“This American Life” Retracts Critical Apple-Foxconn Report

Producers of the public radio program “This American Life” said today that they were retracting an earlier report critical of working conditions in the Chinese plants of Apple supplier Foxconn because it contained “significant fabrications” by narrator Mike Daisey. In a program scheduled to air Sunday, host Ira Glass will talk with Daisey about “why he misled ‘This American Life’ during the fact-checking process,” and will conclude by “separating fact from fiction, when it comes to Apple’s manufacturing practices in China.” Daisey defended his work, saying, “My show is a theatrical piece. … What I do is not journalism.”