One of the journalists at the center of the iPod labor defamation lawsuit has spoken of her confidence in winning the case, after Hongfujin Precision Industry slashed its compensation claim to a symbolic 1 yuan (12 US cents). "I appreciate the support of media and netizens throughout the country," Wang You told China Daily. "No enterprise can deprive us of the freedom of press. We are going to win."
Hongfujin, a wholly owned subsidiary of Taiwan"s Foxconn, which manufactures iPods for the U.S.-based Apple Computer, on Wednesday evening dropped its claim from 30 million yuan ($3.75 million) to 1 yuan and added the journalists" employer, China Business News, as a co-defendant. However, Wang said neither she nor her editor, Weng Bao, has received any formal notice from the court. According to Guangzhou Daily, Shenzhen Intermediate People"s Court has changed the suit at the request of Hongfujin and unfrozen the properties of the two journalists. The court refused to divulge any further details on Thursday.
The dispute concerns a story by Wang published on June 15 that highlighted the conditions at one of Hongfujin"s factories in Shenzhen, where workers assembled expensive iPod music players. The report claimed workers had to stand on the assembly line 12 hours a day and more than 60 hours a week, for a monthly salary of about 1,000 yuan ($125). Hongfuijin came in for heavy criticism as netizens debated the case. An online poll by sina.com found more than 80 percent of respondents believed the two journalists had not damaged Hongfujin"s reputation.