This same article came to my mind after I first heard about the TAL retraction of Daisey's Apple piece. I only learned about Gladwell's dramatic embellishments

This same article came to my mind after I first heard about the TAL retraction of Daisey's Apple piece. I only learned about Gladwell's dramatic embellishments long after first hearing him tell the tale on The Moth as I was Googling for the phrase ("perverse and often baffling") that he recounts competing with his Washington Post colleague to insert into newspaper stories. The Moth is a storytelling show and it's a great rather harmless story, though I was sorry to learn that it was largely fabricated. I think Daisey has a credible defense of his stage show when he claims that he shaped facts to enhance its dramatic impact and emotional truth. But that was why I turned it off when I heard it on TAL. The first-person storytelling format didn't seem appropriate to the subject matter and I had no doubt that Daisey was crafting and overdramatizing the truth for his performance. Given the suffering of some of the factory workers he represents in his piece, the format and his righteous tone rubbed me the wrong way: was he indignant about what happened to these workers or was he indignant because it plays well theatrically? The TAL Retraction show made it clear that Glass and TAL were explicit with Daisey in informing him that, prior to going on the air, his TAL piece had to meet a journalistic standard of accuracy. He deliberately subverted that standard and it was painful listening to him cling to his denials and rationalizations during the Retraction piece.