After reading and hearing about The Lifespan of a Fact, I was primed to learn from TPM that the This American Life story involving Mike Daisey’s “trip” to see Apple’s products being made at Foxconn was retracted due to significant fabrications by Daisey, resulting in a episode entitled Retraction going into it:

When the original 39-minute excerpt was broadcast on This American Life on January 6, 2012, Marketplace China Correspondent Rob Schmitz wondered about its truth. Marketplace had done a lot of reporting on Foxconn and Apple’s supply chain in China in the past, and Schmitz had first-hand knowledge of the issues. He located and interviewed Daisey’s Chinese interpreter Li Guifen (who goes by the name Cathy Lee professionally with westerners). She disputed much of what Daisey has been telling theater audiences since 2010 and much of what he said on the radio.