CSJ-12-0046.0 This case provides insight into how a news organization copes when it gets a story wrong, whether by its own actions or those of others. On January 6, 2012, the public radio documentary program This American Life broadcast an episode featuring Mike Daisey, whose Broadway stage show exposed deplorable working conditions at a Chinese factory that made, among other products, the Apple iPad. Two months later, TAL host Ira Glass and his production team were appalled to learn that crucial details of Daisey’s story were conflated or invented. TAL has to decide how to notify its public about the errors, how to manage audience and press reaction, and how to restore credibility to the show.

Instructors can use this case to discuss how to correct the record when errors occur in the news product, how to manage credibility crises at news organization, how best to vet sources and their material, and standards of accuracy and truth in journalism. For example, what constitutes an appropriate error correction by a news organization? This question has caused ongoing debate within the industry. Broadcast errors are notoriously difficult to fix; ask students to consider the differences between broadcast and print errors. Levels of fact-checking also differ among news organizations. What constitutes sufficient fact-checking, and should expectations vary from daily to weekly to occasional journalism?

Students should discuss what Glass and his team can do in this particular instance. Should TAL remove the original podcast from its website? Plan an entire episode around a correction or correct it as part of another show? Apart from what TAL tells the audience, it must consider what it should tell the press. Is a press release appropriate? What constitutes the most responsible approach to managing this crisis?

The case is suitable for courses/classes about journalism ethics, editorial management, broadcast journalism or crisis management.