Economist contributor and Macworld senior contributor Glenn Fleishman is a fan of Mike Daisey’s monologues, and was interested in writing about “The Agony & The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.”
But Fleishman spiked the story when some of the facts didn’t check out.
Daisey’s monologue has been widely credited with kickstarting the current controversy about Apple and the tech industry’s supply chain in China. Investigations by the New York Times and This American Life bought the issue’s raised by Daisey’s play to mainstream attention.
After the story broke that This American Life had to retract its blockbuster episode featuring Daisey’s visit to Foxconn in China, Fleishman recounted his journey into the story behind the monologue – and why he never wrote the piece – on Twitter.
“I started writing about Daisey’s Agony & Ecstasy for an Economist piece 15 months [ago]. While writing it, I had to stop when I realized details didn’t check out,” Fleishman tweeted. “He was in Shenzhen for a few days. He came back with an ocean of material. Implausible. I almost wrote a piece in January 2011 about my dubiousness of Agony & Ecstasy, but I couldn’t affirmatively prove my concerns. But I certainly didn’t have the positive knowledge it was false.”
Fleishman, who considers himself a friend of Daisey’s, will be talking about the story at noon PST with radio station KUOW.
Daisey, who has published a statement standing by his work on his blog, told Cult of Mac via email that he had no further comment.
On his blog, Daisey says: “I stand by my work. My show is a theatrical piece whose goal is to create a human connection between our gorgeous devices and the brutal circumstances from which they emerge. It uses a combination of fact, memoir, and dramatic license to tell its story, and I believe it does so with integrity.”
Hat tip: Matthew Panzarino on Twitter
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
10 responses to “The Economist Dropped A Story On Mike Daisey When The Facts Didn’t Check Out”
I hope they find a way to nail that obese shit eater to the wall. Can anybody say defamation?
Just put up a sign at the entrance of the theatre saying “this is all lies and fabrication, real journalists proved it” and a QR code to the story where they talk to the translator that says this guy is a lier.
What’s stopping Glenn Fleishman from writing about the specific inaccuracies? Give us specifics so we can decide for ourselves if there’s a misrepresentation or not. Factual information is what is needed, not opinion or theatrical license. Apple has been blasted like they’re the Big Brother of the tech world, when from what I’ve seen, they’re doing everything but buying Foxconn and moving the company to the U.S.
This appears to be a totally manufactured problem. Apple was already working with Foxconn to improve conditions and raise wages before all this kerfuffle began. Workers in China line up by the thousands to work at Foxconn because it has some of the best paying jobs available. Suicide rates at Foxconn are apparently lower than the norm in China–and Apple has helped reduce that even further.
To be clear, I stopped writing the story before passing to my editors, nor vetting the facts. The smell test failed for me, and my instincts were right.
You misunderstand. I was going to write about Daisey’s play, not about the factory conditions, of which I have no first-hand knowledge.
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Workers in China line up by the thousands to work at Foxconn because it has some of the best paying jobs available. “
In third world countries people always line up for jobs , any job …
On the other hand how much effort does it take for a large multinational corporation to discredit a critic ? Get people to denounce him etc…
The only reason I mention this because I know some of the companies I deal with do this kind of stuff and worse…
I give up …. how much effort does it take? Do you actually know that Apple did this? No you don’t. How could you?
It was a question, not an answer …..
Daisey lies again twice in the very first 12 words of his blog post on the controversy:
“‘This American Life’ has raised questions about the adaptation of AGONY/ECSTASY..”
In fact, “This American Life” ANSWERED the questions, and the questions are not about the “adaptation” of the play on TAL, but about the truth of Daisey’s assertions in the play itself and in his conversations and emails with TAL.