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Rachel Feddema
Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Development Studies
Supervised by Dr. Edna Einsiedel
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta
April 2013
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Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Edna Einsiedel,
whose insightful guidance, encouragement, and generous patience supported my learning and
sanity through this process. Working with Dr. Einsiedel has been a highlight in my
undergraduate career, and made this process a rewarding experience.
Thank you to Dr. Chui-Ling Tam and Mr. Geoffrey Cragg for offering assistance and
taking time out of their busy schedules to be on my honours committee. I would also like to
thank Dr. Dawn Johnston for all the encouragement and tough love, and to the honours cohort
for being supportive and inspiring.
I am grateful to all of my friends and peers who have patiently listened to my honours
updates throughout the year, expressed interest, and offered reassurance that I would indeed
eventually finish this thesis. Finally, thank you to my parents for encouraging me to always do
my best, and for providing endless love and support throughout my academic journey.
i
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Evolution of Sweatshops in Social Consciousness ..................................................................... 3!
1990s Anti-Sweatshop Movement in the Media ......................................................................... 5!
Measuring Campaign Effectiveness ............................................................................................ 6!
Twenty-first Century Sweatshops ............................................................................................... 7!
Organizing Resistance in New Media Environments ................................................................. 8!
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What is a Frame? ....................................................................................................................... 10!
What is Framing? ...................................................................................................................... 10!
Who is Responsible for Framing? ............................................................................................. 11!
Visual Framing .......................................................................................................................... 11!
Significance of Framing ............................................................................................................ 12!
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Apple and Foxconn ................................................................................................................... 14!
China Context ............................................................................................................................ 15!
Chronology of Events................................................................................................................ 16!
Relevance of the Case Study ..................................................................................................... 20!
Past Sweatshop Framing Research ............................................................................................ 21!
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Relevance of Newspaper and Video Media .............................................................................. 23!
Retrieving The New York Times Articles .................................................................................. 24!
Retrieving YouTube Videos...................................................................................................... 25!
Framing Analysis Methodology ................................................................................................ 28!
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Responsibility or Power to Create Change ............................................................................... 33!
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple .................................................................................. 34!
Sub-frame: Media Attention.............................................................................................. 36!
Sub-frames Relating to Foxconn and China ..................................................................... 37!
Human Rights Abuser ............................................................................................................... 38!
Sub-frames targeting Foxconn or Apple ........................................................................... 39!
Sub-frame: All technology companies responsible ........................................................... 43!
Sub-frame: Chinese government responsible .................................................................... 44!
ii
Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility ........................................................................... 44!
Sub-frame: Questioning Fair Labor Association .............................................................. 45!
Sub-frame: Apple’s efforts are insufficient ....................................................................... 46!
Changing Environment ............................................................................................................. 47!
Sub-frame: Chinese socio/economic environment is changing ........................................ 47!
Sub-frames illustrating Apple, and Apple and Foxconn, changing .................................. 48!
Unrest in China.......................................................................................................................... 50!
Sub-frame: Chinese workers aware of rights .................................................................... 50!
Sub-frame: Chinese economy ........................................................................................... 51!
Consumption versus Production................................................................................................ 51!
Sub-frame: Impactful consumer awareness ...................................................................... 52!
Sub-frame: Customers not concerned ............................................................................... 53!
Sub-frame: People should be aware .................................................................................. 54!
Labour versus Capital................................................................................................................ 55!
Not a Sweatshop ........................................................................................................................ 56!
Sub-frame: Implying Foxconn is not a sweatshop ............................................................ 57!
Sub-frame: Explicitly stating Foxconn is not a sweatshop ............................................... 57!
Sub-frame: Psychological problem of younger Chinese generation ................................. 59!
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Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................ 61!
Research Limitations ................................................................................................................. 64!
Apple within the Issue-Attention Cycle .................................................................................... 64!
Should Foxconn be labeled as a Sweatshop? ............................................................................ 67!
Corporate Public Relations in the Media .................................................................................. 71!
Impact of Media Framing .......................................................................................................... 72!
Further Research ....................................................................................................................... 75!
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Figure 1. Comparison of main frames between The New York Times and YouTube findings ..... 33!
Figure 2. Comparison of sub-frames within “Resp. or Power to Create Change” frame ............. 34!
Figure 3. Emphasis on Apple products at Foxconn in ABC News video ..................................... 36!
Figure 4. Comparison of sub-frames within “Human Rights Abuser” frame ............................... 39!
Figure 5. Comparison of sub-frames within “Questioning Corporate Social Resp.” frame ......... 44!
Figure 6. Comparison of sub-frames within “Changing Environment” frame ............................. 47!
Figure 7. Comparison of sub-frames within “Unrest in China” frame ......................................... 50!
Figure 8. Comparison of sub-frames within “Consumption versus Production” frame ............... 52!
Figure 9. Activists hold signs outside Apple headquarters in California ...................................... 53!
Figure 10. Scenes from Next Media Animation video.................................................................. 54!
Figure 11. Prominent footage of suicide nets in ABC News iFactory report ............................... 60!
Figure 12. Apple and Hon Hai Stock Fluctuations in 2012 .......................................................... 72!
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Table 1 Breakdown of The New York Times Search Results ...................................................... 25!
Table 2 YouTube Search Results and Video Selection ................................................................. 28!
Table 3 Appearance and Description of Frames and Sub-Frames in The New York Times...... 31!
Table 4 Appearance and Description of Frames and Sub-Frames in YouTube Videos .............. 32!
Table 5 Appearance of Frames Across Three Analyses ................................................................ 62!
1
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The identification and discussion of sweatshop working conditions has pervaded culture
since the nineteenth century and continues to be a provocative subject today. People around the
world have been, and continue to be, subject to mentally and physically harmful work
environments with unfair compensation and few opportunities to organize for labour rights. In
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sweatshop issues could be conceptualized within a
regional or national scale because the networks and hierarchies of producers, intermediaries and
consumers were usually located within one country or geographic region. By the 1970s however,
neoliberal policies in commerce and international economics restructured the production system,
dispersing producers and consumers around the world. This system is unbalanced because
factories predominantly moved out of wealthy developed countries into emerging markets and
newly industrialized countries. These emerging market countries often compete to attract foreign
investment from transnational companies (TNCs) by offering low operating costs, low labour
prices, efficient production, and flexible regulations (Ross, 2004). Most TNC administration
offices remain consolidated in Western developed countries to manage business operations
where their main customer markets are located. Being geographically removed from the factories,
consumers are largely isolated from production conditions.
Sweatshop issues persist on a greater scale and have become more complex with the
introduction of global, national, and international actors and influences. Through international
campaigns such as the anti-sweatshop movement, many activists have attempted to reconnect
sweatshop issues with consumer goods to spur a demand for international fair labour laws, and to
force transnational companies to regulate better work environments throughout their supply
chains. In the 1990s, anti-sweatshop campaigners predominately focused on the production of
2
toys, clothes, and sportswear. In 2003, international corporations that produce computers and
electronics were drawn into the sweatshop spotlight (Frost & Burnett, 2007). The discussion of
electronic sweatshops has evolved differently than the earlier 1990s anti-sweatshop movement.
The media channels through which these issues are discussed have evolved, the activist groups
have changed, different corporations have been targeted, and the social and economic climate is
different.
This paper will examine a sample of the new electronic sweatshop discourse with a case
study of media texts reporting on the labour issues associated with the production of Apple
products at the Foxconn factories in China in 2012. This year is particularly relevant for analysis
because after several years of media attention targeting Apple and Foxconn for labour abuses,
Apple announced in early 2012 that they would work with an independent factory-auditing group
to assess their supply chain issues. The proceedings from this announcement can be compared to
the experience of Nike and other manufacturers targeted for sweatshop practices in the 1990s,
and the discussion of the issues created an opportunity for corporations, governments, social
actors, and consumers to discuss labour issues and respond. Media reporting is highly influential
in directing public opinion on international issues, so the portrayal and presentation of these
events in the media is important to consider. To explore this, news reports will be examined from
print news media using The New York Times newspaper articles, and online media with YouTube
videos. A media framing analysis will be used to evaluate how the articles and videos have
presented the issues. Frames drawn from previous studies of sweatshop framing in newspapers
will be used in combination with new frames created in this analysis to capture the evolution of
ideas in the 2012 media.
This paper has three goals: first, to evaluate how these labour issues have been framed in
3
traditional and online media in 2012; second, to consider the difference between the newspaper
and video frames; and third, to discuss the significance of the framing in each medium.
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The convention of describing abusive workplaces as “sweatshops” evolved from
language used to describe labour relationships in Britain during the nineteenth century. The term
“sweated trades” was used to describe work with low wage rates, excessive labour hours, and
unsanitary workplaces (Ross, 2004). Workers, described as the “sweated,” had their labour
extracted by a contractor, the “sweater” (Ross, 2004). The emergence of this work relationship
was a product of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism in Britain.
The discussion of these issues can be traced in literature and publications as people
grappled with the ethical problems of the sweated trades. In 1844, Friedrich Engels was the first
to formally publicize concerns about the plight of workers by publishing The Condition of the
Working Class in England. In the 1840s, the word sweating was associated primarily with
tailoring and shoemaking in London, but by the 1850s, the word usage had expanded into
common vocabulary and appeared in newspapers to describe many trades (Schmiechen, 1984).
In 1849, Charles Kingsley wrote the book Alton Locke describing the life of a young tailor, and
published an essay “Cheap Clothes and Nasty” in 1850, arousing sympathy for people in the
sweated trades (Cadbury & Shann, 1923/2012). The British House of Lords conducted an
investigation in 1888 and suggested that “sweating” was characterized by: “1) an unduly low rate
of wages; 2) excessive hours of labour; 3) the unsanitary state of the houses in which the work is
carried on” (1890).
The discussion of labour practices continued in industrializing countries as workers
sought jobs in urban centers, and more industries became associated with poor working
4
conditions. In 1892, Florence Kelly from the Bureau of Statistics of Labor of Illinois described
the “sweating system” as “a surviving remnant of the industrial system which preceded the
factory system, when industry was chiefly conducted on the piece-price plan, in small shops or
the homes of the workers” (1893, p. 357). Campaigning against labour abuses resulted in the
establishment of trade boards and minimum wages in Australia in the 1890s (Australia Trade
Union Archives, 2010), in Britain in the 1900s (Blackburn, 1988), and the International Ladies’
Garment Workers’ Union was established in the United States in the 1900s (Tyler, 1995).
Further recognition and resolve for preventing sweatshops came after the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire in New York City in 1911, and more factory regulations, wage laws, safety codes
and trade unions were introduced (Ross, 2004).
With the rise of global neoliberal economic and social policies in the late 1970s,
deregulated markets introduced a freer flow of capital, labour and goods across national borders
(Pearson & Seyfang, 2001). By the mid 1990s, the relocation of garment industries from the
Western world to the developing world was occurring at an accelerated pace (Sluiter, 2009).
Many small manufacturers were merged or bought out by large garment producers, and
manufacturing was moved overseas. Several incentives prompted factory relocation as cheap
labour was readily available abroad, the governments of developing countries usually
encouraged foreign investment with tax breaks and favourable legislation, and companies could
avoid the risks associated with managing and maintaining a labour force (Sluiter, 2009).
Transnational companies (TNCs) gained significant power and autonomy with the
opening of the global market. Emerging market economies and newly industrialized countries
often lack effective regulatory measures, and companies often take advantage of this legal
flexibility to reduce business expenses by paying below minimum wage, or by not purchasing
5
safety equipment (Ross, 2004). Furthermore, when subcontractors coordinate manufacturing,
TNC managers can focus their efforts on merchandising and selling the product (Sluiter, 2009).
Many corporations like Nike grew remarkably from the early 1970s to the late 1990s by using
low-wage labour, and by boosting their extensive marketing and advertising efforts (Carty, 2002).
As production manufacturing has largely been moved out of Western industrialized
countries, the use of sweatshop labour has become an issue of international scale. The situation
becomes increasingly complex with more social, political and economic actors involved, and the
product consumers become physically and ideologically distanced from the workers and context
where the goods were made. Many international movements protesting sweatshops began in the
early 1990s to reconnect consumers with an awareness of how sportswear, clothing and toys
were produced. Awareness of these issues was aided by globalization and electronic media
which created more connections between producers and consumers (Carty, 2002). With a
common theme to demand global corporate social responsibility and respect for human rights,
the anti-sweatshop movement united dispersed groups of activists from labour, human rights, and
religious causes (Carty, 2002). Movement supporters used a variety of tactics including protests,
media exposés, congressional hearings, and lawsuits, to demand action (Carty, 2002).
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In 1979, the first major article exposing sweatshops was published in the New York
Magazine, and reports by NBC and CBS followed in 1980 and 1981 (Ross, 2004). Academics
picked up the discussion in 1983, and American investigations into sweatshops in the apparel
industry increased (Ross, 2004). In the 1990s, media attention towards sweatshops was initially
low, but increased quickly with the introduction of new labour rights organizations (Ross, 2004).
In 1991, the Clean Clothes Campaign was founded in The Netherlands and U.S. labour rights
6
activist, Jeff Ballinger, initiated the campaign against Nike after investigating factories in
Indonesia (Connor, 2004). In 1992, the National Labor Committee generated significant media
coverage about factories in El Salvador and Honduras (Connor, 2004). Further media attention
was raised with a U.S. Labor Department raid on a sweatshop in El Monte, California in 1995,
where illegal immigrants from Thailand were forced to sew garments (Ross, 2004). In 1996,
activist Charles Kernaghan and the National Labor Committee revealed that Kathie Lee
Gifford’s clothing line was manufactured with child labour in Honduras (Ross, 2004). Ross
conducted an analysis of the media response to these issues, and the El Monte case tripled the
coverage of sweatshop stories in The Los Angeles Times, and the Gifford episode resulted in
additional stories in The New York Times (2004).
In 1996, the anti-sweatshop movement gained momentum with groups of student activists
in the United States who challenged their universities to become sweat-free campuses by
advocating for campus logo clothing to be produced sweat-free (Ross, 2004). There were many
news stories about the college anti-sweatshop movement, and in 1999 there was coverage about
protests in Seattle for the coalition against corporate globalization (Ross, 2004). In 2001 and
2002, coverage of sweatshop issues left the front pages as news attention was directed to
September 11 attacks and Iraq (Ross, 2004).
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To assess the effectiveness of anti-sweatshop public disclosure campaigns, Rock
analyzed the stock price fluctuations of several multinational garment makers, shoemakers, and
retailers in response to the exposure of anti-sweatshop campaigns. He found that on days when
negative news about the firms’ sweatshop practices was published, 64.4% of the abnormal stock
market returns for those firms were negative. This high correlation between negative news and
7
negative stock prices validates the public disclosure tactics used by anti-sweatshop activists. It
also suggests why some firms were motivated to respond quickly by publishing codes of conduct
or aligning with industry labour groups to improve their public image (2003).
Furthermore, Rock considered the impact of Reebok’s announcements to improve their
supply chain standards, and found that 75% of their good news events returned stock results that
were abnormally positive (2003). These insights demonstrate that “public disclosure of bad and
good labour practices imposes costs and rewards firms for their behaviours” but Rock
emphasizes that, “by itself, this finding is not sufficient to ensure that the labour practices of
these firms will actually improve” (2003, p. 30). Some firms may use these announcements for
public relations efforts without taking tangible actions to change labour practices (Rock, 2003).
Bartley and Child examined the effects of anti-sweatshop campaigns on sales, stock
performance, reputation, and U.S. firm ratings (2011). They found that social movements can
shape the markets and fields of specifically targeted firms by negatively affecting sales,
influencing stock prices, and shaping specialized ratings of corporate responsibility (2011). The
“naming and shaming” practices of social campaigns were effective on targeted firms, but did
not have an effect on the overall industry or alter reputational hierarchies within the business
community (Bartley & Child, 2011). This suggests that activists may have an impact on the
profits and reputation of a specific, targeted firm, but their protests have not resulted in industrywide impacts, or dramatic shifts within the business community.
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Since 2003, the production of electronics has also been called into question by labour
watchdogs, sparking a growing movement to make corporations, consumers and policy makers
aware of the conditions in which computers and electronic gadgets are produced (Frost &
8
Burnett, 2007; China Labor Watch, 2012). Factories in the electronic industry face the challenge
of learning from their twentieth century predecessors to create global supply chains without
“sweatshops, ecological destruction, social dislocations, disease and deepening poverty.” (Brown,
2009, para. 35). Brown argues that these factories will become twenty-first century sweatshops if
the electronic industry does not make changes and lead supply chain reforms (2009).
In 2006, Apple was first associated with sweatshop practices with a report from the
British newspaper Mail on Sunday, that reported unfair pay and work hours in the production of
iPods at Foxconn, a third party manufacturing plant in China (Frost & Burnett, 2007). Unlike
other sweatshop exposés, the story initially spread through online discussions before traditional
media sources picked up the story and contributed to the discussion (Frost & Burnett, 2007).
Other electronic companies have also been questioned about their supply chain practices, but
Apple has received a significant portion of the media attention.
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Student activists campaigning in the mid 1990s anti-sweatshop movement have been
studied for their use of the Internet in organizing protests and rallying support for action against
targeted TNCs. Bullert explains that the “new media environment” enabled student groups in the
1990s to effectively mobilize their campaigns with student coordinators utilizing email and
websites to coordinate action (2000). Bennett argues that online communication does more for
activists than simply reducing the cost of communication, and transcending geographical and
temporal barriers (2003). Online activism communication also facilitates loosely structured
networks, weak identity ties, and broad networks that can be transformative for both individuals
and networks of people (Bennett, 2003). Carty argues that the Internet has “proved to be a
medium that enhances the interconnectedness and consciousness of groups and individuals on a
9
global scale. This has opened up the possibilities for social relations between global workers,
activists, and concerned citizens across national boundaries” (2002, p. 144). These online
networks also allow workers who may be unable to speak publicly in their own countries, to
voice concerns in a supportive network with an international audience (Bullert, 2000).
Spreading information through the new “networked economy” has also given activists the
power to reach large numbers of people through “micromedia” at limited or no cost (Carty,
2002). Before this environment was available, activists had difficulty competing with TNCs like
Nike, who could easily pay a few million dollars to reach millions of viewers with an
advertisement (Carty, 2002). Now, online communication tools allow grassroots news to spread
quickly, and stories have the potential to be filtered up to mass media as well (Carty, 2002).
While new media offers independent voices the opportunity to reach large numbers of
people through new media, many traditional news groups have also expanded into the new media
environment. For example, Burgess and Green (2009) explain that many powerful media
companies have joined YouTube because it offers substantial reach and potential viral
distribution. It is possible that the introduction of corporate influence reduces YouTube’s
grassroots interactivity to a “one-way conversation” limiting the democratizing power of
YouTube, but Burgess and Green argue that the situation is more complex because “YouTube
has always been a commercial enterprise” (2009, p.90). YouTube is representative of a changing
media environment, but it is also “the site of dynamic and emergent relations between market
and non-market, social and economic activity” (2009, p. 90). This interplay between amateur and
commercial voices creates both a challenge and opportunity for activists, and offers a diverse
medium for viewers to explore different perspectives on an issue.
10
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A frame is a device in a news story that builds associations between concepts to
encourage readers to think about an issue in a particular way (Tewksbury & Dietram, 2009).
News articles can be thought of as packages containing information and ideas that influence how
people understand issues, and the core component of the package is the frame: “a central
organizing idea or story line that provides meaning to an unfolding strip of events” (Gamson and
Modigliani, 1987, p.143, as cited in Scheufele, 1999). The frame presents an understanding of an
issue by synthesizing the information in a particular way.
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The process of framing occurs in the construction of a text. Any text is likely to have
certain aspects accentuated so that it presents a succinct and coherent representation of
complicated phenomena. In the process, select people will be consulted, certain perspectives will
be referenced, particular interpretations will be articulated, and not all dimensions can be
included. A frame is created as some parts of reality are accentuated and the information is
organized to create a story line thread for readers to follow (Tewksbury & Dietram, 2009).
Entman put forward a definition for the practice: “to frame is to select some aspects of a
perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to
promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment
recommendation” (1993, p. 52). Entman explains that frames define problems, diagnose causes,
make moral judgments, and suggest remedies (1993).
As a research practice, framing has been adopted widely, but not used consistently (Reese
11
2007). Generally, framing is used to understand “the way [original emphasis] that certain
attributes come to be associated with particular issues” (Reese, 2007, p. 152). There have been
efforts to make framing research more consistent by developing processes for interpreting frames
and audience perspectives, but framing research as a research tool for media analysis is still
being developed (De Vreese, 2005).
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The process of constructing a frame is influenced by many social factors. It is often
associated with the individual journalists who assemble a news story, but there is a growing
recognition that frames are an evolving social process, composed of numerous public influences
and opinions (Van Grop, 2009). A reporter may choose to emphasize certain themes in a news
article to make it relevant to other current events, the story may be altered by a news editor to be
more congruent with a newspaper viewpoint, or it might be shaped by cultural expectations. The
textual structure of a media text is the product of all these numerous social influences.
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Since newspaper stories often include images, and YouTube videos are primarily a visual
medium, it is important to consider what dimensions are added to the viewer or reader’s framing
experience when the medium is primarily visual or has visual components. Considering visual
framing is important because viewers may accept visual information as reality without being
aware of the influence of visual framing (Messaris & Abraham, 2001). DeLuca and Peeples
argue that individuals increasingly rely on the media’s dissemination of images and claims about
the world to form understandings, rather than forming knowledge through rational dialogue with
other people (2002).
12
Graphic images accompanying news articles have been shown to draw attention to stories,
and influence perception of the issues. News photos may also be noticed by readers even when
they did not read the article (Messaris & Abraham, 2001). In a controlled study of visual framing
by Arpan, Baker, Lee, Jung, Lorusso and Smith, different photographs of social protests were
presented to readers with the same verbal framing (2006). It was found that the news stories with
negative photographs of social protests caused viewers to feel more negatively about the cause.
When more conflict is shown, such as protestors screaming or waving signs, in comparison to
people signing petitions around a table, viewers have a more negative evaluation of the protest
and protestors. This suggests that visuals alone have the power to affect how people process
news stories (Arpan et al., 2006).
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The impact of framing in media texts is recognized by Reese who argues: “frames are
organizing principles that are socially shared and persistent over time, that work symbolically to
meaningfully structure the social world” (2007, p.11). Reese emphasizes that frames can
organize experience, they can be shared, and they may persist in culture. He also stresses the
dynamic quality of frames and “their ability to project knowledge ahead” by guiding “the
structures of incoming experience” (2007, p. 150). When news topics are of a subject unfamiliar
to the reader or viewer, such as international news, the frames of the stories become informative
and orient the reader within that topic (Groshek, 2008). This is relevant for studying international
issues because news reports and journalist stories are the primary way through which people are
informed of issues and events that are out of the realm of an individual’s everyday experience.
Frames are significant in structuring how people understand and make sense of issues.
Nisbet explains that “media frames work by connecting the mental dots for the public,” and after
13
an audience has been exposed to a framed message, they “accept or are at least aware of the
connection” (2009, p. 47). Ross argues that the frames used in media stories can influence
support for different public policies. In media reports from the El Monte sweatshop issue, many
news reports framed the issue with reference to the large number of immigrants who had worked
there. Ross conducted a test with students and found that people who had read an article that
reported the story with reference to immigrants, were more likely to “agree with immigration
restriction as a solution and less likely to take a pro-labor view of the matter” than those who
read an article that did not make reference to immigrants at the factory (Ross, 2004).
Nisbet argues that framing is most effective when the connections drawn in a new story
resonate with an audience’s existing mental associations and “if the frame draws connections
that are not relevant to something a segment of the public already values or understands, then the
message is likely to be ignored or to lack personal significance” (2009, p. 48). In an effort to
ensure that news articles are well received, journalists may rely on established frames rather than
integrating new perspectives.
!
14
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Sweatshop issues have been a media highlight since the nineteenth century, but the
discussion has evolved over time with different actors, circumstances and media perspectives
shaping the portrayal of the problems. With more recent attention to the circumstances
surrounding the production of consumer electronics, this paper will focus on the coverage of
labour issues associated with Foxconn and Apple throughout 2012. The Foxconn factory has
received a lot of media attention with stories of worker suicides, explosions, and riots, and Apple
has been most prominently associated with these issues despite Foxconn producing electronic
components for many companies. This relationship will be studied through newspaper articles
and YouTube videos to analyze how these actors and issues were associated and discussed.
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Apple is an American company incorporated in California in 1977. Apple designs Mac
personal computers, software, iPod digital music players, the iPhone mobile phone, and iPad
devices for mobile media and computing (Apple Inc., n.d.). In 2012, the company had 72,800
permanent full-time employees and 3,300 temporary full-time employees worldwide, and its
worldwide annual revenue in 2012 was 156 billion USD (Apple Inc., 2012a).
Foxconn Technology Group is part of Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd, a
Taiwanese multinational contract manufacturing company founded in 1974. Foxconn specializes
in “joint-design, joint-development, manufacturing, assembly and after-sales services to global
computer, communication and consumer electronics leaders (Foxconn Technology Group, 2007).
Hon Hai’s revenues for 2011 were 116 billion USD (Bloomberg Businessweek, n.d.). Foxconn
makes over forty percent of the world’s electronic products and is China’s largest and most
prominent private employer with 1.2 million workers (Duhigg & Greenhouse, 2012).
15
B3&'$!B.':,/:!
Economic globalization in China has accelerated with the adoption of free-market
policies and an influx of foreign direct investment (FDI). The Chinese government introduced
open-door policies in the late 1970s and set up Special Economic Zones in the 1980s in
Guangdong Province, Fujian Province and in coastal cities in other provinces, to attract FDI
(Chan & Peng, 2011). FDI increased in China from 1.3 billion USD in 1984 to 92.4 billion USD
in 2008 (Chinability n.d., as cited in Chan & Peng, 2011). In 2009, China became the world’s
second largest recipient of FDI, second to the United States (Sung, Lifei and Yanping, 2011, as
cited in Chan & Peng, 2011). Companies like Foxconn demonstrate the success of China’s
export-led development as Foxconn grew to become China’s largest exporter in the twenty years
since its first investment in 1988 (Chan & Pun, 2010).
Chan and Peng argue that many of China’s internal factors have exacerbated the
exploitation of China’s labour forces (2011). China has labour legislation in place, but there is
little incentive for local government officials to enforce standards because they are primarily
motivated to attract foreign investment to their region. China lacks an independent national
judicial system for implementing labour legislation and trade unions are not independent.
Chinese workers cannot establish their own unions, and instead they are represented by the AllChina Federation of Trade Unions, which puts emphasis on political stability rather than labour
rights (Chan & Peng, 2011).
Young migrant workers from rural areas primarily staff factories in the Special Economic
Zones. Workers are housed near factories in large communal multi-story buildings where rooms
and faculties are shared (Pun & Smith, 2007). The unique circumstances characterizing this
situation in China have been described as the “dormitory labour regime” (Pun & Smith, 2007).
16
Housing workers close to the factory has created a system that is more competitive and flexible
than other labour systems because the “spatial proximity helps meet just-in-time production
deadlines by imposing overtime work and lengthening the workday” (Pun & Chan, 2013, p.182).
Providing dormitories for migrant workers facilitates a continuous flow of fresh labour from the
countryside that depresses wages and deters union organization due to the high turnover rate
(Pun & Yu, 2008). The Chinese dormitory regime discourages long-term relationships with the
firm, and is designed for short-term contracts with young, single workers (Pun & Yu, 2008). The
dormitories provide communal, gender divided living arrangements that “extinguish family life”
as people are disconnected from their families and frequently separated from friends (Pun &
Chan, 2013).
Pun and Chan argue that young workers in the dormitory labour regime at Foxconn
“experience alienation in the classic Marxist sense” (2013, p. 187). Foxconn’s flexible
manufacturing system uses the worker’s labour as a commodity “organized into a twenty-fourhour nonstop operation dedicated to satisfying global consumers’ demand for electronic gadgets”
(Pun & Chan, 2013, p. 187). Political and economic alliances between the government and the
market ensure that these conditions are maintained (Pun & Smith, 2007). However, recent labour
shortages that have emerged in coastal cities have given workers a limited opportunity to
leverage better wages, and the newer generation of rural migrant workers are better educated,
more aware of their rights, and more likely to demand better work conditions (Pun & Chan,
2013).
B3#.'.+.(G!.8!RE,':5!!
While this case study focuses on the media coverage of events in 2012, it is relevant to
consider the development of these issues with a larger perspective to understand the context. The
17
following timeline highlights some of the major events associated with Apple and Foxconn in
China from 2005 to 2012.
>??X Apple’s code of conduct was developed in 2005 and states that “working
conditions in Apple’s supply chain are safe, that workers are treated with respect
and dignity, and that manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible”
(Duhigg & Barboza, 2012, Apple’s Code of Conduct, para. 1).
>??J British newspaper, Mail on Sunday, investigated a Foxconn factory making iPods
and reported 15 hour work days, low wages, crowded dorms, forced overtime, and
workers unable to sit or rest while on shift (Frost & Burnett, 2007).
>??K Apple began publishing information from annual factory audits, but specific
factories were not named (Duhigg & Barboza, 2012).
>??L! Y$'6$#G1 A non-profit, Businesses for Social Responsibility (BSR), initiated a
project in 2006 with the World Bank to improve working conditions in factories
manufacturing electronics. Foxconn agreed to participate, but made numerous
demands for concessions before the start of the program in January 2008 so the
program could not proceed (Duhigg & Barboza, 2012).
>??P! S$#031 A report from three NGOs highlighted the labour conditions at four
factories in Guangdong Province that manufacture products for Apple, Microsoft,
Motorola, Philips, and Sony. The most common problems were recruitment
discrimination, high percentage of student interns and contract labour, low wages,
excessive working hours, negative health effects, punitive fines, disrespecting
union rights, and poor conditions in dormitories (Sustainalytics, 2013)1.
Y6+G1 Foxconn employee Sun Danyong committed suicide after being interrogated
about a missing iPhone 4 prototype. It was reported that he was detained and
beaten (Sustainalytics, 2013).
>?@?! ",=#6$#G1 Apple discovered labour violations from audits conducted in 2009 and
published them in its 2010 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report. Issues
included excessive recruitment fees, underage workers, hazardous waste disposal
and falsified records (Sustainalytics, 2013).
1
Sustainalytics provides global investors and financial institutions with comprehensive analytics
of corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance (Sustainalytics, 2013).
Their resources are used to evaluate companies and consider ESG factors when choosing
investments. Sustainalytics research, compiled from third party reports and articles, was used in
this paper to identify important events that have influenced Apple’s corporate reputation.
18
",=#6$#G1 Apple reports workers at a supplier, United Win Technology (Wintek)
in Suzhou were poisoned with a chemical, n-hexane, which was used to polish
touch screens for Apple products. Further investigations and media reports
revealed workers were asked to leave their jobs, and to receive compensation they
were required to sign an agreement absolving Wintek from responsibility if their
health worsened in the future (Sustainalytics, 2013).
S$G1 The Hong Kong based NGO, Students and Scholars Against Corporate
Misbehaviour (SACOM) published a report detailing a series of eight suicides and
two suicide attempts, since the beginning of 2010 (Chan, 2010).
Y6',1 Steve Jobs claimed the Foxconn factory is not a sweatshop by explaining
that the suicide rate is lower than the rate for the United States, and he stated that
Apple was managing the situation (Beaumont, 2010).
Y6+G1 Mike Daisey began performing The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, a
monologue performance describing the factory conditions Daisey witnessed on a
visit to China (Smith, 2011).
T0:.=,#1 SACOM published a report discussing the fourteen suicides and four
suicide attempts that occurred since the beginning of 2010 (Chan & Cheng, 2010).
>?@@ ",=#6$#G1 Apple reported in its 2011 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report that
91 children under the age of 16 were discovered working in undisclosed Chinese
supplier factories during 2010 audits (Sustainalytics, 2013).
S$#031 SACOM published a video showing employees exposed to aluminum
dust from polishing electronic cases (Sustainalytics, 2013).
S$G1!"#!explosion at Foxconn’s factory in Chengdu that produces the iPad 2
killed four workers and injured 18 others. The inspection by Hon Hai indicated
the explosion was caused by aluminum dust in a ventilation duct (Sustainalytics,
2013).
)6(65:1 Workers that were poisoned at the Wintek factory announced that they
had not received an apology from Apple (Sustainalytics, 2013).
4,0,%=,#1 An explosion at Riteng Computer Accessory Co., owned by Pegatron
Corp, injured 61 workers. The explosion resulted from aluminum dust from
insufficient ventilation where iPad 2 cases were being manufactured
(Sustainalytics, 2013).
>?@> Y$'6$#G1 A group of 150 Chinese workers at Foxconn’s Wuhan facility threatened
to commit suicide in protest of working conditions due to a recent factory
decision to move 600 workers to a new production line that was more dangerous
without adequate compensation, and without training (Sustainalytics, 2013).
19
Y$'6$#G1 Apple released list of suppliers, but did not include the factory locations,
or the names of companies that work indirectly with Apple through other
suppliers (Duhigg & Barboza, 2012).
Y$'6$#G1 Articles in The New York Times questioned Apple’s commitment to
resolving labour issues (Sustainalytics, 2013).
!
",=#6$#G1 Apple announced factory investigations with the Fair Labor
Association (FLA). Several electronic consumer groups express concern that
Apple’s involvement with the FLA is a publicity stunt. Protestors petitioned
several Apple retail locations demanding more transparency from Apple, and
requested a system to diffuse the high-stress environment created by new product
releases (Sustainalytics, 2013).
S$#031 Apple’s chief executive, Timothy Cook, visited Foxconn (Drew, 2012).
S$#031 The FLA released audit results from multiple Foxconn factories. Issues
were related to long working hours, health and safety, and overtime. Foxconn
committed to reducing work week hours to the legal Chinese maximum of 49
hours by July 1, 2013, and agreed to work further with the FLA to address wages
and worker participation in union structures. SACOM criticized the report for not
addressing issues of student intern labour, work stress, inhumane treatment, and
worker punishment (Sustainalytics, 2013).
S$#031 A report by NPR (formerly, National Public Radio) publicized statements
from workers indicating that Apple inspected the Riteng factory before the
explosion in May 2011, and workers were not given any compensation from
Apple until after NPR got involved, after which they received phone calls and
$800 USD (Sustainalytics, 2013).
S$#031 Radio show “The American Life” retracted their coverage of Mike
Daisey’s show The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, from January 2012. They
investigated his claims and found many of the statements he presented as facts to
be fabricated (Isherwood, 2012). This spurs further discussion about the
circumstances at the factories.
Y6',1 China Labor Watch published a report revealing that labour rights
violations at Foxconn occur at all other Apple suppliers and in some cases the
violations are worse. Other suppliers include Toyo Precision Appliance, BYD
Electronic (International) Co., Quanta Computer Inc, Wintek Corp, Riteng
Computer Accessory Co., and Jabil Circuit Inc (China Labor Watch, 2012).
7,*:,%=,#1 Foxconn factories in Zhenghou are accused of forcing student interns
to work on production lines to meet demand for the iPhone 5. The Chinese press
reported hundreds of students from Huai’an, Jiangsu Province being threatened to
work or they would not graduate (Sustainalytics, 2013).
20
7,*:,%=,#1 Worker at Apple supplier Foxlink (also known as Cheng Uei
Precision Industry Co. Ltd.) in Dongguan committed suicide due to harsh
treatment from management, and being denied time off over the Chinese national
holiday due to pressure to complete iPhone 5 orders (Sustainalytics, 2013).
!
7,*:,%=,#1 Worker riots at a Foxconn factory in Taiyuan temporarily closed the
factory, causing many to question whether this will delay iPhone 5 production.
Labour groups explain that workers are more aware of their rights and willing to
stand up to injustice (Barboza & Bradsher, 2012).
T0:.=,#1!China Labor Watch reported a series of organized strikes at the Foxconn
factory in Zhengzhou, which Foxconn dismissed as isolated disputes. On October
8th, an estimated 3000 to 4000 workers participated in a walkout to express
dissatisfaction with unreasonable production expectations and workers receiving
insufficient training (Sustainalytics, 2013).
This timeline illustrates how attention to Apple’s supply chain management issues has
escalated since 2006 with an increasing number of labour issues at Foxconn being connected to
Apple. It also shows the progression of Apple’s efforts to address negative publicity, from
publishing supplier responsibility reports, to addressing or avoiding issues on a case by case
basis, and seeking involvement from the Fair Labor Association. The sequence of events in 2012,
from Apple and Foxconn’s commitment to changes early in the year and the resurgence of labour
problems surrounding the release of the iPhone 5 in September, indicate that this is an
unresolved ongoing issue, and that Apple and the issues at Foxconn remain publicly associated.
D,+,E$'0,!.8!:3,!B$5,!7:6-G!
Examining how Apple and Foxconn labour abuses have been discussed in The New York
Times and on YouTube in 2012 is important because the media framing can influence how
people think about these issues, and conflicts can become “missing stories” if journalists ignore
an issue (Russell, 2006, as cited in Nisbet, 2009).
News media coverage from the year 2012 was selected because there were several
21
developments in this time frame that were significant to electronic TNCs and factory workers in
China. After years of news stories about labour abuses in the media connected with Apple, the
company responded in early 2012 with an effort to publicly address the problems. These
developments were met with praise and criticism throughout the year as labour unrest continued
into late 2012.
This case study can also be considered within a larger time frame of changing attitudes
and awareness about sweatshops. From the early discussions of the localized sweating system, to
the debate surrounding globalized international sweatshops for toys, clothing and sportswear,
this case with Apple and Foxconn represents a new wave of sweatshop awareness associated
with electronics.
Z$5:!79,$:53.*!"#$%&'(!D,5,$#03!
Several media studies have analyzed the framing of sweatshops in newspapers, and some
research has analyzed the coverage of issues connected to Foxconn and Apple. These studies are
referenced to consider the development of media sweatshop discussions, and to form the framing
methodology for this study.
Ross (2004) examines media coverage of the El Monte story in The New York Times and
The Los Angeles Times from May 1997 to May 1998, and found a strong presence of an
“immigrant-ethnic” frame because the factory was staffed with illegal immigrant workers from
Thailand. He found that the newspaper coverage largely framed the sweatshop issue around
immigration policy rather than working condition policies (Ross, 2004). Through a study with
undergraduate students, Ross (2004) found that readers who read news stories with the
“immigrant-ethnic” frame were more likely to blame immigrants for the sweatshop conditions
and agree with immigration restrictions rather than addressing labour laws (Ross, 2004).
22
Greenberg and Knight (2004) examine U.S. newspaper coverage of Nike sweatshops
from 1995 to 2000 and consider how the news coverage was structured, how sweatshops were
problematized, and how they were explained. Greenberg and Knight found that the news stories
about sweatshops emphasized consumer awareness of sweat-free products rather than connecting
readers to the lives of sweatshop workers. They identified this as a “consumer versus producer”
frame that they argue downplays the political aspects of sweatshop issues. To correct this
representation, they suggest sweatshop issues could be investigated using a “capital versus
labour” frame to emphasize the fundamental opposition between the workers’ labour and profits,
and recognize the force of neoliberalism in the global sweatshop chain (Greenberg & Knight,
2004).
Guo, Hsu, Holton and Jeong (2012) studied how newspapers in the United States and
China framed the coverage of suicides at Foxconn. They studied a total of 92 stories from The
New York Times, and three Chinese newspapers, China Daily, People’s Daily, and Southern
Weekend. News stories were collected from July 19, 2009, the day of the first suicide, to
September 19, 2010, one month after the last of the 14 suicides (Guo et al, 2012). Guo et al.,
found that Chinese newspapers frequently framed the suicides as a psychological issue with
young workers, while the U.S. newspaper used a human rights abuser frame, and all newspapers
framed the issue as a China-specific problem rather than considering the issue as a product of the
world economy and global social justice (2012).
!
23
D,5,$#03&'(!!"#$%#&$'()*$!+,#-!$'-!<.626=,!
D,+,E$'0,!.8!F,95*$*,#!$'-!O&-,.!S,-&$!
Using newspaper stories to study media framing is useful because newspapers influence
policy trends (Holt & Barkemeyer, 2012). The New York Times is particularly relevant to study
because it has “intermedia agenda-setting power,” and strong relationships with other national
and local news sources (Carroll, 2011). Grant (2005) argues “the Times is treated as the
professional setter of standards” because editors and producers often consider how The Times
has reported stories, and “many of the Times front-page stories find their way into television
programs and magazines” (p. 180, as cited in Carroll, 2011). Internationally, many English
newspapers utilize The New York Times’ syndicated news service for articles, pictures, and
background information, which expands the reach of The Times perspective globally. The Times
is also useful for this study because several preceding studies have used The Times to analyze the
discussion of sweatshops in the media, so findings are more comparable.
The discussion of Foxconn and Apple labour issues within YouTube videos is also
relevant for this study because many people seek information from new media electronic sources.
Within Canada, YouTube has become the second largest search engine after Google (6S
Marketing, 2012). Canadians watch an hour of online video on an average day, and 80% of those
videos are watched on YouTube (6S Marketing, 2012). Additionally, while not everyone may be
searching for videos, video reaches 91% of Canadians because YouTube results are integrated
into Google search results (6S Marketing, 2012). The Pew Research Center for People and the
Press (2010) has reported a steady decline in the consumption of print news among Americans,
and found that while two-thirds of all news customers in the U.S. use traditional news sources,
new media has been integrated into their news consumption patterns. Print media is no longer the
24
only resource for news information, and audiences are dispersing with the greater variety of
news channels available online. Bennett argues “conventional news is withering from the erosion
of audiences [...] and from the fragmentation of remaining audiences as channels multiply” and
he suggests “the rise of electronic public spheres may ultimately become the model for public
information in many areas of politics” (2003, p.165). Bennett explains that the electronic public
sphere includes both traditional and oppositional news, and this is true in the case of YouTube,
where content from large established media organizations can be found alongside content from
oppositional and individual producers. Within electronic public spheres, the boundaries between
different ideological positions will eventually become more permeable to allow citizens to freely
engage in an array of political activities without ideological barriers (Bennett, 2003). It could be
argued that YouTube is one of these electronic public spheres because political information is
available from an array of different ideological frameworks. To balance the discussion of The
Times presentation of labour issues in China, YouTube videos will be considered as a sample of
communication from the realm of new media.
D,:#&,E&'(!!"#$%#&$'()*$!+,#-!)#:&0+,5!
A search of The New York Times articles was conducted using the search engine Factiva.
The search was limited to articles from The Times, published from January 1, 2012 to December
31, 2012. Keywords and Boolean operators were used to retrieve articles related to Apple and
Foxconn labour issues. To ensure relevant articles containing different keywords would not be
missed, the search phrase “(sweatshop or Foxconn) and (Apple or China)” was used. A total of
57 unique articles were returned from the search. Twenty of the articles were relevant and
written by The Times journalists. These articles are used in the framing analysis of this study.
Of the other 37 articles, 27 were written by The Times journalists with a focus on other
25
topics, but the discussion related to Apple and Foxconn labour issues. Five articles were about
unrelated topics and only mention Apple, Foxconn, China or sweatshops in passing, four were
sourced from Reuters rather than written by a New York Times journalist, and one was a
corrections notice. See Table 1 for a breakdown list of the search results.
Table 1
Breakdown of The New York Times Search Results
Description
Articles relevant to Apple or Foxconn labour issues in China:
Related articles:
Articles discussing Mike Daisey monologue 6
Articles discussing sweatshops outside China 5
Articles discussing China politics / economics 5
Articles discussing U.S. technology industry 4
“Inside the Times” headline summaries 4
Articles discussing China / Taiwan relations 2
Article discussing factory robotics 1
Unused articles:
Unrelated articles 5
Articles sourced from Reuters 4
Correction notice 1
TOTAL
# Of Items
20
27
10
57
D,:#&,E&'(!<.626=,!O&-,.5!
A video search was conducted on YouTube to collect a sample of videos that would be
representative of the popular videos published about Apple and Foxconn’s labour issues in 2012.
The “worldwide” viewing location option on YouTube was selected prior to conducting the
search to ensure that the video results would not be tailored to Canadian or American specific
content. The search was conducted in the English (U.S.) with the “safety” search filter turned off
to avoid blocking any videos flagged as objectionable by other YouTube users. Four different
keyword combinations were used to retrieve videos: “Sweatshop Apple,” “Sweatshop China,”
26
“Foxconn Apple,” and “Foxconn China.” These words were chosen to replicate the search phrase
used to search The New York Times archive “(sweatshop or Foxconn) and (Apple or China),” and
to imitate simple searches that a YouTube viewer might perform.
Videos selected for this analysis had to be published on YouTube in 2012, and the video
content had to be relevant to the labour issues in China associated with Apple and Foxconn. A
total of ten videos from the results of the four searches were selected for framing analysis. To
focus on videos that YouTube users would most likely encounter, videos that appeared in the top
half of the search results, and videos with high view count numbers (mostly over 10,000), were
chosen. Promoted videos and ads that appeared at the top of search results were not considered.
Videos identified as relevant to Apple and Foxconn labour issues, but not published in
2012, were totaled to consider the amount of related (but perhaps dated) material available for
viewing from these searches (see Table 2). This number is valuable to consider because
YouTube does not function like a newspaper. YouTube is a video-sharing website, so if an
individual wants to use YouTube to learn about an issue, they will need to perform a search
within the website to find relevant videos. The YouTube search engine ranks videos according to
relevance, not according to the latest published videos, so it is possible that related videos from
2011 or earlier would appear in search results and be viewed.
A video’s “relevance” on YouTube is calculated from three main factors: video relevance
to the search query, user engagement, and authority of the video owner (CodexM, n.d.). Firstly, a
video will be ranked more relevant if the search query words match words in the video title,
video description, and video tags, (video tags are additional identifying keywords supplied by the
video uploader to make the video easier to find) (Bolton, 2011). Secondly, videos that have
received comments, “like” ratings, and have been “favourited” by users, will appear higher in the
27
search results (CodexM, n.d.). Thirdly, videos that have been uploaded by “trusted or
authoritative” users will be ranked higher. This is determined by factors such as the video
owner’s membership age, YouTube channel views, and the number of subscribers on their
YouTube channel (CodexM, n.d.).
Considering how YouTube ranks videos is important because the ranking calculations
promote videos that are more popular, or have been skillfully uploaded and optimized for search
engines. A large established news group that have YouTube channels, such as Reuters, ABC
News, or The New York Times, will have the resources to develop many optimized videos and be
recognized as a trusted user, so their videos will likely appear near the top of the search results.
These organizations also benefit from posting their videos on external websites where they
receive more views, and in turn, appear more popular within YouTube. For example, a New York
Times video was posted in correlation with an article on their website and many people likely
viewed this video on The New York Times website, and YouTube usually includes these views in
the view count within YouTube. This ultimately influences which videos appear most frequently
and accessibly at the top of the search results.
See Table 2 for a list of the search terms, the approximate number of videos returned
from each search, the number of related videos on the first page, the list of videos selected for
framing analysis, and the video view count associated with each selected video. The numbers in
this chart were retrieved in February 2013, and these values are approximate.
28
Table 2
YouTube Search Results and Video Selection
Search
terms
Total
results
Relevant
videos
Sweatshop
Apple
188
6 / 20
Sweatshop
China
334
3 / 20
Foxconn
Apple
Foxconn
China
4200
1090
12 / 20
19 / 20
Videos selected for
analysis
1. Inside Look At
Apple’s Chinese
Sweatshops!
2. Your IPhone is made
in a Sweatshop in
China!!!
3. Nightline Special
Edition – iFactory:
Inside Apple (Foxconn)
4. Foxconn: Apple’s
hidden side #1
5. The iEconomy:
Factory Upgrade –
Apple News 2012
6. Inside Apple:
Changes Made at
Foxconn
7. Is Apple To Blame
for FoxConn [sic] &
China’s Labor
Controversy?
8. Foxconn riots cause
shutdown of a factory in
Northern China
9. Apple CEO Tim
Cook Visits China
Foxconn Manufacturing
Plant
10. Foxconn riot
exposes dark side of
tech glitter
View
count
Uploader
username
Video
content
11,706
Dancehall
Vid
ABC
News
10,323
R. E.
Heubel
Individual
102,188
AsianSpeci
alist
ABC
News
55,850
UpsideTele
vision
Chaîne de
UpsideTel
evision
39,040
TheNew
YorkTimes
NY Times
11,559
ABCNews
ABC
News
13,330
motherboar
dsorg
Individual
12,696
NMAWorl
dEdition
Next
Media
Animation
9,204
slatester
Slate
News
Channel
8,935
ReutersVid
eo
Reuters
"#$%&'(!)'$+G5&5!S,:3.-.+.(G!
This framing analysis is modeled from the framing process and structure used by Guo et
al. (2012), which consists of identifying main frames and sub-frames. Each article and video is
29
identified with a maximum of three main frames, and each main frame is associated with a subframe. Main frames refer to the larger idea or perspective, and sub-frames are more focused and
indicate the function or specific intentions of the main frame. Guo et al. (2012) identifies three
different framing functions: “define problems,” “diagnose causes,” and “suggest remedies”. The
coding process used by Guo et al. (2012) was also employed for this analysis: first, sub-frames
are identified because they are easier to recognize, and then the sub-frames are used as indicators
to identify the main frames. Using main frames and sub-frames is valuable because “while the
main frame may provide a broad picture of the media’s approach to coverage, the sub-frames
may further illuminate different perspectives the audience may be exposed to” (Guo et al., 2012,
p. 491).
For example, the article “Apple Lists Its Suppliers for 1st Time,” by Wingfield and
Duhigg (2012), was found to contain a sub-frame that “suggests remedies” for the issues at
Foxconn by implying Apple could pay more to Foxconn to improve wages and conditions. This
was determined as the article contrasted Apple’s efforts to improve reporting transparency with
their reluctance to make tangible changes. A quote from labour activist Jeff Ballinger explained
that Apple had resisted paying the factories more money to reduce overtime hours despite having
the financial resources to pay higher prices for the products (Wingfield & Duhigg, 2012). This
sub-frame connects to the main frame “responsibility or power to create change,” which
represents the larger trend of journalists identifying different actors as responsible or capable of
making changes at Foxconn. This article identified Apple as capable of initiating changes at
Foxconn, so it was counted in the “responsibility of Apple” sub-frame within the “responsibility
or power to create change” main frame. In addition to this, two other sub-frames and main frame
30
pairings were identified in the article to represent some of the other prominent perspectives it
contained.
Frames for this analysis have been drawn from media studies by Guo et al. (2012) and
Greenberg and Knight (2004), and some new frames have been added to reflect changing ideas
about these issues. It is important to consider existing frames established by other researchers to
allow this research to be comparable to existing studies of sweatshops and Foxconn issues.
Developing new frames is also essential because there are sentiments expressed in the 2012
articles and videos that could not be captured effectively with the existing frames. The need for
new frames demonstrates that the way journalists are discussing these issues is evolving.
In the following section, each frame will be explained, the appearance of different subframes will be discussed, and examples from articles and videos will be referenced for
illustration of the frame usage and significance. See Table 3 for an overview of the framing
findings in The New York Times, and see Appendix 1 for a list of the 20 articles and the frames
associated with each article. See Table 4 for an overview of the findings from YouTube, and
Appendix 2 for a list of the 10 videos and the frames found within each video.
31
Table 3
Appearance and Description of Frames and Sub-Frames in The New York Times
Frames and Sub-Frames
Responsibility or Power to Create Change:
Present in articles that attribute responsibility or recognize the power of particular
groups to effect change.
Sub-Frames:
Responsibility of Apple (Suggest remedy)
N=5
Media attention (Diagnose causes)
N=3
Responsibility of Foxconn (Suggest remedy)
N=2
Power within workers/consumer (Diagnose causes)
N=1
Human Rights Abuser:
Identified in articles that emphasized human rights issues and attributed the
problems to particular actors.
Sub-Frames:
Apple primarily responsible (Define problems)
N=4
Foxconn primarily responsible (Define problems)
N=4
All tech companies responsible (Define problems)
N=1
Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility:
Expressed in articles that discuss roles and actors in CSR efforts
Sub-Frames: Question Fair Labor Association (Define problems)
N=3
Apple’s efforts are insufficient (Define problems)
N=2
Changing Environment:
Reflected in articles that emphasize how the technology industry or particular
social or economic environments are in transition.
Sub-Frames:
Chinese socio/econ is changing (Diagnose causes)
N=2
Apple is changing (Diagnose causes)
N=1
Apple and Foxconn are changing (Diagnose causes)
N=1
Unrest in China:
Occurs in articles that discuss factory unrest.
Sub-Frames: Chinese workers aware of rights (Diagnose causes)
N=3
Chinese economy (Diagnose causes)
N=1
Consumption versus Production:
Present in articles that focused on the consumer relationship to the production of
goods globally.
Sub-Frames:
Impactful consumer awareness (Diagnose causes)
N=2
Customers not concerned (Define problems)
N=1
Labour versus Capital:
Recognition in articles of the conflict between corporate interests and workers on
a global scale.
Sub-Frames:
Reference to conflict between capital and labour
N=2
N = 38
N = 11
55%
N=9
45%
N=5
25%
N=4
20%
N=4
20%
N=3
15%
N=2
10%
32
Table 4
Appearance and Description of Frames and Sub-Frames in YouTube Videos
Frames and Sub-Frames
Responsibility or Power to Create Change:
Present in videos that attribute responsibility or recognize the power of particular
groups to effect change.
Sub-Frames:
Responsibility of Apple (Suggest remedy)
N=4
Media attention (Diagnose causes)
N=1
Chinese government (Suggest remedy)
N=1
Human Rights Abuser:
Identified in videos that emphasized human rights issues and attributed the
problems to particular actors.
Sub-Frames:
Foxconn primarily responsible (Define problems)
N=4
Chinese government (Define problems)
N=1
All tech companies responsible (Define problems)
N=1
Consumption versus Production:
Present in videos that focused on the consumer relationship to the production of
goods globally.
Sub-Frames:
People should be aware (Suggest remedy)
N=4
Customers not concerned (Define problems)
N=1
Changing Environment:
Reflected in videos that emphasize how the technology industry or particular
social or economic environments are in transition.
Sub-Frames: Apple and Foxconn are changing (Diagnose causes)
N=2
Chinese socio/econ is changing (Diagnose causes)
N=1
Not a Sweatshop:
Present in videos that express that Foxconn should not be labeled as a sweatshop.
Sub-Frames:
Explicitly stated (Define problems)
N=1
Implied (Define problems)
N=1
Psych. problem of younger gen. (Diagnose causes)
N=1
Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility:
Expressed in videos that discuss roles and actors in CSR efforts
Sub-Frames:
Apple’s efforts are insufficient (Define problems)
N=1
Unrest in China:
Occurs in videos that discuss factory unrest.
Sub-Frames: Chinese workers aware of rights (Diagnose causes)
N=1
N = 25
N=6
60%
N=6
60%
N=5
50%
N=3
30%
N=3
30%
N=1
10%
N=1
10%
33
)'$+G5&5!.8!"#$%,5!&'!!"#$%#&$'()*$!+,#-!$'-!.'!<.626=,!
A total of eight different frames were found between The New York Times articles and the
YouTube videos. In this section each of the frames and associated sub-frames will be discussed.
Throughout the analysis, the frames and sub-frames are sorted in order of prominence according
to results from The Times. Figure 1 illustrates the appearance of main frames from the results.
Resp. or Power to Create Change
Main Frames
Human Rights Abuser
Questioning CSR
Changing Environment
Unrest in China
Consumption versus Production
Labour versus Capital
Not a Sweatshop
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Percentage of Articles / Videos
The New York Times
YouTube
Figure 1. Comparison of main frames between The New York Times and YouTube findings.
D,5*.'5&=&+&:G!.#!Z.9,#!:.!B#,$:,!B3$'(,!
This frame was created for this analysis to recognize the tendency of journalists to charge
particular groups with the responsibility of correcting problems or driving change in response to
the issues at Foxconn. The frame was prominent in both The New York Times articles and
YouTube videos, and five different sub-frames were identified between the two samples. In The
Times, this frame was identified in 11 out of 20 articles (55%), with four different sub-frames.
34
On YouTube, this frame was detected in 6 out of 10 videos (60%), with the appearance of three
Media
different sub-frames. Figure 2 shows a comparison of the sub-frame results within this frame.
The NYT
5
3
YouTube
2
4
0%
10%
20%
30%
1
40%
50%
60%
70%
0
80%
1 0
1
90% 100%
Percentage of Articles / Videos
Responsibility of Apple (Suggest remedy)
Media attention (Diagnose causes)
Responsibility of Foxconn (Suggest remedy)
Power within workers/consumers (Diagnose causes)
Responsibility of Chinese government (Suggest remedy)
Figure 2. Comparison of sub-frames within “Responsibility or Power to Create Change” frame.
./012)3,#4$5#-6(7-+0+8+9:$(2$;668#$
The most prominent sub-frame within the “responsibility or power to create change”
frame suggested that Apple should be responsible for initiating changes in the technology
manufacturing industry. This sub-frame appeared in five articles in The New York Times, and in
four videos within the YouTube sample.
In The New York Times articles, journalists developed arguments to justify why Apple
should be held responsible. It was often argued that Apple should lead reforms because they are
a leader in the technology manufacturing industry and therefore, have the financial resources and
influence to implement changes. Additionally, Apple’s self-proclaimed reputation as a leader in
corporate social responsibility resulted in calls for Apple “to start living up to that promise”
(Progress Where They Make iPhones, 2012, para. 7). In “Apple In Shift, Pushes An Audit Of
35
Sites In China,” Duhigg and Wingfield give reasons why Apple has been given significantly
more attention in comparison to other technology manufacturers:
Its market value is more than the combined value of Google and Microsoft - and among
the richest. Its stock closed Monday at $502.60, up more than 20 percent this year. The
company also has a vast overseas presence, with its contractors employing 700,000
people in China and elsewhere. (2012, para. 20)
In the YouTube video analysis, this sub-frame emphasized the connection between Apple
and Foxconn, even though Foxconn is a major supplier for numerous electronic companies. For
example, in “Nightline Special Edition – iFactory: Inside Apple (Foxconn)” journalist Bill Weir
introduces the clip: “for the first time ever, we open the doors to the factory where all your ithings begin,” and all of the video clips show factory workers handling Apple product
components, see Figure 3 (AsianSpecialist, 2012). During the video it is mentioned that Foxconn
supplies other big electronic manufacturers, but Apple’s responsibility and power is further
emphasized in an interview with Foxconn representative, Louis Woo, near the end of the video.
Weir asks what financial assistance from Apple could do for the factory, and Woo explains how
much this could benefit workers, China, and Foxconn (AsianSpecialist, 2012). A contrast
between Apple’s wealth and the worker’s struggles is developed which reflects poorly on Apple
and implies that Apple has the power to change this situation.
36
Figure 3. Emphasis on Apple products at Foxconn in ABC News video (AsianSpecialist, 2012).
./012)3,#4$<#=+3$;99#79+(7$
This sub-frame identifies media attention as a proponent of change in the electronic
manufacturing industry. It was identified in three New York Times articles and one YouTube
video. This sub-frame is significant because it highlights the media’s influence within global
industries.
In a New York Times article, journalist Porter (2012) argues “consumer pressure and bad
publicity” are recognized for pressuring Apple to create a supplier code of conduct in 2005 and
join the Fair Labor Association in 2012. In another article published at the end of the year, titled
“Progress Where They Make iPhones,” a connection between changes in the industry and articles
from The Times is directly made: “There are signs that all the negative attention, including
reports in this newspaper, has caused companies to make changes” (2012, para. 1). In another
article it is suggested “if activists keep up the pressure, they might help lead to significant
improvements in the lives of Foxconn’s workers and make us feel better about how our iPhones
are made” (Porter, 2012). As part of the empowered media, journalists and news groups suggest
they are activists in their ability to put pressure on companies and organizations involved in the
issues.
37
From the YouTube analysis, this sub-frame was found in the “Inside Apple: Changes
Made at Foxconn” video from the ABC News investigation. In this clip, media attention is
mentioned as a factor contributing to exposure of these issues, and Auret van Heerden, President
and CEO of the Fair Labor Association, explains that continued media attention would force
Apple and Foxconn to keep their promises for reform (ABC News, 2012). This sub-frame is
significant because the journalists are identifying themselves as part of the media and capable of
provoking changes and ensuring reform.
./012)3,#-$5#839+7>$9($?(@A(77$37=$B"+73$
Three sub-frames were found between The New York Times and YouTube suggesting that
the responsibility to initiate changes was either within Foxconn’s power or a Chinese
responsibility. These sub-frames were less prominent, but important to consider for what they
suggest about The Times reporting and the ideas expressed on YouTube.
In comparison to the five New York Times articles that suggested that Apple had the
responsibility to initiate changes, only two articles contained a sub-frame that suggested Foxconn
was primarily responsible for initiating changes, despite Foxconn being one of the largest
technology manufacturers in China. The Times reporters might have chosen to frame their
arguments with reference to Apple because it is a U.S. company and a highly recognizable brand.
The news stories would likely be more sensational by relating corporate social responsibility
issues to the release of an iPhone or iPad, rather than highlighting the responsibilities of a lesserknown company from Taiwan.
One article contained a sub-frame that considered Chinese workers and Western
consumers to be “driving a fundamental shift that could accelerate an already rapidly changing
Chinese economy” (Barboza & Duhigg, para. 1, 2012). This article suggested workers and
38
consumers were gaining influence that was formerly held by Chinese bureaucrats and corporate
electronic executives, but it was a small component within a larger article that addressed many
factors influencing changes at Foxconn. The lack of consideration given to the Chinese workers’
ability to create change suggests that The Times journalists did not consider the workers effective
agents of change. This may be realistic considering the power of Foxconn, and the structure of
the dormitory labour regime limiting the power of workers, but it is also likely that many of the
workers’ acts of protest have been framed as larger societal changes or as issues causing unrest,
rather than demonstrations of agency. This view of Chinese workers may be indicative of a U.S.
media bias focusing on the economic and corporate aspects of the issue.
Neither of these sub-frames were found in the sample of YouTube videos. Within the
YouTube results, one video contained a sub-frame that suggested the Chinese government was
responsible for overseeing the protection of workers. This frame was not found in any of The
Times articles. In this video, Elric Phares, posting with Motherboards.org, defends Apple saying
it is “only partially their fault” and argues “the real criminal here is the government; the
Government of China. If the Government of China will sit there and allow [this to be done to
their] people, they are selling their people out for slavery” (edited for clarity) (Motherboards.org,
2012). Phares argues that if people were found “chained to desks” in America, the government
would “get right in and arrest people,” suggesting that the Chinese government is responsible for
the abuses by not acting to investigate Foxconn (Motherboards.org, 2012).
[6%$'!D&(3:5!)=65,#!
The “human rights abuser” frame was identified in articles that emphasized human rights
issues, such as dangers and abuses to workers, and identified a particular social actor or group as
responsible for the abuses. This frame was used by Guo et al. (2012), and was prominent in the
39
articles they studied from The New York Times. Almost 80% of the articles from The Times
framed the Foxconn suicides from a human rights abuse perspective.
In this analysis, the frame appeared in 9 out of 20 of The Times articles (45%), and in 6
out of 10 YouTube videos (60%). Four different sub-frames were found between the two
samples, and all of the sub-frames functioned to “define problems,” which involved describing
the human rights concerns, and identifying either Foxconn, Apple, all technology companies, or
the Chinese government as responsible for the abuses. Figure 4 shows a comparison of the sub-
Media
frames found with the results.
4
The NYT
4
4
YouTube
0%
10%
20%
30%
0
40%
50%
60%
70%
1
1
0
1
80%
90% 100%
Percentage of Articles / Videos
Foxconn primarily responsible (Define problems)
Apple primarily responsible (Define problems)
All technology companies responsible (Define problems)
Chinese government primarily responsible (Define problems)
Figure 4. Comparison of sub-frames within “Human Rights Abuser” frame.
./012)3,#-$93)>#9+7>$?(@A(77$()$;668#$
Within The New York Times results, both Foxconn and Apple were presented as
responsible for the abuses at Foxconn. Each company was presented as primarily responsible for
a human rights issue in four articles. In the article “In China, the Human Costs Are Built Into an
iPad” by Dhuigg and Barboza (2012), the authors argue that Apple had known about the hazards
in the iPad production line, and did not act to prevent the deadly explosions because they were
40
more concerned with meeting production demands and making profits (2012). This same issue of
the iPad production explosion was also framed to present Foxconn as responsible for neglecting
human rights in another article (Barboza, 2012b). When an article addressed a human rights issue,
both Foxconn and Apple would be mentioned, but usually one company was framed as primarily
responsible. Despite the individual emphasis in each article, overall it appears that both
companies were equally targeted because each company was emphasized in four articles
throughout the year.
The relatively equal presentation of Apple and Foxconn as responsible for labour abuses
in The Times is significantly different from the representation of U.S. versus Chinese actors in
Guo et al.’s (2012) analysis of the Foxconn suicides coverage. In their results, a sub-frame that
defined Foxconn suicides as a China-specific sweatshop issue appeared in 73.9% of the articles,
34.8% of the articles suggested the cause of the abuses were due to Foxconn and other Chinese
companies exploiting workers for profit, and a third sub-frame in 17.4% of the articles consisted
of the argument that collective Chinese society was the cause of human rights abuses (Guo et al.,
2012). Their findings resonated with existing framing research that suggests U.S. media framing
about China is influenced by dominant anti-communist ideology (Guo et al., 2012).
The results from this analysis do not align with the trend identified by Guo et al., because
from this sample of articles, both Apple, a U.S. based company, and Foxconn, a Taiwanese
company, were associated with human rights abuses. This shift may be a sign of success for
activists who have been seeking to have Apple and other technology companies recognized for
their role in sweatshop issues. This change may also be a consequence of more media attention
being devoted to Apple following the release of new products, or a result of more attention being
focused on the lack of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. in an effort to pressure companies to bring
41
these jobs back into the United States. All of these possibilities relate to the social context in
which the articles were framed, which illustrates how significantly different issues can be framed
depending on the social context.
In the results from YouTube, Foxconn’s responsibility was emphasized in four videos,
but the sub-frame identifying Apple as primarily responsible was indiscernible. An example of
the attention devoted to Foxconn was exhibited in the video “Foxconn: Apple’s hidden side #1”
uploaded by Chaîne de UpsideTelevision (2012). This video is a short clip that continues in
videos “Foxconn: Apple’s hidden side #2” and #3, which are linked at the end of each video.
These videos feature footage of undercover filming inside a Foxconn factory with a voiceover
explaining what was observed. In video #1, it is explained that their investigators applied to work
at Foxconn to do the filming. The reporter explains that “management is military in style, and
insults are part of the work routine,” as a Foxconn manager is shown yelling at a group of
workers (Chaîne de UpsideTelevision, 2012). The video also highlights dangerous working
conditions, unsafe housing, underage workers, student interns, the suicides, and describes
Foxconn as an “environment where the most vulnerable are lead to commit suicide” (Chaîne de
UpsideTelevision, 2012). If a viewer was inclined to watch the subsequent videos, #2 features
the unfinished dormitories that pose a safety threat to workers. Video #3 reports from an “inside
source” that there are approximately 15,000 interns working at Foxconn, and includes an
interview with two 16-year-old students from a medical school on a three-month internship
(Chaîne de UpsideTelevision, 2012).
Considering results from the “responsibility or power to create change” frame, overall
The Times more frequently framed Apple as predominantly responsible for making changes to
resolve the labour issues, despite results from the “human rights abuser” frame suggesting that
42
Apple and Foxconn were equally represented as responsible for the issues. From the YouTube
results, overall the videos predominantly suggested that Apple was responsible for driving
changes, but Foxconn was primarily presented as responsible for the human rights issues. In both
The Times and on YouTube, Foxconn was conveyed as contributing to the problem, but
considered less responsible for resolving the issue, while Apple was largely framed as having
responsibility to fix the problems.
In a study researching media framing of U.S. poverty and audience perceptions in U.S.
viewers, Nisbet found that “the public tends to reach decisions on political issues by reducing
them down to questions of responsibility and blame” (2009, p. 63). Considering the framing of
Apple and Foxconn, Apple was presented more frequently as having responsibility towards
resolving the issues, and Foxconn often took the blame for creating the issues. The attitude of the
media towards different organizations is important to consider because the presentation of each
organization contributes to their reputation in the public eye. As Carroll (2011) explains, people
who lack firsthand knowledge of an organization will rely on other sources, such as the news
media, to form impressions, even if the data they receive is generalized. In a study of corporate
reputations in the U.S., Carroll found that the amount of media attention a firm receives
positively contributes to their public prominence, and favorable reports in the media about a firm
positively relates to the firm’s public esteem. Public esteem is important because “without a base
level of trust, admiration, and respect, individuals lack sufficient incentives to consider
relationships with organizations, whether through employment, investing, product consumption,
or social causes” (Carroll, 2011, p. 224).
Negative publicity also significantly harms how consumers perceive a company because
negative information tends to be covered more prominently by the media, and it is usually
43
weighted more in the evaluation of people, objects and ideas (Dean, 2004). A company with a
damaged reputation may experience a drop in sales and profits, and the impact can be worsened
if the company does not respond adequately to the situation (Vanhamme & Grobben, 2009).
./012)3,#4$;88$9#A"7(8(>:$A(,637+#-$)#-6(7-+08#$
In The New York Times, a sub-frame that emphasized the involvement of all technology
manufacturers in human rights issues appeared once in the results. Many articles generally
mentioned other companies that produce electronics through similar supply chains, but these
references were usually short additions taking no more than a few lines within the article. Only
one article focused on this issue; “Disruptions: Too Much Silence on Working Conditions” by
Bilton (2012), highlights the lack of attention given to other technology manufacturers who have
made little or no effort to improve working conditions in their supply chain.
In the YouTube results, this sub-frame appeared in one video uploaded by The New York
Times in correlation with the end of the iEconomy series of articles published throughout 2012.
This video featured a tour of a Quanta factory that produces goods for Hewlett-Packard, and
discussed the labour issues as a challenge for all electronic companies (The New York Times,
2012).
The lack of articles and videos focusing on other companies emphasizes the high level of
media attention devoted to Apple and Foxconn. The established connection between Apple and
Foxconn may generate awareness for the issue because Apple is a highly recognizable brand, but
this strong association also misrepresents the fact that Foxconn produces electronics for many
large electronic companies, and Foxconn is not the only factory in China with these issues.
44
./012)3,#4$B"+7#-#$>(C#)7,#79$)#-6(7-+08#$
This sub-frame only appeared in the YouTube results in one video. This sub-frame was
found in the video uploaded by Motherboards.org (2012), featuring Phares explaining his views
about the Chinese government’s responsibility for the issues at Foxconn. In the video, he clearly
associated the abuses at Foxconn as primarily the Chinese government’s responsibility, rather
than the responsibility of Apple.
\6,5:&.'&'(!B.#*.#$:,!7.0&$+!D,5*.'5&=&+&:G!
Reflective of the developments in 2012, this frame was created for this study because
some journalists challenged the legitimacy of the Fair Labor Association and Apple’s corporate
social responsibility (CSR) efforts. This frame appeared in 5 out of 20 New York Times articles
(25%), and in 1 out of 10 YouTube videos (10%). Two sub-frames were detected: one
questioned the credibility of the Fair Labor Association, and the other suggested that Apple and
Foxconn’s efforts to resolve labour issues were simply a public relations effort to clean up their
Media
public image. The distribution of sub-frames found in the results is illustrated in Figure 5.
3
The NYT
2
YouTube 0
0%
1
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
Percentage of Articles / Videos
Question Fair Labor Association (Define problems)
Apple's efforts are insufficient (Define problems)
Figure 5. Comparison of sub-frames within “Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility” frame.
45
./012)3,#4$D/#-9+(7+7>$?3+)$E30()$;--(A+39+(7$
Three New York Times articles were identified with this sub-frame which functioned to
“define problems” by discussing how the Fair Labor Association (FLA) may be an inadequate
factory auditing organization. In “Apple In Shift, Pushes An Audit Of Sites In China,” journalists
discuss the labour skepticism of FLA critics, and question whether the inspections “would
sharply curtail problems or merely help Apple deflect criticism” (Duhigg & Wingfield, 2012,
para. 6).
Discussions about the FLA in The New York Times included many perspectives from
numerous labour advocacy groups and scholars. This represents a change from Guo et al.’s
(2012) study, where it was found that activist voices were largely missing from the media
reporting of the Foxconn suicides. Guo et al.’s study contrasted with Greenberg and Knight’s
(2004) findings from the 1990s sweatshop coverage, where they found that activists were the
most outstanding actors in media coverage. The change found in this present study may illustrate
that media reporting in 2012 is more balanced in terms of including activist voices, but before
this can be concluded, the representation of each group would need to be further analyzed. Guo
et al., found that it was important to classify whether each social actor was cited for a “point of
view” or for a “fact” because many of the Foxconn workers in their study were quoted for
background information, rather than to articulate viewpoints. Neither the social actors, nor the
depth of their inclusion in articles were quantitatively analyzed in this study, but based upon
qualitative observations, perspectives from American labour activists were often used to
construct arguments against the efforts of Apple and the Fair Labor Association. For example, in
“Early Praise In Inspection At Foxconn Brings Doubt” by Steven Greenhouse (2012), directors
of two U.S. based labour groups, Workers Rights Consortium and Verite, were consulted for
46
their perspectives on the Fair Labor Association’s inspection announcements. Yet, while many
American activist groups were consulted, the representation of activists from China was
significantly lower. All of the articles that contained the “questioning CSR” frame consulted
American labour groups or activists, and no Chinese perspectives were considered in these five
articles. In other articles, Chinese activists were referenced for points of view, but overall the
representation appears to be unequal with U.S. organizations being cited more often. The Times
journalists may have chosen to consult more U.S. based labour activists because U.S. readers
may recognize or relate to these U.S. groups, or U.S. based groups may be logistically easier for
reporters to contact, but the omission of Chinese activists perspectives is problematic. Apple and
Foxconn’s labour issues are an international issue between both American and Chinese societies
and economies, and only representing the discussion from the U.S. side makes The Times
perspective one-sided and potentially biased towards U.S. interests.
./012)3,#4$;668#F-$#22()9-$3)#$+7-/22+A+#79$
Two articles from The Times contained a sub-frame that functioned to define problems by
arguing Apple’s efforts to improve transparency and accountability were insufficient. This subframe was also identified in a short video on YouTube uploaded by Slate News Channel (2012).
The video recaps some of the main stories associated with Apple and Foxconn surrounding the
event of Apple’s CEO Timothy Cook visiting a Foxconn factory in China. They describe Apple
as being on the “PR offensive” in response to negative publicity from The New York Times
investigations, and stories about Mike Daisey’s performance being retracted. Focusing on
Timothy Cook’s visit to a Foxconn factory, they argue “there isn’t much to Cook’s visit beyond
a few pre-approved photos – the only great power that controls its media as tightly as China, is
apparently Apple” (Slate News Channel, 2012).
47
B3$'(&'(!R'E&#.'%,':!
This frame was created to capture a perspective that emphasized how different actors and
relationships are in a period of transition. This frame appeared in 4 of 20 articles from The New
York Times (20%), and in 3 out of 10 videos (30%). Three sub-frames were identified according
to which area the journalist emphasized change occurring, and all sub-frames functioned to
Media
diagnose causes of change. Figure 6 illustrates the range of sub-frames found in the analysis.
2
The NYT
YouTube
1
0%
10%
20%
1
0
30%
1
2
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
Percentage of Articles / Videos
Chinese socio/economic environment is changing (Diagnose causes)
Apple is changing (Diagnose causes)
Apple and Foxconn are changing (Diagnose causes)
Figure 6. Comparison of sub-frames within “Changing Environment” frame.
./012)3,#4$B"+7#-#$-(A+(G#A(7(,+A$#7C+)(7,#79$+-$A"37>+7>$
In The New York Times results, two articles emphasized how the Chinese social and
economic environment was changing. This was presented as a cause for the labour shortages at
Foxconn: “social scientists say young people here are also less willing to accept factory jobs for
long periods. Meanwhile, demographic changes have meant China has fewer young people to
join the work force” (Barboza & Duhigg, 2012, para. 18). By framing the issue within the larger
evolving Chinese context, the complexity of the issue is highlighted, but this frame also deflects
48
some of the responsibility from Foxconn and Apple onto workers by suggesting it is a
circumstantial, generational, and China-specific issue.
This frame appeared in one video on YouTube; “Foxconn riot exposes dark side of tech
glitter,” published by ReutersVideo (2012). This video highlights worker disputes at a Foxconn
factory, and the volatility is explained though statements from industry commentators who
suggest “the game is changing” in labour markets in China (Reuters, 2012).
./012)3,#-$+88/-9)39+7>$;668#H$37=$;668#$37=$?(@A(77H$A"37>+7>$
One article in The New York Times contained a sub-frame referring to changes at Apple,
emphasizing how Apple’s corporate environment is changing supply chain management.
Another article emphasized both Foxconn and Apple causing changes in the industry. These two
sub-frames follow up, and reinforce the “Responsibility or Power to Create Change” frame
because they demonstrate how both Apple and Foxconn have influence in the industry.
A sub-frame about Apple and Foxconn changing was found in two videos from YouTube.
One video published by The New York Times was released in conjunction with an article in the
iEconomy series and emphasized changes in the electronic industry. In this clip, reporter Keith
Bradsher went to Chongqing and visited a factory called Quanta that produces electronics for
Hewlett Packard, and then visited the Foxconn factory in Chengdu. At Quanta, interviews with
staff highlight recent changes that have allowed workers more free time and more opportunities
to visit family. Bradsher was denied access inside Foxconn, so he interviewed workers prescreened by Foxconn at an office outside the factory, and interviewed workers at local eateries
where workers meet outside the factory. The Foxconn spokesperson described factory changes
and explained how her old workstation stool had been replaced with a chair that has a backrest so
she could relax when there is less work to do. Workers interviewed outside the Foxconn
49
premises presented a wider range of perspectives from expressing satisfaction to describing
frustration with managers. Overall, Bradsher concludes; “the picture that emerges is one of a
company that is making some changes, particularly material changes, but the corporate culture
has changed much less” (The New York Times, 2012). He argues that while the conditions are
not ideal, the conditions are better than they were ten years ago, a little better than they were last
year, and they are still changing (The New York Times, 2012).
A reoccurring sentiment emerged in both The New York Times articles and video
published in December 2012. Both The Times journalists writing the final iEconomy series
articles, and Bradsher visiting the factories to determine whether any changes had been made,
and presented observations in a concluding tone. Positive changes were highlighted, and
generalized concluding remarks were made to finish off the series, despite ongoing labour unrest
that has continued into 2013. The impact of this framing is that readers and viewers may be lead
to believe that the issues have been resolved, or that they are no longer a significant concern. The
way these articles and videos were presented in 2012 may be a consequence of news reporting
issue-attention cycles. This involves a cyclical process where the issues move through five
stages: 1) pre-problem: where an undesirable social condition lacks attention, 2) alarmed
discovery and enthusiasm: where the public becomes aware of the issue through dramatic events
and some strive to immediately resolve the problem, 3) recognizing the cost: gradual realization
that the problem requires money and large scale sacrifices, 4) gradual decline of intense interest:
widespread acceptance of issue complexity results in disappointment and boredom with the issue,
and 5) post-problem: the issue moves into limbo receiving sporadic interest and residual levels of
interest are higher than they were at stage one (Holt and Barkemeyer, 2012). This cycle can be
restarted with another large public event that sparks new interest in the issue. At the end of 2012,
50
The Times reporters may have been reaching the fourth stage in the issue, addressing a decline in
interest after the issue has been featured prominently throughout the year, and perhaps attempted
to summarize the situation with the conclusion of the iEconomy series to let the issue subside.
]'#,5:!&'!B3&'$!
Riots and protests at Chinese factories were common in 2012 despite Apple’s efforts to
improve conditions. Journalists offered reasoning for these outbursts in 4 of 20 New York Times
articles (20%) and this frame appeared in one YouTube video (10%). The appearance of sub-
Media
frames in the analysis is illustrated in Figure 7.
The NYT
3
YouTube
1
1
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
0
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
Percentage of Articles / Videos
Chinese workers aware of rights (Diagnose causes)
Chinese economy (Diagnose causes)
Figure 7. Comparison of sub-frames within “Unrest in China” frame.
./012)3,#4$B"+7#-#$&()*#)-$3&3)#$(2$)+>"9-$
Three of The New York Times articles reflected a “diagnose causes” sub-frame that
suggested workers becoming more educated about labour laws had resulted in growing unrest.
This sub-frame also appeared in one video from Reuters (2012) that includes comments from a
reporter, and statements from several industry and organizational commentators. The video clip
focused on the riots at a Foxconn factory in September framing the issue within a larger social
51
shift: “previously migrant workers moved around China for very low wages, but as China
modernizes, employees are becoming more aware of their worth” (Reuters, 2012). In the video,
Martin Hennecke, associate director of Tyche Group, an investment advising company, argues
that the problems have occurred at Foxconn because “given the number of people they employ of
the migrant workers, uh, I would say some things is bound to happen” (Reuters, 2012). A
reporter concludes the video report explaining, “the fresh incident shows that volatility lurks at
the heart of the massive global tech supply chain” (Reuters, 2012). This sub-frame recognizes
some of the agency of the workers, but by describing workers generally as a whole generation
contributing to market volatility, the worker’s resistance is framed primarily as disruptive
problem.
./012)3,#4$B"+7#-#$#A(7(,:$
This sub-frame is similar to the “Chinese socio/economic environment is changing” subframe from the “changing environment” frame. In that case, the sub-frame drew attention to the
broad societal and economic shifts occurring in China, contributing to the larger overall period of
change. This frame is distinct because it diagnoses the Chinese economy as a cause for the
factory riots and volatility in the labour market. One article from The Times emphasized the
economy and recognized the role that inflation would have on worker protests: “there has been a
rash of strikes and labor protests across the country in recent months, partly in response to
inflation and a greater awareness of the labor laws” (Barboza, 2012a, para. 9).
B.'56%*:&.'!E,#565!Z#.-60:&.'!
This frame originates from Greenberg and Knight’s (2004) observation that newspaper
coverage from 1990 to 2000 reflected a neoliberal discourse that focused on the relationship
between producers and consumers, rather than a political discourse. Guo et al. (2012) adopted
52
this frame in their analysis and found that while this frame had dominated U.S. media coverage
in Greenberg and Knight’s study, only 13.0% of The New York Times articles in their sample
considered the Foxconn suicides as a problem of U.S. consumer accountability. In Guo et al.’s
results, “the global neoliberalism rationale behind the global sweatshop phenomenon was
neglected and the TNCs’ responsibility was invisible. Instead, China became the only culprit in
the global issue” (Guo et al., 2012, p. 498).
Results from this present analysis are consistent with Guo et al.’s findings as only 3 out
of 20 of The New York Times articles (15%), reflected the “consumption versus production”
frame. The YouTube results presents a different trend as this frame appeared in 5 out of 10
Media
videos (50%). The results from the analysis are presented in Figure 8.
The NYT
2
YouTube 0
0%
1
1
10%
0
4
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
Percentage of Articles / Videos
Impactful consumer awareness (Diagnose causes)
Customers not concerned (Define problems)
People should be aware (Suggest remedy)
Figure 8. Comparison of sub-frames within “Consumption versus Production” frame.
./012)3,#4$I,63A92/8$A(7-/,#)$3&3)#7#--$
Two New York Times articles contained this sub-frame, which functioned to diagnose the
cause of increased attention toward Foxconn issues as a product of increased consumer
awareness. For example, in an article by Porter (2012), this sub-frame was illustrated by drawing
53
a connection between iPhones in China and protestors in the United States. The article included
an image of activists holding signs outside of a shareholder meeting at Apple’s headquarters in
Cupertino, California (see Figure 9).
Figure 9. Activists hold signs outside Apple headquarters in California (Porter, 2012).
./012)3,#4$B/-9(,#)-$7(9$A(7A#)7#=$
This sub-frame was identified in one article in The New York Times, and functioned to
define the Foxconn and Apple issue in the context of consumers not expressing enough concern
regarding these issues. On YouTube, this frame was also found in one video. “Your IPhone is
made in a Sweatshop in China!!!” is an amateur commentary with a photo slideshow and
voiceover discussing reports of inhumane working conditions at Foxconn from New York Times
articles (R. E. Heubel, 2012) . Near the end of the video, the person emphasizes a connection
between consumers and workers in China: “when you pick up your Apple phone you can think
of, you know, these people working sixteen-hour days, uh..., seven days a week and then falling
over” (R. E. Heubel, 2012). At the end of the video the commentator promotes boycotting Apple
products as a solution to resolving issues at Foxconn.
54
./012)3,#4$J#(68#$-"(/8=$0#$3&3)#$
This sub-frame functioned to suggest remedies for the issues by proposing that people
should be more aware of the Apple and Foxconn labour issues. This sub-frame was found in four
of the YouTube videos. Next Media Animation, a Taiwanese animation group that publishes
satirical animated videos as a social commentary on global issues, created one of the most
dramatic videos in this sub-frame. Their videos are released in both Mandarin and English on
separate YouTube channels. In “Foxconn riot cause shutdown of a factory in Northern China,”
the animators contrast the concerns of American consumers waiting for the iPhone 5 with riots of
protesting workers at the Foxconn factories. Scenes in this video include a worker jumping out of
a building to be caught by a ghostly Steve Jobs standing on a suicide net, and scenes of obese
Americans biting into apples in an Apple store, see Figure 10 (Next Media Animation, 2012). A
voiceover comments on the issues dramatized in each scene. Statements from the English
version; “how many people have to die for me to get my iPhone 5?!” and “the riots leave many
Americans more concerned about the iPhone 5 production schedule” emphasize the divide
between consumers’ interest, and the situation surrounding the production of Apple products.
Figure 10. Scenes from Next Media Animation video (Next Media Animation, 2012).
55
This video draws attention to the many diverse international groups involved in this issue.
Next Media Animation is a Taiwanese animation group, Foxconn is a Taiwanese company
operating in China, Apple is a U.S. company, and the video primarily critiques U.S. customers
not caring about workers in China. This unique representation and interpretation of the issue was
exclusive to the YouTube medium. In contrast to The New York Times coverage presenting
issues from a primarily U.S. perspective, YouTube offers viewers an opportunity to view videos
from around the world.
Q$=.6#!E,#565!B$*&:$+!
This frame originates from Greenberg and Knight’s (2004) observation that there was
little discussion about the issue of global profit-seeking corporations seeking to exploit cheap
labour. Greenberg and Knight suggest that the conflict between capital and labour could have
been covered in the news coverage to consider a global political perspective. Guo et al. (2012)
considered the possibility of this frame occurring in their research, but found the frame
indiscernible. In this analysis, the “labour versus capital” frame was not divided into sub-frames
because the frame was sufficiently recognizable.
In The New York Times results, the frame is not prominent, but appeared twice in among
other arguments. In “Dividends In Pressing Apple Over Labor,” Porter (2012) explains the
opposition of students and labour unions to workers wages contributing “a mere $10 to the cost
of a contract-free $549 iPhone 4” (2012, para. 4). This is a brief consideration of Apple’s profits
in contrast to the wages Foxconn workers receive. He goes on to contrast this argument with a
pro-sweatshop stance, which suggests that exploitation through globalization is better than the
alternative of receiving no foreign investment, using China as “an example of globalization’s
benefits [...] driving spectacular economic growth” (2012, para. 8). By making this comparison,
56
Porter also uses the “consumption versus production” frame, which Greenberg and Knight
(2004) and Guo et al. (2012) found to be prominent and in ideological contrast to the “labour
versus capital” frame.
The “labour versus capital” frame was not discernable in the sample of YouTube videos
considered in this study. Greenberg and Knight (2004) argued that there was a lack of political
discourse in newspapers regarding sweatshops, and Guo et al. (2012) did not find this frame in
their newspaper analysis. Considering that this frame did not appear in the YouTube results, and
it was only briefly considered in two of The New York Time articles, it seems this trend continued
in 2012 with little discussion of the global political and economic connections between workers
and corporations.
F.:!$!79,$:53.*!
This frame was drawn from the Guo et al. article where it appeared in 21.7% of The
Times articles, and more prominently in the Chinese newspapers, to suggest that Foxconn was
not a sweatshop (2012). In their analysis, this frame was associated with an “individual context”
where some reporters attributed the cause of the suicides to the “psychological vulnerability
among the Chinese younger generation,” and Foxconn was blamed for “its ignorance of staffers’
mental health” (Guo et al., 2012, p. 494). This frame suggested that Foxconn was not liable for
creating sweatshop conditions, rather only liable for failing to provide mental health facilities for
troubled workers. The “not a sweatshop” frame was not discernable in The New York Times
articles because none of the articles addressed the idea of Foxconn being a sweatshop, and the
word sweatshop was scarcely used. This sub-frame appeared in 3 out of 10 YouTube videos
(30%), and three sub-frames were identified. Two sub-frames that functioned to define problems
were identified: one explicitly stating that Foxconn is not a sweatshop, and one implicitly
57
suggesting that Foxconn is not a sweatshop. One sub-frame functioned to diagnose causes and
suggested that the labour issues were not related to sweatshop practices, but rather a
psychological issue of China’s younger workforce. All appearances of this frame were found in
videos with content from ABC News.
./012)3,#4$I,68:+7>$?(@A(77$+-$7(9$3$-&#39-"(6$
The implicit reference came from an ABC Good Morning America segment in February
2012 promoting ABC’s exclusive report on Foxconn and Apple. A short segment from the first
installment in the investigation is shown, featuring reporter Bill Weir in China at the Foxconn
factory in Shenzhen, touring the factory with members of the Fair Labor Association before the
audit. After the clip is shown, Weir discusses some of his impressions with the morning show
host:
By our standards it is really soul crushing work, but we also visited some villages where
a lot of these people come from and they say their lives are better because of the factories.
The alternatives are so much worse. There are still a lot of sweatshops there. (Dancehall
Vid, 2012)
Weir suggests that working at Foxconn is better than working in a sweatshop, but he does not
elaborate on what he considers to be a sweatshop, or how Foxconn is better than a sweatshop. He
leaves viewers with the vague impression that Foxconn is simply better than the alternative,
whatever that may be.
./012)3,#4$K@68+A+98:$-939+7>$?(@A(77$+-$7(9$3$-&#39-"(6$
In another ABC News segment from March 2012, after the factory inspection by the Fair
Labor Association, Weir interviews Auret van Heerden, President and CEO of the FLA:
Weir: “As Americans understand the term, would you define Foxconn as a sweatshop?”
58
van Heerden: “No- it’s a very modern facility.”
Weir: “Did you find any evidence of child labour?”
van Heerden: “We did not.”
Weir: “None...”
van Heerden: “No child labour, no forced labour.”
Weir: “So what are the most egregious violations being made there?”
van Heerden: “Overtime.” (ABC News, 2012).
In this interview, van Heerden blatantly states that Foxconn is not a sweatshop with the
justification that Foxconn is a modern facility. This is reinforced by Weir as he presses van
Heerden to reveal “the most egregious violations,” with each answer sounding trivial after the
dramatic interview staging and buildup. This interview is followed by video clips showing
lineups outside Apple stores, and footage of Chinese workers on assembly lines with Weir
explaining that workers work sixty hours a week to meet the “insatiable demand” for Apple
products. Sixty hours is the maximum Apple allows for their suppliers, but it is above the
maximum allowed in China (ABC News, 2012). More clips from the interview follow with Weir
asking how forced overtime happens, and van Heerden deflects the question saying that it is a
question of whether workers can do overtime voluntarily without repercussions. Weir then asks
further questions about whether their pay is fair, and van Heerden explains that they make 20%
over the Chinese legal minimum wage, and that most employees believe that it is fair, although
many explained the current pay is not enough to meet their basic needs (ABC News, 2012). Van
Heerden carefully presented his responses so that the issues were all justified and normalized. A
viewer living outside of China might be lead to believe the circumstances are acceptable and
normal in China, rather than recognizing the problems. This exchange is followed by clips
59
highlighting Foxconn’s statement to commit to changes and Apple’s support for the reforms. The
tone of the ABC News report suggests that Foxconn’s practices are acceptable within the
industry, and the issues are downplayed to suggest there are no serious human rights violations.
./012)3,#4$J-:A"(8(>+A38$6)(08#,$(2$:(/7>#)$B"+7#-#$>#7#)39+(7$
The third sub-frame diagnoses the cause of the Foxconn suicides as primarily a
psychological problem relating to China’s younger generation of workers, rather than a human
rights issue. This frame came from another ABC News clip from the factory tour where Weir
spoke to counselors hired by Foxconn to explain the presence of the suicide nets. A lot of the
imagery in the ABC News reports focuses on the suicide nets suspended from the buildings (see
Figure 11). While the nets add dramatic visuals to the investigation, the discussion of their
installation and significance is not deeply explored. Weir explains that the nets generated
publicity, and in the interview with Foxconn counselors, it is explained that the suicides “have
more to do with the new generations of migrant workers” than issues with management
(AsianSpecialist, 2012). While the nets are visually emphasized, the issue of the suicide is
glossed over, and the problem of Foxconn’s superficial response to the problem is not
investigated.
This sub-frame was also found in the Guo et al. (2012) study, appearing in 21.7% of
articles from The Times. Younger generations in China born after 1980 and the introduction of
China’s one-child policy, are often characterized as spoiled kids who cannot deal with workplace
or social pressures (Guo et al., 2012). Guo et al. found that the young migrant workers living and
working at Foxconn received many of the same criticisms in the media. As shown in the ABC
News clip, this sentiment is still expressed in media coverage referring to the Foxconn suicides
in 2012.
60
Figure 11. Prominent footage of suicide nets in ABC News iFactory report (ABC News, 2012).
!
61
4&50655&.'!
76%%$#G!.8!"&'-&'(5!
One of the most noticeable findings from the framing analysis is that two frames,
“responsibility or power to create change,” and “human rights abuser,” were most prominent in
both The New York Times and YouTube results. The Times articles and YouTube videos both
largely justified Apple as primarily responsible for making changes to correct the labour issues at
Foxconn. With respect to the “human rights abuser” frame, The Times presented both Foxconn
and Apple as responsible, but YouTube videos primarily identified Foxconn as responsible for
the human rights issues.
The third most prominent frame for The Times articles was “questioning corporate social
responsibility,” and the third most prominent frame for the YouTube videos was “consumption
versus production.” This difference reflects how there was more coverage of Apple’s public
relations efforts with the Fair Labor Association in The Times, and the YouTube videos more
strongly emphasized the need to connect consumers with an understanding of the conditions in
which electronics are made.
The “changing environment” frame appeared frequently in both The Times and YouTube
analysis, and both media highlighted the trend of changes occurring within Apple’s corporate
system, Foxconn’s factory procedures, and within both Chinese and American society. Articles
from both The New York Times and YouTube results contained the “unrest in China” frame, and
both emphasized that young workers in China were becoming more aware of their rights.
The “labour versus capital” frame was only identified briefly in The Times results. The
“labour versus capital” frame reflects a more abstract concept of the issue by contrasting
corporations and workers within the global economy. The fact that this idea was not deeply
62
explored in either media demonstrates that this global economic view of sweatshop issues is not
popular in the traditional or new media environment in 2012. The “not a sweatshop” frame was
only found within YouTube in ABC News videos. This suggests that while YouTube offers a
diverse range of videos with independent and amateur video publishers, it is also heavily
influenced by traditional media voices.
Four frames were traced through the articles by Greenberg and Knight (2004) and Guo et
al. (2012) and compared with the findings from this study. The issues and social circumstances
in each study are different, and different researchers conducted each analysis, but linking the
framing results based on comparable frames provides a general idea of how news reporting has
shifted for these four frames within three different contexts. Table 5 presents this comparison to
highlight findings from the 1990s, 2010, and 2012.
Table 5
Appearance of Frames Across Three Analyses
Frame
Consumption
vs. Production
Labour vs.
Capital
Human Rights
Abuser
Not a
Sweatshop
Greenberg &
Knight (2004):
Newspapers 1995
to 2000
Most prominent
frame
Frame not found
but recommended
Guo et al.
(2012): The NYT
2009 to 2010
This analysis from 2012:
The NTY
YouTube
!
13%
!
15%
50%
!
Indiscernible
!
10%
Indiscernible
-
!
80%
!
45%
60%
-
!
22%
! Indiscernible
30%
Unlike Greenberg and Knight’s (2004) finding that the “consumption versus production”
frame was prominent in newspaper coverage, Guo et al.’s (2012) findings from The Times, and
the results from The Times in 2012 suggest that in more recent New York Times coverage, the
63
“consumption versus production” frame has declined in prominence. In contrast, this frame
appeared in 50% of the 2012 YouTube videos, perhaps representing a perspective difference
between traditional and new media channels with more diverse information sources on YouTube.
The “human rights abuser” frame was most prominent in Guo et al.’s (2012) study, and
was also found prominently in the 2012 New York Times and YouTube results. In both time
frames, the media was working to evaluate the Foxconn suicides, dangerous conditions, and riots
to consider which social actors were responsible for the problems. The “not a sweatshop” frame
did not appear in The Times results, but it was identified in three YouTube videos, challenging
the idea that YouTube is a more diverse and democratic environment for information.
There are numerous reasons why the framing of issues evolves and it depends on the
social circumstances in each case study. For example, it is rational that the “consumption versus
production” frame was prominent in Greenberg and Knight’s (2004) study because the antisweatshop movement was very active at that time working to reconnect consumers with the
social context of where their products were manufactured. Guo et al.’s (2012) study focused on
the suicide issues at Foxconn, and they found The Times strongly aimed to separate the issue
from the U.S. by framing the issue as a primarily China-specific problem. In the study of articles
from 2012, it seems that The Times put more emphasis on framing the issue to be relevant to a
U.S. context by focusing on Apple’s role. These differences can be linked to the 2012 social
context because there was a lot of discussion regarding the American economy and importance
of creating jobs in the U.S. The YouTube 2012 results reflect traditional media perspectives, but
also present ideas from international individuals and groups, providing a more diverse
perspective that is not found in The Times.
64
D,5,$#03!Q&%&:$:&.'5!
The validity of this study is primarily limited by the fact that the framing analysis was
only performed by one person, so no indication of the reliability of the study is available. This is
important to consider because it is possible for personal biases to influence the results of the
analysis. The results of the framing analysis could also be questioned as Nisbet (2009) argues
that scholars have a tendency to rework theories to identify and label frames in debates, which
can lead to inconsistency in understanding and measuring differences in media trends. While this
is a valid concern, an effort to counter this bias was made with a willingness to incorporate
findings from previous studies, and create new frames to reflect the evolving news perspectives.
Comparisons can be made to other framing studies because this analysis builds upon and
expands previous research by drawing from a more recent sample of sweatshops issues in The
New York Times, and exploring YouTube videos.
This research did not consider individual frames held by readers and viewers, which may
cause an individual to understand a text differently. The frames analyzed in this study describe
the dominant meaning I derived as a reader from the text. Entman describes the notion of
“dominant meaning” as consisting of “the problem, causal, evaluative, and treatment
interpretations with the highest probability of being noticed, processed, and accepted by the most
people” (1993, p.56). It is possible that other readers will interpret different meanings from text
that are not considered in this analysis.
)**+,!9&:3&'!:3,!;556,N)::,':&.'!BG0+,!
In many of The New York Times articles, it was argued that Apple was having a “Nike
moment” because Apple had become the scapegoat for labour issues within the electronic
manufacturing industry, just as Nike had become the target for the sportswear industry in the
65
1990s. This pattern of focusing on one organization, or one industry, has been a repetitive
component of sweatshop debates. Sweated labour was first associated with the tailoring industry
before becoming associated with factory work on a larger scale. Similarly, in the 1990s
campaign, sportswear, clothes and toys were initially targeted, before concern spread to other
industries. Again in the present discussion of technological sweatshops, only certain vilified
organizations are taking responsibility for labour practices that occur across many industries.
This trend of associating issues with particular industries and companies is likely part of a
larger media coverage cycle. In their study of 1990s sweatshops, Greenberg and Knight (2004)
found that news coverage tended to concentrate on the implications of globalization for
consumers in the West during the 1990s, but after 2000, the sweatshop issues became less visible
in media inquiries despite on-going rights abuses and labour code violations. They suggest that
this decline may be a downturn in the “issue-attention cycle” where the media spotlight shifts to
new concerns at the expense of other issues. Or it may be a result of the evolution of new
coverage, from general activism coverage to the development of institutionalized forms of
reform, which would make the issue less newsworthy. In this analysis, several newspaper articles
noted connections between the anti-sweatshop movement of the 1990s and the resurgence of
attention to supply chain issues, in this case, associated with Apple. This pattern is comparable to
the recovery phase of the media issue-attention cycle as previously explored themes become
recognizable again. Interest in sweatshops grows and wanes in response to dramatic events that
draw attention to the social issue in one industry or company. The association of Apple with
supply chain issues was initiated in 2006 with the investigation of the Foxconn factory by the
Mail on Sunday (Frost & Burnett, 2007), and Apple was brought under intense scrutiny again in
2010 and 2011 with awareness of the Foxconn suicides (China Labor Watch, 2012).
66
The association of Apple with labour issues may be positive for activists hoping to raise
awareness because it exposes a new audience to the issues. The exposure of Apple’s supply
chain labour issues may have come as a surprise to some consumers because Apple products
often appear to be machine made with their smooth and polished uniform appearance. Apple’s
corporate culture also values industry leadership and responsibility. Keith Bradsher and Charles
Duhigg (2012) in The New York Times “Signs of Change Taking Hold in Electronic Factories in
China,” argue that this concept of strong public leadership tends to run counter to the culture of
secrecy that Apple prides themselves on to stay ahead of competitors. This unveiling of Apple’s
supply chain creates a powerful opportunity for journalists because Apple’s prominence with
consumers is strong, and negative news could create sensational stories. It might also be possible
that Apple has been largely associated with labour issues because journalists have been looking
for alternative news to undercut stories about Apple’s successful product releases to achieve the
illusion of “false balance,” conventionally considered a tool for objectivity or independence
(Nisbet, 2009). Looking forward, it is possible that the association of this issue with Apple will
keep labour issues in the media because Apple maintains a presence in the news media with the
regular release of new products. It is also possible that the issue will decline from public interest
if Apple’s popularity declines, or if the particular Foxconn issues associated with Apple are
resolved. Ideally, to keep this issue relevant and representative of the issues, there should be
more emphasis on recognizing that this is a widespread issue across the entire electronic
manufacturing industry.
It is also possible that readers have become somewhat desensitized to sweatshop issues.
After hearing about the human rights issues with Nike in the mid 2000s, perhaps hearing that
these issues persist is disappointing, but not shocking. People may be alarmed to know that their
67
favourite Apple device was made in a sweatshop, but the popular attachment to technology is
likely not to lead to an Apple boycott, whereas it may have been easier to avoid a clothing or
shoe manufacturer. People must also confront the cognitive dissonance that arises from
recognizing that most of their technology is assembled by hand in a factory environment that
exhibits sweatshop attributes. Furthermore, confronting this issue may eventually involve
recognizing this issue is not confined to Apple products and affects most electronic devices. This
recognition imposes a significant moral dilemma that may bring up questions and consumer
responsibility that some consumers may prefer to avoid because the issue is complex and on a
global scale.
73.6+-!"./0.''!=,!Q$=,+,-!$5!$!79,$:53.*W!
Many of the same abuses associated with working conditions at Nike’s suppliers in the
1990s have been exposed at Apple’s supplier Foxconn. Since 2006, reports have revealed
inadequate living conditions, low pay, overtime hours, and harmful environments at the Foxconn
factories, but within the 2012 New York Times results, Foxconn has not been verbally labeled as
a “sweatshop” as Nike’s supply chain factories were. Within the YouTube analysis, several
independent and amateur video producers described Foxconn as a sweatshop, but the videos by
traditional media groups did not describe Foxconn as a sweatshop.
There is no universal, or international definition for a sweatshop. Most resources cite the
U.S. Department of Labor definition from 1994: “we define a sweatshop as an employer that
violates more than one federal or state labor law governing minimum wage and overtime, child
labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, workers’ compensation, or industry
registration” (United States General Accounting Office, 1994, p. 1). From definitions offered on
non-profit websites, it is often added that labour groups advocate the need for living wages, safe
68
working conditions, reasonable work hours, paid sick leave and maternity leave, and freedom to
organize and form unions (GreenAmerica, 2012).
Considering the general accepted definitions for sweatshops, Foxconn’s history of safety
hazards, underage and intern labour, overtime, and low wages suggests that Foxconn could be
described as a sweatshop. The New York-based independent NGO, China Labor Watch,
conducted an investigation of 10 electronic factories located in the Guangdong and Jiangsu
Provinces with their staff conducting on and off-site investigations, and posing as workers to
gain access to some factories. Foxconn factories were included in their investigations, and they
found that “many factories in the electronic industry actually exhibit hidden sweatshop attributes”
(2012, p. 11). Electronic factories often appear organized and clean, and do not display the
traditional imagery of a crowded, hazy workplace that is often associated with sweatshops. China
Labor Watch (2012) explains that the electronic industry exhibits sweatshop attributes such as
excessive overtime hours, extra peak season demands, enforced “voluntary” overtime, extremely
high levels of work intensity, subtle discrimination in hiring young and healthy candidates,
punishment for small mistakes and verbal harassment, and creating official resignation difficult
so workers must voluntarily resign and forfeit some final wages.
If hidden sweatshop attributes are not articulated to the public, some of these issues may
be downplayed because the clean visual and verbal imagery provided by the media conflicts with
the traditional concept of a sweatshop. In The New York Times articles examined for this analysis,
journalists did not describe Foxconn using the word sweatshop. In the process of researching for
articles and videos, the keyword “sweatshop” did not return many relevant results in either The
Times or YouTube searches. In The Times search, the sweatshop keyword largely contributed to
the number of irrelevant and related articles that appeared in the results. In The Times articles
69
that discussed labour issues at Foxconn, more circumstantial words like riot, labour issues, unrest,
were used to describe the situation as opposed to the sweatshop label which carries a lot of social
baggage from the exposure of Nike, Katie Lee Gifford, and the college driven anti-sweatshop
movement. Even in one of the most dramatic articles released by The Times covering the iPad
manufacturing explosion caused by aluminum dust that killed two workers, The Times did not
use the word sweatshop.
From the YouTube results, only amateur and independent videos used the word
sweatshop in the title or commentary. Videos published by traditional news groups did not
describe Foxconn as a sweatshop. In the ABC News segment, journalist Bill Weir reported on
his impressions of the Foxconn factory, explaining his surprise at how young the workers were
and how most components are made by hand, but it didn’t match up with “some of the horror
stories” he had heard (AsianSpecialist, 2012). He normalizes the issues saying they “heard the
kinds of complaints you’d hear at any factory, or college campus” (AsianSpecialist, 2012), and a
similar comparison to college campuses, and normalizing issues occurred in The New York Times
video. The visuals of a clean and orderly facility with descriptive cues from journalists contribute
to the conclusion that Foxconn is not a sweatshop because hidden sweatshop attributes were
downplayed, justified or overlooked. Within YouTube, some of this framing is countered by
other videos that openly suggest Foxconn practices resemble sweatshop conditions. Amateur
videos and creative satirical videos like the Next Media Animation video effectively contrast the
traditional media’s avoidance of the sweatshop term, but traditional media is also prominent
within YouTube. In Burgess and Green’s YouTube study, they found approximately two-thirds
of the videos in their sample were uploaded by individual users, but half of the content in their
sample was “traditional media content” and half was “user-created content” (2009, p. 92). This is
70
comparable to how users Dancehall Vid and AsianSpecialist uploaded content from ABC News.
Although there are many individuals and independent groups publishing content within YouTube,
a lot of traditional media content is uploaded by individuals, or used within individual videos,
such as R. E. Heubel’s video which cited many details from The Times articles. The media’s role
in framing electronic factories, both verbal and visual, can strongly influence perceptions of
these factories.
Greenberg and Knight (2004) found in their analysis of the 1990s media coverage, that
the use of the word “sweatshop” emerged “as a contentious feature of global business practice by
way of a process of competitive claims-making between corporate interests, particularly Nike,
and their critics (media and movement) in the public sphere” (2004, p.161). Additionally, the
corporate actors, such as Nike, “did not refute sweatshop allegations per se,” but instead
rationalized the manufacturing practices to suggest that weak labour conditions are a necessary
short-term step in a long-term process of economic prosperity (Greenberg & Knight, 2004, p.
161). Unlike Nike’s approach to the sweatshop label in the 1990s, it appears Apple has worked
to refute the association of the term “sweatshop” with Foxconn.
It may be worthwhile for activist groups, such as China Labor Watch, to continue to work
towards reconnecting electronic factories with the word sweatshop. The negative association
attached to the word may help people recognize that the labour issues at Foxconn, and other
electronic factories, need to be addressed. Perhaps this would rouse a similar large-scale public
effort to demand changes within the industry, similar to the anti-sweatshop movement in the
1990s.
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Apple has carefully managed their reputation in dealing with the labour issues that have
been associated with their supply chain practices. The avoidance of labeling Foxconn as a
sweatshop among traditional media groups may be due to corporate pressure aiming to manage
Apple’s reputation within the media. Dyck and Zingales (2008) argue that it is the media’s role
in promoting corporate responsibility to act as a watchdog and convince politicians, corporate
affiliates and the public to introduce reforms by publishing shaming articles. The intersection
between public relations efforts and the media raises questions about how fairly the issues are
presented. Corporate public relations play a strong role because they can manage the social
context so that issues are presented in ways that only certain solutions are considered as options
(Gandy, 1992). In this way, public relations shapes public policy and public support for policy.
Gandy, writing in 1992 was commenting on the 1990s anti-sweatshop movement. This can be
seen again in the current corporate efforts managing how the Foxconn labour issues are
presented. DeLuca and Peeples suggest that “promotionalism” has become a central
characteristic of contemporary communication as both powerful and marginalized groups
compete for public attention by managing their refined images. This is relatable to the reputation
and role of Apple, Foxconn, and activist groups presenting their images and messages in the
media. Which viewpoints get through to viewers depends largely on the media framing, and the
global reception and response to the issue will ultimately impact whether the company is forced
to respond, and how they respond.
!
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Reflecting Rock’s (2003) findings that companies’ stock prices fell in response to public
disclosure of sweatshop practices, and rose in response to positive changes, Apple and
Foxconn’s stock prices may also have been influenced by negative publicity and PR efforts.
Using a Bloomberg terminal, the stock prices for Apple Inc and Hon Hai were retrieved
from January 2, 2012 to December 31, 2012, and graphed in USD. Apple’s stock price graph is
illustrated in blue, and Hon Hai, Foxconn’s parent company, is graphed in red (see Figure 12).
This image was captured from the Bloomberg terminal, and cropped to show the main graph.
- Dec
- Nov
- Oct
- Sept
- Aug
- July
- June
- May
- Apr
- Mar
- Feb
- Jan
Figure 12. Apple and Hon Hai Stock Fluctuations in 2012. The blue line represents the Apple
stock price. The red line represents the Hon Hai stock price. Graph retrieved from Bloomberg
L.P. (2013).
It is noticeable that both stock prices follow similar peaks and troughs. This is
understandable because both companies are in the electronics industry, and Foxconn is one of
Apple’s biggest suppliers so the companies are closely related financially. Some of the main
points on the graph will be compared to events in news coverage and events in 2012 to consider
73
how publicity of Apple and Foxconn’s labour issues may have impacted stock prices. These
observations are general and not based on analytic calculations or considered with normalized
returns.
In January 2012 at point A, there was media coverage surrounding rioting and protests at
Foxconn’s factories. At point B, in February, Apple announced their plans to work with the Fair
Labor Association (FLA), and in March Apple executive Timothy Cook visits Foxconn, and the
FLA releases the results from the audits. The peak at point C corresponds with Apple’s second
quarter results reporting sales of “35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March
quarter” (Apple Inc., 2012b). The sharp drop following corresponds with Apple announcing on
April 24th anticipated third quarter results to be below analyst estimates (Liston, 2012).
The peak at D corresponds with the release of the iPhone 5 in September. The volatility
in the stock prices leading up to the release of the iPhone 5 was mentioned in the video published
by Reuters in September. In this video, labour unrest at Foxconn was correlated with changes in
Hon Hai’s stock prices: “Hon Hai shares show the company faces volatility in a high profile
sector – labour disputes prompting short term slumps” (Reuters, 2012).
On the 24th of September, riots erupted at a Foxconn factory in Taiyuan, China, and
within two days of the riots, Apple’s stock fell. This drop was unlikely due to the iPhone 5
performance because the iPhone 5 performed better than any other Apple product upon release,
and minor technical flaws do not have a strong short-term influence (Liston, 2012). Other market
analysts have described the initial stock drop in late September as a result of lower-than-expected
opening weekend sales for the iPhone 5, which Apple argues was an issue of limited supply and
not demand. These issues persisted as rioting at Foxconn resulted in the manufacturing still
“falling short” of demand for the iPhone 5 throughout the week (Fiegerman, 2012).
74
The continuing decline of Apple’s stock from September to November has been linked to
factors unrelated to Foxconn; such as executive changes, competition with the iPad, a declining
profit margin with products being sold closer to cost, and patent issues with FaceTime video chat
(Fiegerman, 2012). Yet, on November 26th, there was a significant drop in Apple’s stock price,
and the stock had not dropped that much since the Apple announcement of lower anticipated
third quarter results in April. Liston compares this drop to Apple’s stock in May 2010 when
Apple was preparing to release the iPad, and Apple’s stock was readily rising before suddenly
falling 30 USD because news of protests at Foxconn’s Longhua factory in China erupted after
the 11th suicide attempt in 2010. Liston argues that the major downward movement in mid-May
2010 was a result of news about the suicides. He explains that stock prices are sensitive, and any
hint of business malpractice can bring down a stock, even if the company is not legally
responsible for the issue, as in Apple’s case with Foxconn: “this is not a matter of responsibility;
this is a matter of public perception and nothing harms public perception more than a company
ignoring suicides, riots, low wages, underage labour or other such ‘core violations’ at its
overseas factories” (Liston, 2012, para. 21).
The Apple and Hon Hai stock does not appear to be dramatically influenced by supply
chain news in the first half of the year. The correlation of Apple’s stock sharply declining from
September to November after a successful iPhone 5 release suggests that news of the protests in
China may have had an influence in the stock price, although it is difficult to suggest to what
extent the price was influenced because many other factors may have contributed to changes in
the stock price. This potential for news reporting to dramatically influence stock prices gives
power to media groups and activist groups to influence public perception of a company by
publicizing information about a company’s core violations in their supply chain.
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To further develop an understanding of how framing influences audiences, audience
frames could be explored. This could be considered by analyzing reader comments uploaded on
The New York Times websites, and analyzing viewer comments on each YouTube video. These
comments could be compared across news mediums to explore differences and similarities
within the perspectives. Within YouTube, further research could be done to consider who had
actually viewed some of these videos. YouTube now has analytic information available on each
video that the video uploader can choose to make available to all viewers. This would provide
rich data about which countries these videos were most frequently viewed in, and what
demographic of viewers watched these videos.
The framing analysis in this paper could also be complimented with a more
comprehensive social actor analysis to understand quantitatively which groups were represented
or marginalized in the articles and videos.
Other research could pursue exploring the differences between the framing of Apple and
Foxconn issues in other new media environments. For example, news blogs around the world,
and especially bloggers from the U.S. and China have explored these issues extensively. It would
also be interesting to compare blogs published within traditional media groups, such as The New
York Times blogs, and individual blogs.
!
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Sweatshops have evolved, and the way they are discussed by the media, has changed. As
more electronic manufacturing has moved to emerging market countries, media attention on
labour issues switched from the labour conditions at toy, shoe, garment, and sportswear factories
in the 1990s, to the conditions at electronic factories since the mid 2000s. As illustrated with the
comparison between the three framing studies, the framing of sweatshop issues depends upon the
social, political, and economic climate, the actors involved, and the discussion is shaped by the
media channels reviewing the issue. Different corporate actors are involved, different economic
and political interests influence corporate and government decisions, and online electronic
communication has a strong influence in the electronic sweatshop debate. In both sweatshop
contexts, 1990s and 2012, the Internet has been an instrumental tool for activists to build a
loosely connected network of activists and supporters (Carty, 2002), and online communication
has played an integral role in spreading news about Apple’s supply chain issue. The first story
about Apple’s labour issues was spread online (Frost & Burnett, 2007), and many activist groups
have used video to convey information about the factory conditions, such as SACOM’s video
about aluminum dust before the iPad factory explosion. There is potential for the increase of
online news to have a democratizing effect on the media by allowing more voices to contribute,
but this idea must be evaluated carefully because, as found in this analysis, online environments
such as YouTube are also significantly influenced by traditional media groups.
Both The New York Times and YouTube were analyzed in this study to consider
similarities and differences in how the media presented the issues. The results of the framing
analysis were very comparable as most of the same frames could be found in each medium. Both
media aimed to identify which social actors were responsible for resolving the issues, and
77
primarily to blame for the problems. While The Times often framed issues from a U.S.
perspective, YouTube had a more diverse perspective with videos available from groups around
the world.
As suggested in the China Labor Watch report (2012), multinational companies usually
deny responsibility for the issues that arise in supply chain factories. This can be seen in the
pattern of Apple’s issues as they unfolded pre-2012. Apple largely avoided association with
engaging with supply chain management beyond releasing annual supplier reports. In 2012 the
combined pressure of media groups and activists contributed to Apple’s response to partner with
the Fair Labor Association. The effectiveness of the media in influencing the public perceptions
of companies is significant considering the potential for negative news about supply chain
practices to have an influence on corporate stock prices.
It is important to consider how the media presents international issues because it may
downplay serious human rights issues if influenced by corporate interests. How these issues are
presented can also impact how individuals react to the news, and it has the potential to impact
stock prices, which can prompt otherwise resistant companies to respond to the severity of the
issues. The media plays an important role in this process, as they must continue to monitor
corporate responses to ensure substantial changes are made.
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Article Details
1. Foxconn Resolves a Dispute With Some
Workers in China
January 13, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
David Barboza, Gu Huini contributed
research
586 words, No photo
2. Apple Lists Its Suppliers For 1st Time
January 14, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Nick Wingfield and Charles Duhigg
886 words, Photo included
3. In China, the Human Costs Are Built
Into an iPad
January 26, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTA
The iEconomy series
Charles Duhigg and David Barboza; Gu
Huini contributed research.
5,650 words, Photos included
4. Apple In Shift, Pushes An Audit Of
Sites In China
February 14, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTA
Charles Duhigg and Nick Wingfield
1,399 words, Photo included
5. Critics Question Record of Monitor
Selected by Apple
February 14, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Steven Greenhouse
949 words, Photo included
6. Early Praise In Inspection At Foxconn
Brings Doubt
February 17, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Steven Greenhouse
618 words, Photo included
Frames and Sub-frames
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Unrest in China
Sub-frame: Chinese workers aware of rights
• Unrest in China
Sub-frame: Chinese economy
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Apple primarily responsible
• Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility
Sub-frame: Apple’s efforts are insufficient
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Apple primarily responsible
• Labour versus Capital
Sub-frame: reference to conflict between
capital and labour
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: Customers not concerned
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Apple primarily responsible
• Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility
Sub-frame: Question Fair Labor Association
• Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility
Sub-frame: Question Fair Labor Association
• Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility
Sub-frame: Question Fair Labor Association
89
7. Foxconn Plans to Sharply Lift
Workers’ Pay
February 19, 2012
Foreign Desk; SECTA
David Barboza
329 words, No photo
8. Pressure, Chinese and Foreign, Drives
Changes at Foxconn
February 20, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
David Barboza and Charles Duhigg
1,042 words, Photos included
9. Dividends in Pressing Apple Over
Labour
March 7, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Eduardo Porter
1,438 words, Photo included
10. Apple’s Chief Visits iPhone Factory in
China
March 30, 2012
Business/ Financial Desk
Technology
Kevin Drew
355 words, Photo included
11. Electronic Giant Vowing Reforms In
China Plant
March 30, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTA
Charles Duhigg and Steven Greenhouse;
David Barboza contributed reporting
1,331 words, Photos, charts included
12. Labour Audit on Foxconn Is
Thorough, Experts Say
March 31, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Steven Greenhouse
536 words, No photo
13. Two Sides to Labor in China
March 31, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Keith Bradsher; Steven Greenhouse
contributed reporting
1,236 words, Photo included
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Power within worker/consumers
• Changing Environment
Sub-frame: Chinese socio/econ is changing
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: Impactful consumer awareness
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Media attention
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: Impactful consumer awareness
• Labour versus Capital
Sub-frame: reference to conflict between
capital and labour
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Media attention
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Foxconn
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Foxconn
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
• Changing Environment
Sub-frame: Chinese socio/econ is changing
90
14. Fixing Apple’s Supply Lines
April 2, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Nick Wingfield; Steven Greenhouse
contributed reporting
1,246 words, No photo
15. Disruptions: Too Much Silence on
Working Conditions
April 9, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
Nick Bilton
511 words, No photo
16. China Plant Again Faces Labour
Issue On iPhones
September 11, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
David Barboza and Charles Duhigg
1,184 words, Photo included
17. Factory Shut After a Riot In China
September 24, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
David Barboza and Keith Bradsher
369 words, No photo
18. Factory Riot Underscores Rift in
China – September 25, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTB
David Barboza and Keith Bradsher
995 words, Photo included
19. Signs of Changes Taking Hold in
Electronics Factories in China
December 21, 2012
Business/Financial Desk; SECTA
The iEconomy series
Keith Bradsher and Charles Duhigg; Yadan
Ouyang contributed research
3,595 words, Photos, data included
20. Progress Where They Make iPhones
December 30, 2012
Editorial Desk; SECTSR
No Author
571 words, No photo
• Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility
Sub-frame: Apple’s efforts are insufficient
• Changing Environment
Sub-frame: Apple is changing
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: All tech companies responsible
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
• Unrest in China
Sub-frame: Chinese workers aware of rights
• Unrest in China
Sub-frame: Chinese workers aware of rights
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Changing Environment
Sub-frame: Apple and Foxconn changing
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Media attention
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Apple primarily responsible
91
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Video Details
1. Your IPhone is made in a Sweatshop
in China!!!
Uploader username: R. E. Heubel
Video content: Individual
Uploaded: February 14, 2012
Frames and Sub-frames
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: People should be aware
2. Inside Look At Apple’s Chinese
Sweatshops!
Uploader username: Dancehall Vid
Video content: ABC News
Uploaded: February 21, 2012
• Not a Sweatshop
Sub-frame: Implied
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: People should be aware
3. Nightline Special Edition – iFactory:
Inside Apple (Foxconn)
Uploader username: AsianSpecialist
Video content: ABC News
Uploaded: February 22, 2012
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: People should be aware
• Not a Sweatshop
Sub-frame: Psych. problem of younger gen.
4. Is Apple To Blame for FoxConn [sic]
& China’s Labor Controversy?
Uploader username: motherboardsorg
Video content: Motherboards.org
Uploaded: March 7, 2012
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Chinese government
• Human rights abuser
Sub-frame: Chinese government
5. Inside Apple: Changes Made at
Foxconn
Uploader username: ABCNews
Video content: ABC News
Uploaded: March 29, 2012
• Changing Environment
Sub-frame: Apple and Foxconn changing
• Not a Sweatshop
Sub-frame: Explicitly stated
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: All tech companies responsible
6. Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits China
Foxconn Manufacturing Plant
Uploader username: slatester
Video content: Slate News Channel
Uploaded: March 29, 2012
• Questioning Corporate Social Responsibility
Sub-frame: Apple’s efforts are insufficient
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
7. Foxconn riots cause shutdown of a
factory in Northern China
Uploader username: NMAWorldEdition
Video content: Next Media Animation
Uploaded: September 24, 2012
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: Customers not concerned
92
8. Foxconn riot exposes dark side of
tech glitter
Uploader username: ReutersVideo
Video content: Reuters
Uploaded: September 25, 2012
• Changing Environment
Sub-frame: Chinese socio/econ is changing
• Unrest in China
Sub-frame: Chinese workers aware of rights
• Consumption versus Production
Sub-frame: People should be aware
9. Foxconn: Apple’s hidden side #1
Uploader username: UpsideTelevision
Video content: Chaîne de
UpsideTelevision
Uploaded: December 13, 2012
• Human Rights Abuser
Sub-frame: Foxconn primarily responsible
10. The iEconomy: Factory Upgrade –
Apple News 2012
Uploader username: TheNewYorkTimes
Video content: The New York Times
Uploaded: December 27, 2012
• Changing Environment
Sub-frame: Apple and Foxconn changing
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Media attention
• Responsibility or Power to Create Change
Sub-frame: Responsibility of Apple