Gadgetory

hey guys it's rafe needleman here from reporters roundtable thanks for listening to that show listen one of the things that we didn't talk about in the interview we just did with Mike Daisey and Charles Duhigg was a memo that Tim Cook the CEO of Apple put out about working conditions at their overseas plants that memo is being reported on widely including on cnet we have a full story on it I wanted to get Charles's response to that memo since what Tim Cook is talking about although he doesn't use the word New York Times in the story is the reporting including the reporting from the New York Times that is being done on working conditions so before Charles left to skype I dialed him back up and we had a very brief discussion about Tim Cook's response to the reporting on Apple's working conditions well the story obviously has been developing quite a lot and just a day after one of the New York Times stories came out about the harsh working conditions at the foxconn plant and others CEO Tim Cook who is the operations guy at Apple until he became CEO and who in fact is the guy who moved apples manufacturing to the state where it is now or the country where it is now wrote a memo to employees and also said that anything that says that Apple does not care about every worker and supply chain was patently false and offensive Charles Duhigg is still with us here and I understand you've seen this memo you any response based on what Tim Cook said here they have seen the memo and in you know our response to anything as always that we stand by our reporting we worked we worked quite a long time on the story and feel very comfortable and secure in our sources and I haven't gotten a chance to speak with mr. Coker with others about what specifically he mentioned he doesn't mention the New York Times story in the piece in his letter except to say that we stand by our story and and feel comfortable with it ok it's a I think it's an interesting response that he has an you know to go to what we said at the end of the show here where you and Mike were talking about the constant drumbeat of criticism and attention this may be wouldn't you say a step in the right direction if the reporting that you did in the reports that other people have done there are accurate so to have the CEO of Apple say we are focused on educating working on quoting from his memo we are focused on educating workers about the right so they empower to speak up when they see unsafe conditions etc do you think you're having an effect hey I really can't say I mean the without doing reporting it's unclear how to me how people inside Apple saw our story and whether they even saw in the first place except to say that you know I know based on the reporting that I have done that there are numerous people within the Apple including I believe from what I've been told Mr Cook who take issues overseas seriously on and and I think that this reflects the the fact that it has been a priority for the company okay all right well thanks for that response again the story keeps developing Apple CEO Tim Cook on the record saying we take working conditions extremely seriously and we will continue to report on this that's seen it as of course New York Times will as well thanks again Charles it was a great to have you on the round table thank you take care you two