With all the recent critical attention to Apple’s manufacturing policies, it was perhaps only a matter of time before the company decided to push back. One way Apple might do this is by granting an “exclusive” to a media outlet that might put out a different kind of story than the one that people have encountered via the New York Times (1/25/12) or This American Life (1/6/12).
So here we have the news that ABC has been granted “exclusive” access to the massive Foxconn facility that has been at epicenter of the controversy over Apple’s labor practices.
Why ABC? Forbes contributor E.D. Kain sees a conflict of interest (2/19/12):
ABC‘s parent company is Disney Corporation. The top dog at Disney, CEO Bob Iger, sits on Apple’s Board.
Meanwhile, the late Steve Jobs (and now his family) are the biggest individual shareholders of Disney.
Well, don’t tell that to ABC reporter Bill Weir, who offers this classic defense on the ABC website. In the midst of the current scandal, the company reached out to him:
It was around this time when Apple called me. They wondered if Nightline was interested in seeing their iPhone, iPad and MacBook final assembly lines at Foxconn during a first-ever audit by the Fair Labor Association. I said yes, very much, and immediately started imaging the reasons why they were offering such a scoop to me, of all people. Among the possibilities:
-I’ve said nice things about their products on the air.
–ABC News is owned by the Disney Corporation and Disney CEO Bob Iger serves on the Apple Board of Directors
-The Steve Jobs Trust is Disney‘s largest shareholder.
-They enjoy “Nightline.”
It must be the last one, because the first three would have no bearing on my reporting and I’m pretty sure Apple knows it.
Yeah, that must be it.
Apple has a reputation for being remarkably sensitive to critical reporting. It’s highly unlikely that the company decided to grant an exclusive to a reporter they thought might do the kind of journalism they’d frown upon.
On the other hand, it’s quite likely that they expected that Weir would give Apple the same kind of coverage he gave Wal-Mart, when he did a report for ABC World News (9/20/05; Extra!, 11-12/05) on “how Wal-Mart is changing the way the Chinese shop.” Weir called attention to singing Wal-Mart workers and the “brightly-lit aisles” where “China’s exploding middle class is discovering the novelty of free samples and a wide selection of everything.” He also praised Wal-Mart’s efficiency:
While Wal-Mart has changed the way people shop, they’re also changing the way suppliers think. . . . Many manufacturers were shocked to learn that if they want their products on these shelves, it’s not who you know, it’s what you know about keeping costs down.
Apple was no doubt also pleased with Nightline‘s coverage (10/5/11; Extra!, 12/11) of Steve Job’s death, when Weir said of the late CEO, “He was our Edison, our Disney, our Da Vinci,” in a broadcast dedicated to “a visionary who changed the way we live, work and play, the man who gave us products we love and pointed the way to a future that he alone seemed able to see.”
The ABC Nightline report is scheduled to air today, so we’ll all be able to see if Bill Weir lived down to Apple’s expectations.
Editor’s Note: The This American Life episode cited above has been retracted, based on revelations (Marketplace, 3/16/12) that its main source, Mike Daisey, fabricated or conflated much of his account of his investigation into working conditions at Foxconn.
You can’t make this stuff up.
But Weir and ABC can, and no doubt will.
“” It must be the last one, because the first three would have no bearing on my reporting and I’m pretty sure Apple knows it.””
Yeah, that must be it. – Article.
I think this says it all. That MUST BE it. Cause the American Media is ‘so critical’ of it’s masters.
You’re saying that we might get some information that falls short of objectivity? I hope our democracy holds up to the shock! Pass me the dog food.
I stopped watching Night Line when they fired Dan Rather. Not a bit surprised at this cozy action. Not at all.
Not sure of the content of the report. Was this the report that reported Chinese workers living in dormatories, working 12-14 hours a day and often with no breaks, having to ask for permission to go to the bathroom, being watched by guards, being publicly humiliated if quotas weren’t reached, some throwing themselves out of their dorm windows to end their lives of misery (until nets were erected so they’d fall into the nets instead).
Ahhh….if only America could be more like China but we’re working on it, guys!!
UGH. Repulsive beyond belief. Not a fitting epitaph for those who jumped off the factory roof in despair. Do these people have no shame? Evidently not.
I watched the story & they didn’t say anything about asking permission to use the bathroom or show armed guards or humiliating workers. I have no problem believing it; corporate boss here have few qualms about screaming at people like the angry tyrants they are.
I really have to stop watching ABC. I’m going to miss Chris Cuomo’s muscles & Dianne Sawyer’s hair, thoughâ┚¬Ã‚¦
:-(
:-P
The information I wrote came from one of the newspapers I read that has a fairly large circulation. It may or may not be relevant to the manufacturing policies of Apple.
From my point of view, what we see in China (lack of worker protections and worker safety, poor wages, brutal work hours, no benefits, no environmental protections, etc.) is exactly what some companies would like to create here in America. Instead of a race to the top, it’s a race to the bottom.
There are some things Americans must come together on and say to politicians: You cannot do this to us. We won’t tolerate it.
I am encouraged by Wisconsin workers who will not have their collective bargaining rights taken away as well as workers in other states who have drawn a line in the sand. It’s about time. I am encouraged by women who are standing up and saying that they will not tolerate some of the intrusive, unnecessary tests that Republicans insist be done on women seeking an abortion.Again, it’s time we stood up and said: You cannot and will not do this to us. We won’t tolerate it.
I have no grand illusions, however. We are in the fight of our lives, as I see it.
Elaine I agree the factory in China under apple sucks.But lets not stand on our high and mighty across the board.I have a friend who has worked in many Chinese factories and he says some of them are amazing.Model factories .Very clean and employee friendly right down to the smallest details(child care).That said Americans don’t want to LIVE their work.We are more balanced in that sense.And strangely I am with you on the abortion bit.Government has no place in this.And they have no place in backing unions ,or not backing them.Republicans have super pacts Dems have and have had unions.Let the free market decide.If people want to pay union wages for the good job they do great.If they dont it is a freedom to work state.And though the Dems have done a great job simplifying the collective bargaining rights down to a few talking points lets not be stupid about it.I have a teachers union that does not want to pay a cent into their healthcare.There are two side to this.As far as the” fight of your lives” well you have been in it for the last 4 years and have somehow missed it..A government trying at every stop to grab control(universal healthcare).See Elaine it matters not one bit whether you agree or not with a government.If they try for more power than that limited bit offered under our constitution, they must be seen as the enemy.
Yeah,I get it, Michael e, having universal health care which all other major democracies have–which even Iraq has, by the way, thanks to us—is a government grab. We appreciate corporate grabs so much more. It’s working out really well for us.
We’ve been in the fight of our lives for the past 30 years.
Who is it working for Elaine?Every country who has it is running like hell for the exits while we run into the fire.If we have the money that is one thing.We don’t…….end of argument.Printing it is not an option.Stealing it from those who actually produce the wealth(tax payers) will not cover one tenth of it.Game over.Feed people enough shit,keep them in the dark,just like shrooms.