Conflict Of Interest In ABC's Exclusive Access To Foxconn?

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Are any of you really surprised that, of all the huge media outlets vying for a story, the one with ties to Apple was given exclusive access? Is it a conflict of interest or sour grapes? I guess the news report will tell us all we need to know.

The real twist here, however, is Apple’s relationship with ABC. 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. Does this create a conflict of interest and possibly call into question ABC’s reporting on the Apple supply chain?
 
Perhaps it does..perhaps it does not. I frankly can't say I really care either way.
 
Its a sad situation there, supposedly the story improved working conditions at least?
 
News crew comes at the appointed time, and appointed place.
Everyone gets coached on how to act...at the fear of losing there job...
News Crew leaves
Life returns to normal.... which is to say sucky...


Why would I have any reason to believe that anything else happened?
 
Media anymore has no ethics. Its not "lets find the truth", its "how do we spin this?"...
 
Well, it's like that FLA guy last week saying how great Foxconn was and that workers probably killed themselves because they were "bored." Then, after the media has a field day with his comments, the next thing you know...the same guy is like "we found serious problems."

I know it will never happen BUT, the best way to send a message to them...is for EVERY company to quit using Foxconn. Not only will it bankrupt them, it will send a huge message to other manufacturers ....but that is fantasy land...I don't even know why I keep saying it. :(
 
Would you rather have Fox News cover it? They'll make it about religion and abortion and how Foxconn sullies their name with "Fox" in it.
 
Well, it's like that FLA guy last week saying how great Foxconn was and that workers probably killed themselves because they were "bored." Then, after the media has a field day with his comments, the next thing you know...the same guy is like "we found serious problems."

I know it will never happen BUT, the best way to send a message to them...is for EVERY company to quit using Foxconn. Not only will it bankrupt them, it will send a huge message to other manufacturers ....but that is fantasy land...I don't even know why I keep saying it. :(
Because you have HOPE and without HOPE for something better, most of us would just die.:)
 
I dont think the US has any "conflict of interest" laws currently being enforced. its more like conflict of interest is business as usual.
 
Media anymore has no ethics. Its not "lets find the truth", its "how do we spin this?"...

The major network news programs log ago gave away any semblance of unbiased, or investigative reporting and now they are just the mouthpiece of special interest groups which often produce their reports for them.
 
The major network news programs log ago gave away any semblance of unbiased, or investigative reporting and now they are just the mouthpiece of special interest groups which often produce their reports for them.
Its to bad the enthusiast crowd knows this, the other 95% of the population doesn't or their to busy working at slave wages to have time to get involved.
 
Its to bad the enthusiast crowd knows this, the other 95% of the population doesn't or their to busy working at slave wages to have time to get involved.

That's why you should never aspire top be the 95%...
 
Either way there will be spin. ABC will be caught between making Foxconn look blameless for Apple's sake, or spinning it as anti-Chinese western propaganda.
 
"Is it a conflict of interest?" I don't think this is even a question. Of course it is. The relationships that the Jobs family and the CEO have are problems in and of themselves, but why would they only let one news organization in? After all, if they let in more than one news crew, you would be able to cross-compare, and reveal more/different information. There's a reason why that's not being allowed happen.

Well, it's like that FLA guy last week saying how great Foxconn was and that workers probably killed themselves because they were "bored." Then, after the media has a field day with his comments, the next thing you know...the same guy is like "we found serious problems."

I know it will never happen BUT, the best way to send a message to them...is for EVERY company to quit using Foxconn. Not only will it bankrupt them, it will send a huge message to other manufacturers ....but that is fantasy land...I don't even know why I keep saying it. :(

In an ideal world, you are totally right Steve. The reason they're still around is because people buy their products, and we shouldn't. But the thing is, this isn't a realistic goal. The corporation's only goal is to make money, and if going with Foxconn is the most profitable way, it's the only way. Waiting for the corporations to get a conscience isn't going to happen. I think labor laws and collective bargaining is a more reliable way of improving the worker's situation.

But still, kudos for caring about the average worker.
 
Either way there will be spin. ABC will be caught between making Foxconn look blameless for Apple's sake, or spinning it as anti-Chinese western propaganda.

It's all the more ironic, because there is one hell of a good story here, and that is: "Why can't the iPad be built in America?" There is so much power in that one aspect of the story that it could make a network news team's project for life.

Who is going to reveal how a combination of taxes, labor laws, and bureaucratic hurdles placed squarely in the way of small business development in America has all but rendered an American factory as efficient as this one in China impossible. What liberal news organization is going to tell the story like that? I can't think of any that I think will be forthright and detailed in doing so. Indeed, I can scarcely think of a conservative news organization that would get it right today. It's really scary.

Heck--the factory in China is even Union-free! China is a "right-to-work" nation on its worst days, and on its best days is a Unions-go-home country. Will this aspect be fully covered? I doubt it.

Ah, so many in the press today are pitiful n00bs who actually think the more taxes levied, the more labor-laws enacted, the stronger the unions, and the more environmental restrictions placed on business--the *better* the country's ability to compete in the world markets! Amazing.

Apple had to go to China to get the iPad built in order to sell it in most of the world, else it would have been too expensive by far to sell to the rank and file who buy them. That's a shame--a damn shame. Labor costs are just a small part of the picture--the labor *unions* have killed much that was great and without peer in American business--especially American factories. We've gone from being the envy of the world after WWII to now being the object model on how *not* to do anything right in a factory setting.

Will the real story--Why can't the iPad be built in America?--be told? I sincerely doubt it. Nobody wants to know "why" anymore--they just assume it is some sort of "cosmic given" that the American factory worker is no longer competitive in the world electronics marketplace. We don't have to emulate China in every way--I mean, who wants the horrible pollution, transportation, and population problems endemic to China? Not me! But I think we could learn a few key lessons from the Chinese on how to properly run a factory--which is first to toss out the unions--and I think we could compete if we wanted. That's the other half of the sad story, though--we don't really *want* to compete with the Chinese anymore.

Nah--we content ourselves with smugly sitting on the sidelines while "they" (the Chinese) "build our stuff" thinking that it's better that we are buying the goods the Chinese make instead of working in the factories to produce the goods the Chinese make. The problem is that this view is short sighted. True, today, we're doing the buying. But tomorrow? If this keeps up, then tomorrow the Chinese will be doing both the producing and the buying...and Americans? I don't know where we will eventually fit, but if the current trends keep up Americans for the most part won't be sitting in either the producer's or the buyer's shoes. Maybe we'll be doing the cleaning?

Stories like this have the potential to awaken a generation of Americans to address these serious production shortcomings of American business. But unless they are told it isn't going to happen. I am deathly afraid that this ABC story will tell an Apple story, a Foxconn story, and lots of other stories--except the one that needs to be told: Why aren't we building the iPad in America? We should be, and we should be building it better, faster, and cheaper than anyone. But like I say, that's not, I fear, the story that will be told.
 
I am deathly afraid that this ABC story will tell an Apple story, a Foxconn story, and lots of other stories--except the one that needs to be told: Why aren't we building the iPad in America? We should be, and we should be building it better, faster, and cheaper than anyone. But like I say, that's not, I fear, the story that will be told.

That really is the larger issue here, and everyone is missing it. People aren't shipping this type of work overseas just to pinch a couple pennies and be super greedy. The fact is many of the things we tech nerds love so much would be inaccessible to us because of price if it were manufactured in the US, or similarly, if Chinese business was subject to the same hurdles as American business.

And not just price either. The sheer volume of product that could be created in the US as it stands today would be less, so you'd be on a waiting list to get anything.

It's the ultimate hypocrisy. Americans want cheap tech goodies, but they don't want to hear about what it takes to deliver those devices to them at a reasonable price.
 
That really is the larger issue here, and everyone is missing it. People aren't shipping this type of work overseas just to pinch a couple pennies and be super greedy. The fact is many of the things we tech nerds love so much would be inaccessible to us because of price if it were manufactured in the US, or similarly, if Chinese business was subject to the same hurdles as American business.

And not just price either. The sheer volume of product that could be created in the US as it stands today would be less, so you'd be on a waiting list to get anything.

It's the ultimate hypocrisy. Americans want cheap tech goodies, but they don't want to hear about what it takes to deliver those devices to them at a reasonable price.
One other problem that needs to be addressed. Why are Americans buying Chinese made goods at a price as if they were made in the USA.
 
One other problem that needs to be addressed. Why are Americans buying Chinese made goods at a price as if they were made in the USA.
I use , can't help it, Apple as an example.
Reason why I say this is that SJ once said that he will make 100% profit from each sale of his toys. Someone mentioned that if Americans wanted to pay 70$ more they could be manufactured in the USA. My question then is why doesn't Apple cut back on the profit gouging and get the factories back to north America. I wish people would quit using the argument that consumers won't pay the higher price, that companies can't afford to pay the workers here, bullshit, Corporations moved out because of higher profit margins, thats the bottom lone.
 
I use , can't help it, Apple as an example.
Reason why I say this is that SJ once said that he will make 100% profit from each sale of his toys. Someone mentioned that if Americans wanted to pay 70$ more they could be manufactured in the USA. My question then is why doesn't Apple cut back on the profit gouging and get the factories back to north America. I wish people would quit using the argument that consumers won't pay the higher price, that companies can't afford to pay the workers here, bullshit, Corporations moved out because of higher profit margins, thats the bottom lone.

Probably because Apple doesn't own said factoies. Like every single industry in the world (that doesn't make their own parts/hardware/etc), companies like Foxconn and their competitors usually submit bids for the contract and are awarded business based on price, speed, quality and quantity (etc).

What US based company is going to be able to come even remotely close to matching Foxconn in any of those? I'm guessing zero but feel free to correct me. I didn't exactly research it too much.

As for why Foxconn/Samsung/Sharp/etc don't bring factories to the states, I think it's pretty obvious. According to numbers from 2008 the average Chinese worker is paid around $1.36/hour. In the US, it's around $34.74/hour (according to numbers from 2010). Add in benefits and environmental/government regulations and it's easy to see why those companies stay in developing nations.
 
China has the population to support these factories. They have the man-power and no restrictions on how long a worker can work.

If apple needs these iPads done in a week, it will get done.

It'll never get done if it's produced in the US.
 
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