Foxconn won't sue Mike Daisey or 'This American Life' for bogus claims

Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn has said it does not plan to take legal action against the radio program "This American Life" or performer Mike Daisey for falsified claims about working conditions at its Chinese factories.

Foxconn Technology Group officials indicated they have no plans to take either Daisey or "This American Life" to court over claims of harsh working conditions, according to Reuters. Simon Hsing, a spokesman for the company, said they hope that "nothing similar will happen again."

"Our corporate image has been totally ruined," he said. "The point is whatever media that cited the program should not have reported it without confirming."

"This American Life" issued a formal retraction late last week after it learned that claims made by Daisey were untrue. The program aired an excerpt from Daisey's one-man performance, entitled "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in an episode earlier this year that has become its most-downloaded podcast in history.

"This American Life" host Ira Glass explained that Daisey lied to him and producer Brian Reed when they attempted to do fact checking for their story. However, Glass said Daisey's deception "doesn't excuse the fact that we never should've put this on the air. In the end, it was our mistake."

In his monologue, Daisey claimed he personally met with a group of workers who were poised on an iPhone assembly line, but that incident happened nearly a thousand miles away from where Daisey actually visited. He also said he met with underage Foxconn workers and a man whose hand was mangled while making iPads, but both of those claims were disputed by his interpreter.

Daisey defended his show as a "theatrical" endeavor not meant to be seen as a "journalistic," factual representation of what happened on his visit to China.

Following the retraction from "This American Life," Daisey modified his monologue to remove anything he said he couldn't "stand behind." The new performance, which premiered on Sunday, featured an added prologue, while some fictional elements were cut out.