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Foxconn retreats from reporter witch hunt

by Steve Kerrison on 1 September 2006, 14:23

Tags: Foxconn (TPE:2317)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qago4

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The Register

Foxconn has backed down in its pursuit of the two Chinese journalists who claimed terrible working conditions in its Longhua iPod factory. It seems someone at Apple has had a quiet word in Foxconn's ear.

Wang You and Weng Bao of the China Business News were being chased by the Apple contractor for 30m Yuan (about £2m) in damages. Foxconn had obtained a court order freezing their assets. The company said their claims that illness was rife amongst employees were "malicious" and "false".

After a protest directed at Steve Jobs from journalist rights organisation Reporters Without Borders, Foxconn is now seeking just 1 Yuan (£0.066) in token damages. It has dropped the assets freezing order.

Prior to giving ground, Foxconn had said: "Of this entire episode, what the company had asked for is simply the right to protect her reputation, to preserve the Chinese dignity."

An Apple investigation of the factory promted by an earlier Sunday Mail report found overworked employees and other contractual breaches, which it says were resolved.

Apple said it had been working "behind the scenes" to resolve Foxconn's action against the reporters. You'd hope so too. ®

HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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Posted by xrob - Fri 01 Sep 2006 16:24
the most interesting thing about this news item is that guys name lol

hi, i'm wang you
Posted by Steve B - Fri 01 Sep 2006 16:32
almost as bad as lisa minge :\
Posted by Lee H - Fri 01 Sep 2006 17:00
It's a good thing really that they backed down.

*insert random disclaimer about these being my views and not the company's forthwith*

Foxconn are trying to build themselves into an already saturated market now and are going for everyone's position in the market overall.

Now, news such as this about them chasing 2 reporters and trying to freeze their assets etc is not exactly good PR no matter what the company is.

Now I don't know how much the press industry works but this scenario was not the best they really wanted for their image now was it?
Posted by charleski - Fri 01 Sep 2006 20:40
Well it's clear they backed down because Steve Jobs was ****ting all over them. Apple had just worked like mad to clear up the initial mess and then Foxconn pulls this idiotic stunt.

This has old-school Chinese hubris written all over it. In fact, the whole episode contains some vital lessons that Chinese business needs to study hard if they want to be more than a lackey to Western companies. No-one goes into a store and says, “I want a Foxconn iPod, I've heard they're really cool!” do they? Well if Foxconn or any of its Chinese competitors wants to get to that stage they're going to need to learn a very different way of operating in public if this is anything to go by.
Posted by awm - Sat 02 Sep 2006 15:43
Yeah, they need to do a better job hiding their worker mistreatement to better their PR. Seriously, I think consumers need to be more aware of the chain that produced their good and not just look for the lowest price. I'm definitly guilty, but I'd be happy to pay 10% more and have the money go to better the lives of the orignal workers.

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