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It's not been a good year for This American Life. First their story about abuse at Apple factories in China turned out to be piece of fiction. Now all this wi

by regnum 14y ago

It's not been a good year for This American Life. First their story about abuse at Apple factories in China turned out to be piece of fiction. Now all this with their contributor Jonah Lehrer.

knowtheory 14y ago
Hunh? I'm a bit confused why you've singled This American Life out here. Mike Daisey is an interesting case, and someone who published a lot on the story he fabricated in a lot of different outlets. This American Life were the ones were simply the ones who confronted Daisey directly and publicly. Jonah Lehrer, the extent to which he was a contributor to TAL, was certainly not a frequent contributor (in fact I don't remember which of their episodes he's been on at all), but he is much more associated with his magazine work. Actually i checked This American Life's site. They don't have Jonah Lehrer listed at all (although they do have a colleague of mine listed twice under misspellings of her name): http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/contributor http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/contributor
- maxerickson 14y ago
  Prior to confronting Daisey, they presented his work as if they had fact checked it. They say as much in their retraction: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/retraction http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/r... My opinion is that they handled it well, but 'simply the ones who confronted Daisey directly and publicly' throws away quite a bit of the story.
  - knowtheory 14y ago
    That's true, but they were not the only ones who fell prey to that either. My point about why TAL stands out is that they were the ones to confront him on it. Not that they were unique in having asserted that his story was true.
- regnum 14y ago
  You are right. I should have said public radio shows This American Life and Radio Labs (where Lehrer was a frequent contributor). I originally thought he was on This American Life too, but can't verify that.
tptacek 14y ago
I think it's a much bigger problem for The New Yorker, which actually had Lehrer on staff, than it is for the radio show that had him on once or twice. Lehrer was not like David Sedaris or David Rackoff.
- diego 14y ago
  Well, it's probably worse for Lehrer than for anybody else. I continue to enjoy The New Yorker and I don't think any less of them. I feel bad for him, though. He's relatively young and a good writer. I enjoyed his three books, especially Imagine. Perhaps he could reinvent himself as a fiction author, but somehow I doubt it will happen.

by regnum 14y ago

It's not been a good year for This American Life. First their story about abuse at Apple factories in China turned out to be piece of fiction. Now all this with their contributor Jonah Lehrer.

knowtheory 14y ago

Hunh? I'm a bit confused why you've singled This American Life out here. Mike Daisey is an interesting case, and someone who published a lot on the story he fabricated in a lot of different outlets. This American Life were the ones were simply the ones who confronted Daisey directly and publicly. Jonah Lehrer, the extent to which he was a contributor to TAL, was certainly not a frequent contributor (in fact I don't remember which of their episodes he's been on at all), but he is much more associated with his magazine work. Actually i checked This American Life's site. They don't have Jonah Lehrer listed at all (although they do have a colleague of mine listed twice under misspellings of her name): http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/contributor http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/contributor

maxerickson 14y ago
Prior to confronting Daisey, they presented his work as if they had fact checked it. They say as much in their retraction: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/retraction http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/r... My opinion is that they handled it well, but 'simply the ones who confronted Daisey directly and publicly' throws away quite a bit of the story.
- knowtheory 14y ago
  That's true, but they were not the only ones who fell prey to that either. My point about why TAL stands out is that they were the ones to confront him on it. Not that they were unique in having asserted that his story was true.
regnum 14y ago
You are right. I should have said public radio shows This American Life and Radio Labs (where Lehrer was a frequent contributor). I originally thought he was on This American Life too, but can't verify that.

tptacek 14y ago

I think it's a much bigger problem for The New Yorker, which actually had Lehrer on staff, than it is for the radio show that had him on once or twice. Lehrer was not like David Sedaris or David Rackoff.

diego 14y ago
Well, it's probably worse for Lehrer than for anybody else. I continue to enjoy The New Yorker and I don't think any less of them. I feel bad for him, though. He's relatively young and a good writer. I enjoyed his three books, especially Imagine. Perhaps he could reinvent himself as a fiction author, but somehow I doubt it will happen.