that afternoon. He said the factory guards had guns, when they did not. He lied about almost everything and spiced up the facts to make a better story in a way, when the simple facts would have just been good enough. It created a story on top of a story and took away the focus of the original topic of under age workers and conditions for Apple in Shen-Gen.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked to see that the factcheckers did not question some of the lies Dalsey told. I do not know much about China, but when he talked about getting out of the Taxi and seeing the guards with guns, I found that strange because I was pretty positive China only allows guns in authoritative positions. A factory guard would not be carrying one around. Another small lie that stuck out to me was the regular starbucks visits that he claimed. I can not even afford to go to starbucks when its almost 5 dollars for a coffee, so when he stated these factory workers did, I found it odd. It was interesting to see how this all played out and how it took so long for the truth and the actual story to be revealed. I really was in amazement though that some of these lies ween't even questioned which cold have lead to the truth being told sooner.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it can be difficult to determine the legitimacy of every component of a story, the fact checkers really should have made a greater effort to investigate Daisy's findings before airing it. Yes, Daisy is clearly a liar and is at fault for that, but it is the fact checker's job to realize it, and for that, they seem incompetent. While some of what Daisy reported may have some hidden truth behind it, it was not a firsthand account, and it shouldn't have been reported as such. I do, however find it admirable that This American Life tried to rectify this mistake and taking responsibility for it. Some of the lies were so trivial that it made me wonder if any of the story was real. Sure the little things create a bigger picture, but the truth seems very jaded when its composed of lies. The underlying story about Apple factories is interesting, and probably could have stood on its own without the lies, but even the truthful parts of it lost credibility because of the many fallacies it contains.
ReplyDeleteI loved listening to this episode. It was super awkward. As I was listening however, I couldn't be too hard on the fact checkers because This American Life KNEW they messed up and they were trying to atone for it. Gross was very easy to empathize with as he spoke because he covered all his ground. Obviously they know what they did wrong and how they could have rectified it in the first place, but everyone was fooled by Daisy. However, with a story that claimed several shocking (or maybe not so shocking, but just eye-opening) pieces of evidence to America's top company (Apple) , you'd think that This American Life would be super careful to make sure they got this one right. However, since it is a very "news-worthy" topic, a lot of journalists or publishers get carried away with the wow factor of the story and forget to do their WHOLE job.
ReplyDeleteDaisy was relatively annoying because he knew what he did wrong but he couldn't admit it. When you're back into a corner you'd think you'd finally fess up. He even came back to the show later to say he was sorry that they considered his story FACT when it's a play. Clearly when he came back he was trying to save the last shred of his integrity. The first half of the interview he was caught off guard. He came back swinging (or at least trying). And finally, I loved that they brought in the expert from the New York Times that knew the legitimate details. That really opened my eyes to what Daisy exaggerated and also managed shift my attention to original crisis that was being dealt with (is Apple a bad company for their overseas labor?)
At first I sided with Gross who said he didn't feel that bad after hearing all the information, but when the NY times reporter brought up the opposite argument he had me sold. If we as Americans have fought for fair labor and good working conditions, how can we be okay with sending our products overseas where we are "forcing" chinese companies to put up harsh working conditions because of our incredible demand for our products?
Clearly someone did not do a thorough job of fact checking because if they did, then they would've caught Daisey's inaccurate numbers and descriptions. Like the guards with the guns, for example. It is disappointing to know that a huge mistake like this happened, because it really makes me question whether I can trust them and the information they are providing to us. I give props to This American Life though because at least they are admitting the problem and correcting it by putting Daisey in the spotlight and interrogating him.
ReplyDeleteHow do you redeem yourself for poor editing and fact checking? Create an hour long witch hunt against the man you deem responsible. Although it was fun listening to Daisy squirm in his chair and use pseudointullectual defenses against his fabrication, the whole program could have been summed up in a ten minute session, and it felt like it was only extensive for the purpose of regaining face for This American Life.
ReplyDeleteAt points i cringed, and sometimes i found it very funny ("unpacking the complexities" is code for lies). Obviously it's upsetting that this story wasn't extensively fact checked, especially when it seemed to be so easy to find "Kathy Lee."
ReplyDeleteI think about the talk we had in class earlier this year about a similar argument. You and your story is discredited if there are lies, even if there is good work in the story as a whole, like he claims.
In addition, i believe it's important to note that this story, that typified an idea that many have of this situation in China (or want to believe is happening), became the most popular episode. He knows what people want to hear.
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