Mediagazer: Mystery of The Sun's ‘exclusives’ during Joanna Yeates murder hunt (Roy Greenslade/Guardian)

11:40 AM ET, March 17, 2012

Top News:

RETRACTION — Regrettably, we have discovered that one of our most popular episodes was partially fabricated. This week, we devote the entire hour to detailing the errors in “Mr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory,” Mike Daisey's story about visiting Foxconn, an Apple supplier factory in China.

This American Life:

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.

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: Forbes, Guardian, GigaOM, MacRumors, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, LA Observed, 9to5Mac, The Huffington Post, TPM IdeaLab 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: CJR, Show Tracker, Gizmodo, Daring Fireball and Soup

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

How ‘This American Life’ Let Itself Get Burned By An Apple Fabulist — You can't say nobody warned the producers of “This American Life” that Mike Daisey's epic story about Apple's Foxconn factory in China might be the work of an untrustworthy individual. Someone did, in fact …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Mashable! and thephoenix.com

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: 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 Martin / The Atlantic Wire:

Mayor Bloomberg Proud of Bloomberg's Coverage of the Goldman Sachs Op-Ed — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is very disappointed in the way the media has handled the story of Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith's very public (and very expensive) resignation, except for one outlet.

Discussion: InvestorPlace, Globe and Mail and Latest Stories …

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:
Goldman Op-Ed Writer Got $150 for Unsolicited Critique

Discussion: New York Times

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.

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 …

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

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: 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

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 …