3 ms·

Apple misled media. I hope media learns from this.

by johansch 11y ago

morgante 11y ago
Where is evidence of Apple misleading media? Apple certainly never said they were making money off recycled gold.
- sp332 11y ago
  Apple announced a robotics project last month called "Liam". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYshVbcEmUc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYshVbcEmUc It recovers "cobalt and lithium", "gold and copper", "silver and platinum". The number "2,204 pounds of gold" comes from page 17 of this PDF https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2016.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Re... which prominently displays Liam on the cover page.
  - morgante 11y ago
    Mentioning two different facts about their recycling programs on completely different pages of a holistic report about their environmental responsibility now constitutes "misleading the media?"
    - sp332 11y ago
      First, it's on the same page. The discussion of Liam starts 3 lines below the number 2204. Second, the video clearly states that the gold from iPhones is recycled. It would be clearer to say that the phone parts which happen to contain gold are put into refurbished phones. It's not extracting the gold at all, and that's why it's misleading.
      - morgante 11y ago
        > First, it's on the same page. The discussion of Liam starts 3 lines below the number 2204. And 2 lines above the gold it says 61,357,800lbs of total material, in a figure much more clearly connected than the ostensible paragraph. When Liam is introduced on that page, Apple explicitly says it is "a line of robots designed to disassemble 1.2 million phones a year." Unless you think the average phone weighs 61 pounds, it's obviously not responsible for the total material recycling chart above. Nobody could possibly read this report and come away thinking that Liam is recycling millions of dollars of gold.
ProAm 11y ago
Learn what? Everyone still wins, Apple won, the media got clicks, everyone is a winner. Let's be real wars have been fought over similar misrepresentation of the facts, nothing is going to change because all the parties involved make money on this kind of stuff. Tech journalism cares about getting views today, and only today. They can put out a correction tomorrow that no one will read because its about yesterday's news. Apple doesn't care because the initial press makes them look great. It's good for the goose, so don't expect their behavior to change.
- lostgame 11y ago
  Not sure why this is down voted. It's an important point that this whole problem with media is the old axiom 'any publicity is good publicity.' If that wasn't true, I think the media would be hella more accurate.
wklauss 11y ago
What on earth has Apple to do with this?
jlarocco 11y ago
Haha! The media reporting this doesn't care as long as they get page views, and this isn't going to affect page views. If they learn anything here, it will be that they can do less verification on the rest of their stories.

Apple misled media. I hope media learns from this.

morgante 11y ago

Where is evidence of Apple misleading media? Apple certainly never said they were making money off recycled gold.

sp332 11y ago
Apple announced a robotics project last month called "Liam". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYshVbcEmUc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYshVbcEmUc It recovers "cobalt and lithium", "gold and copper", "silver and platinum". The number "2,204 pounds of gold" comes from page 17 of this PDF https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2016.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Re... which prominently displays Liam on the cover page.
- morgante 11y ago
  Mentioning two different facts about their recycling programs on completely different pages of a holistic report about their environmental responsibility now constitutes "misleading the media?"
  - sp332 11y ago
    First, it's on the same page. The discussion of Liam starts 3 lines below the number 2204. Second, the video clearly states that the gold from iPhones is recycled. It would be clearer to say that the phone parts which happen to contain gold are put into refurbished phones. It's not extracting the gold at all, and that's why it's misleading.
    - morgante 11y ago
      > First, it's on the same page. The discussion of Liam starts 3 lines below the number 2204. And 2 lines above the gold it says 61,357,800lbs of total material, in a figure much more clearly connected than the ostensible paragraph. When Liam is introduced on that page, Apple explicitly says it is "a line of robots designed to disassemble 1.2 million phones a year." Unless you think the average phone weighs 61 pounds, it's obviously not responsible for the total material recycling chart above. Nobody could possibly read this report and come away thinking that Liam is recycling millions of dollars of gold.

ProAm 11y ago

Learn what? Everyone still wins, Apple won, the media got clicks, everyone is a winner. Let's be real wars have been fought over similar misrepresentation of the facts, nothing is going to change because all the parties involved make money on this kind of stuff. Tech journalism cares about getting views today, and only today. They can put out a correction tomorrow that no one will read because its about yesterday's news. Apple doesn't care because the initial press makes them look great. It's good for the goose, so don't expect their behavior to change.

lostgame 11y ago
Not sure why this is down voted. It's an important point that this whole problem with media is the old axiom 'any publicity is good publicity.' If that wasn't true, I think the media would be hella more accurate.

wklauss 11y ago

What on earth has Apple to do with this?

jlarocco 11y ago

Haha! The media reporting this doesn't care as long as they get page views, and this isn't going to affect page views. If they learn anything here, it will be that they can do less verification on the rest of their stories.