From the Editor's Desk: The elephant in the room — Apple and China

iPhone XS taking photo in Chinatown
iPhone XS taking photo in Chinatown (Image credit: iMore)

There are a few times when political issues cross paths with tech. For those of us that cover tech, we struggle with the best possible way to cover hot button issues while trying to be unbiased as possible. What I learned in college while studying for my journalism BA is that there is no such thing as "truly unbiased" because we're humans and we have opinions. The best we can do is try.

Right now, there is a very important discussion being had about how companies are reacting to the Chinese government's pressure to suppress information in the United States. And tech companies are a part of that discussion. Apple is a part of that discussion. There are dozens of companies, tech and otherwise, that are also a part of the discussion, but I'm not here to run down that list (you can actually see that discussion on reddit). So here we are, people who write about tech, covering global politics as it relates to our wheelhouse.

It's difficult to do because we understand that our readers have a wide variety of political opinions and live around the world, and we don't ever want to alienate anyone. We're going to cover the topic because it's important. How Apple deals with pressure from China is in our wheelhouse. We cover Apple, We can't just skip over it. There's likely to be a lot more to come in the coming months.

What I ask of you, our fans and our friends, is to keep things civil. We love when you comment. We want to hear your voice. Whether you agree with how Apple handles pressure from China or are so mad you're considering switching to Android because of Apple's recent actions (not that Google doesn't have it's own problematic issues to deal with, we respect your opinion. We hope that you'll respect others' opinions, too. We all come from different backgrounds and places around the world. We can have different opinions and carry on civil conversations about those opinions.

We will continue to write about all the fun things we love about Apple products and give you tips and advice on the best ways to get the most out of your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. But we'll also continue to write about some things that aren't so fun, like Apple's reactions to pressure from China. Let's all just remember that we're human beings with feelings behind our keyboards.

  • Lory Gil
Lory Gil

Lory is a renaissance woman, writing news, reviews, and how-to guides for iMore. She also fancies herself a bit of a rock star in her town and spends too much time reading comic books.  If she's not typing away at her keyboard, you can probably find her at Disneyland or watching Star Wars (or both).