Mediagazer: “Shadow CIA” Buys Itself a Big-Name Journalist (Adam Weinstein/Mother Jones)

3:55 PM ET, March 17, 2012

Top News:

Retracting “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory” — Ira writes: — I have difficult news. We've learned that Mike Daisey's story about Apple in China - which we broadcast in January - contained significant fabrications. We're retracting the story because we can't vouch for its truth.

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, Chicago Business, The Atlantic Online, This American Life, Erik Wemple, Quote and Comment, Telegraph, Business Insider, Slate, TechCrunch, Hot Topics, Change of Subject, AllThingsD, Mike Daisey, The Huffington Post, Guardian, TPM IdeaLab, Media Decoder, Hillicon Valley, WebProNews, TVNewser, PC Magazine, @jeffjarvis, @acarvin, Fox News, App Advice, @andrewphelps, TIME.com, @craigsilverman, Forbes, Ars Technica, @jasoncherkis, Betabeat, The New York Observer, Gapers Block, @jcstearns, Gawker, Techland, TechCrunch, @borowitzreport, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, Mediaite, VentureBeat, GalleyCat, @jonathanshainin, @scottros, The Consumerist, Fortune, GeekWire, Daring Fireball, SlashGear, Forbes, FishbowlLA, The FJP, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Atlantic Online, Digits, @rob_schmitz, TPM IdeaLab, Poynter, kottke.org, parislemon, Erik Wemple and The Daily Caller

Rob Schmitz / Marketplace:

An acclaimed Apple critic made up the details — Apple got a lot of attention recently over conditions in the Chinese factories that make its iPhones and iPads. The public radio show “This American Life” aired an electrifying account of one man's visit to several factories.

Discussion: Business Insider, Guardian, Forbes, The Huffington Post, GigaOM, The Daily Caller, MacRumors, LA Observed, New York Magazine, 9to5Mac, Techdirt, TPM IdeaLab, Erik Wemple and Hit & Run

Jack Shafer:

Busting Mr. Daisey — This week, the highly regarded public radio show This American Life learned a lesson that many journalists, including me, have learned the hard way: It's almost impossible for an editor to fact-check a contributor who lies. — The show, hosted by Ira Glass …

Discussion: Poynter, BuzzMachine, CJR, Boing Boing, Show Tracker, The Next Web and Gizmodo

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

New York Times edits article by Mike Daisey it posted just after Steve Jobs' death due to fabrications — The New York Times has edited an article by now-suspect monologuist and performer Mike Daisey to reflect that questions have been raised about its accuracy.

Discussion: NYConvergence.com, The Verge and Daring Fireball

Laura June / The Verge:
Excerpts from ‘This American Life’ on Mike Daisey: ‘Why not just tell us what really happened?’

Discussion: This American Life and Soup

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:
This American Life Retracts Its Damning Episode About Apple And Foxconn

Discussion: @joshuatopolsky, The Next Web, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, The Atlantic Wire, The Verge and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Adam Weinstein / Mother Jones:

“Shadow CIA” Buys Itself a Big-Name Journalist — Disgraced corporate spy shop Stratfor aims to bounce back from its Wikileaks debacle by hiring Robert D. Kaplan. — Stratfor, the Texas-based corporate intelligence agency that was once billed as a “shadow CIA,” announced this week …

Jim Romenesko:

NY Post scolded by photographer — The New York Post declared this week that “Pinterest is the new Facebook,” and used the photo on the right to illustrate its story. The credit line said, “Courtesy Tory Burch via Pinterest.” — Actually, the photo was taken by Leela Cyd …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Mystery of The Sun's ‘exclusives’ during Joanna Yeates murder hunt — The chief constable of Avon & Somerset police, Colin Port, is due to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry in two weeks' time. — He has been called in order to answer questions about alleged leaks to the press during the Joanna Yeates murder inquiry.

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Goldman Op-Ed Writer Got $150 for Unsolicited Critique — The New York Times (NYT), drawing criticism for running an op-ed by a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) executive attacking the bank, said the piece was one of thousands of unsolicited submissions it receives weekly.

Discussion: Gothamist and New York Times

Adam Martin / The Atlantic Wire:
Mayor Bloomberg Proud of Bloomberg's Coverage of the Goldman Sachs Op-Ed

Discussion: Forbes, InvestorPlace and Globe and Mail

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Flipboard Gets Retina-Ready, But Will Users Spend More Time In-App? — Good news, new iPad users: everyone's favorite iPad news magazine Flipboard (OK, my favorite, but I hear the Flipboard / Zite battles get fierce) is now Retina-ready. I know, we all thought the enhanced app would be approved by tonight …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Bits, WebProNews and ZDNet

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Heron: WSJ pay wall will be an ‘interesting challenge’ for social media efforts — Liz Heron, who is leaving her position as social media editor for The New York Times to lead social media and engagement for The Wall Street Journal, will have to figure out a strategy that works with the Journal's more restrictive pay wall.

Discussion: Forbes

Steve Myers / Poynter:
New York Times could look outside journalism for next social media editor

Discussion: BtoB Magazine

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

New Hampshire editor's front page column calls out competitor's sports editor for plagiarism — The editor of a New Hampshire newspaper has published a front page column to expose plagiarism at a competing paper. — “If one of my reporters did what Compass Sports Editor Joe Milliken did last week …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's … and www.eagletimes.com

Matthew Creamer / AdAge:

Marilyn Hagerty's Olive Garden Review Breaks Million-Click Barrier (and Google Analytics) — But the Paper She Writes for Isn't Necessarily Getting Rich Off the Craze — Folks at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald are certain that Marilyn Hagerty's gone-viral review of the local Olive Garden …

Discussion: The Week, Thanks:@rupalparekh

Carl Straumsheim / American Journalism Review:

Who Gets It First: Twitter or the Editors? — Veterans of the Twitterverse have grown used to seeing the hashtag “#BREAKING:” followed by a sentence of seconds-old news, leaving them to trust the sender's unspoken promise that an accompanying story is minutes away.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Young, veteran media reporter John Koblin ditches all that to write about sports for Denton's Deadspin — WWD media reporter John Koblin is leaving Conde Nast to write for Deadspin, the popular Gawker Media sports blog. — It's not as strange as it might seem that a media reporter …